Infested vivariums?

Bamboo · #1 10-21-2010, 12:13 AM

Ok, so I'm having a problem with my vivariums being infested by some sort of fruit fly type bug. There are tons of them in the vivs and I'm concerned that they will start to affect my animal's health. I don't know what they are, so I don't know how to get rid of them. I suspected that they were reproducing in the substrate (a peat moss and coco fibre mix) so I took it all out. All my tanks are now sterile set-ups, with the exception of the pothos plant I left in my cuban tree frog tank, though I'm now tempted to just take it out too. I'm STILL seeing these bugs and a very fine webbing that is concentrated in dense clusters (mostly in my anole tank, with just plastic plants). I take it out but it comes back. My tanks are currently bare-bottomed and plastic plants. I did a deep clean of everything yesterday and it's back already.

Please help. I really want to get back to naturalistic vivs soon, but my priority now is getting rid of these bugs.

beckdg · #2 10-21-2010, 11:55 AM

i'm glad you asked. we lost this... Eliminating Vivarium Pests (copied from one of martys posts) ... some time back when we lost the article section of the forum. you reminded me how helpful it was and so i went looking for it... and brought it back to us. it should help you with your situation.

Bamboo · #3 10-21-2010, 04:44 PM

Thank you!!! I will try this immediately!

beckdg · #4 10-21-2010, 07:35 PM

you're welcome. hope all turns out well.

Bamboo · #5 10-22-2010, 10:50 PM

Well, I did it today. I haven't seen any bugs since...hopefully it stays that way! Thanks again!!

beckdg · #6 10-22-2010, 11:10 PM

no problem. depending on the bug in question you might have to do this again. best bet is to get any larvae as they hatch out before they can breed. often eggs are independent from the air around them and thus displacing oxygen with carbon dioxide is pretty much useless with them.

just keep an eye out checking the tank for the next few weeks. at the first sign of movement do it again. if you get nothing, you're cured.

Bamboo · #7 10-22-2010, 11:13 PM

Yeah, I'll definitely be keeping an eye on things. I'm hoping today was the end of it, but I guess we'll see