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Thread: Fungus gnats

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    Default Fungus gnats

    Hello! I brought in a houseplant that apparently had some fungus gnats in the substrate, and they've spread to my terrestrial frog enclosures. How do I get rid of them without harming my frogs? Is it as simple as replacing the substrate? How do I prevent re-infestation with the new substrate? The stuff I've read online says to keep the substrate dry or put a layer of sand over the top, neither of which will work here for obvious reasons.

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    100+ Post Member DanDrobates's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fungus gnats

    The simple answer is to let everything dry out and I’d definitely toss the houseplant. You may have to change your substrate a few times as well and /or move your terrariums to another location in the house. I had a similar problem once and eventually they disappeared. I’ve also heard anecdotal evidence that springtails will outcompete them in a moist environment. So if you have decent springtail populations in your enclosures you may be at an advantage. BTW, which species and what size and types of enclosures are we talking about?

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    Default Re: Fungus gnats

    Quote Originally Posted by DanDrobates View Post
    The simple answer is to let everything dry out and I’d definitely toss the houseplant. You may have to change your substrate a few times as well and /or move your terrariums to another location in the house. I had a similar problem once and eventually they disappeared. I’ve also heard anecdotal evidence that springtails will outcompete them in a moist environment. So if you have decent springtail populations in your enclosures you may be at an advantage. BTW, which species and what size and types of enclosures are we talking about?
    I have a 40B with a cane toad (Rhinella Marina) as well as 2 empty terrariums (10g, 20 long). I moved the empty terrariums to the very cold basement to dry out, and I replaced the substrate in the 40 with substrate that we baked in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. (Several small batches). I also plan to get a sundew (Drosera Capensis) to combat any future hitchhikers hopefully before they can get established. We're moving to Arkansas soon, which is a lot buggier than NJ. I think baking the new substrate fixed it though! We haven't had any gnats since!

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    100+ Post Member Larry Wardog's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fungus gnats

    Quote Originally Posted by Axqu View Post
    I have a 40B with a cane toad (Rhinella Marina) as well as 2 empty terrariums (10g, 20 long). I moved the empty terrariums to the very cold basement to dry out, and I replaced the substrate in the 40 with substrate that we baked in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. (Several small batches). I also plan to get a sundew (Drosera Capensis) to combat any future hitchhikers hopefully before they can get established. We're moving to Arkansas soon, which is a lot buggier than NJ. I think baking the new substrate fixed it though! We haven't had any gnats since!
    Make sure to check if that sundew is safe for the toad. People can get chemical burns from very strong sundew plants and it could harm the toad too. The smaller native to the east of the US species I have seen used because they seem to have less effect on the amphibians.

    You could always grow them in an empty tank and I'm sure it would help a little bit.

    But Dan is right on with his advice I just wanted to pass down a warning that I have received myself from a biologist. Also you could see if there are native sundew plants to the toads range and it would be a lot safer for both the toad and the sundew.

    If the sundew you mentioned is from the same range as the toad disregard this message and I'm sorry for wasting your time lol

    Sent from my BKL-L04 using Tapatalk

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    Default Re: Fungus gnats

    Quote Originally Posted by Larry Wardog View Post
    Make sure to check if that sundew is safe for the toad. People can get chemical burns from very strong sundew plants and it could harm the toad too. The smaller native to the east of the US species I have seen used because they seem to have less effect on the amphibians.

    You could always grow them in an empty tank and I'm sure it would help a little bit.

    But Dan is right on with his advice I just wanted to pass down a warning that I have received myself from a biologist. Also you could see if there are native sundew plants to the toads range and it would be a lot safer for both the toad and the sundew.

    If the sundew you mentioned is from the same range as the toad disregard this message and I'm sorry for wasting your time lol

    Sent from my BKL-L04 using Tapatalk
    I appreciate it! Sorry I was unclear; the sundew isn't going to go in with her. It's going to be in its own pot in the frog room, providing passive protection to all the tanks. I know that there are sundew plants native to her range, but I'm not sure D. Capensis is one of them. In any case, I'm not going to risk my toad running into it. She's a beautiful animal, but like most frogs, she's not especially clever and I don't want to risk her getting sundew goo in her eye.

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