fungus gnats

Manuel_P

Manuel_P

Second Instar
Hi 

I have a real problem with these tiny, disgusting flies in my enclosures.

Does anyone of you know how to completely get rid of these pests?

I've read everything from completely renewing the enclosures to using predatory mites. Now I want to know if anyone of you has any personal experiences with eradicating them

best regards

Manuel

 
Fungus gnats feed on the fungi that grow in damp substrate and soil. The only way I have cut them down is either with complete replacement or allowing to dry out.

 
Let the enclosure dry out some, remove any dead roaches or decomposing food, and toss some predatory mites in there. You'll still have a few flies showing up as the remaining larvae pupate and emerge as adults, but that'll knock the numbers down significantly, and if you're lucky, take care of the problem completely. 

 
I had a horrible outbreak last fall before I added my cleaning crews (A.diaperinus in dry bins, Collembola in humid/moist bins). I ended up replacing all of the substrate in all of the bins - even those without the flies. I haven't had them since, but I'm interested in these predatory mites in case I have another outbreak this summer.

Can anyone point me to a good source? Or provide the scientific name?

 
Like everyone said letting the substrate dry out a bit and adding clean up crews will help combat the problem. When I had fungus gnats in my B. Giganteus enclosure that's what I did + I added some fly sticky tape to the inside of their enclosure where the roaches couldn't get to it, and that took care of the rest of the gnats 

 
My roach colonies were full of these gnats. 
This is what I did: 

- Reduce moisture in the bins. 
- Smeared non toxic silicone grease on places where the roaches didn't come, but the flies did. The gnats land on it and get stuck. I ended up with hundreds, of not thousands, of dead flies on the grease. 
- Added predatory mites. 

Occasionally I still see fungus gnats, but their number is on the low side.  

 
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