Millipedes and fungus gnats

[Matttoadman]

So I have read that fungus gnats are not uncommon with millipedes but man I’m killing a dozen wat day. Any suggestions? I have them (bumblebees) in a 2.5 gallon, several inches of coco fiber, dead oak leaves, decaying maple wood chunks, and a bit of sand. 

[Hisserdude]

You get a lot of fungus gnats when dealing with rotten wood. My advice, put up those sticky fly traps around your enclosures, will help a bit I think.

[Matttoadman]

I’m actully going to experiment this spring with some sort of tiny predator. A jumping spider for example. Idea. They wouldn’t bother the millipedes and the humidity should be too much of an issue. Plus if they got out, I find them in my house all the time anyway. I guess you could also set a mantid nymph mesh enclosure on the top? I mean why waste a perfectly good feeder?

[Hisserdude]

I've heard mosquito dunks work for fungus gnat filled containers actually, the bacteria only harm Dipterans, and won't harm any of the other inhabits. Might be worth a try in your millipede tank!

[Matttoadman]

Nah a tiny predator would be cooler lol

[Test Account]

Fungus gnats are mostly harmless, and given their tendency for population explosions a small predator may be ineffective.

 

I almost never get any problems with "pests" when dealing with tenebrionids and small garden carabids. They are pretty dry-resistant, so any mites or gnats simply can't live in their cage.

 

Suggestion:

1. ignore them, unless they are seriously depleting the millipede food

 

2. Dunk your millipede in a damp temporary cage with some non-leaf snacks, and let the main cage dry out

After drying out for a while, remoisten it and make the ventilation areas gnatproof

 

The little dipterans do look tastily useful, though.

[Matttoadman]

So I went to remove my lid on my millipedes and found this little thing already taking up residence. I don’t even have to wait til spring lol p. I’m guessing it’s a hitchhiker in my oak leaf bucket.

[PamelaMurry]

Can say this with my experience, controlling fungus gnats requires a lot of patience. We tried to get rid of these pests by keeping our place less humid and bringing in some predatory mites. This helped us a lot. But after few months we again faced this problem and this time we decided to consult the pest control in Sacramento professionals to know which chemical spray can be used to kill these houseplant insects. They suggested to use biological insecticide and repeat the application every five days until the gnats are eradicated.

[Matttoadman]

I finally eradicated the majority of my fungus gnats. The secret was a unintended stow-a-way. I started finding dwarf striped Isopods in the millipedes tank. As the isopod numbers increased the fungus gnats decreased. Of course so did the Millipedes. As of today there are no fungus gnats or millipedes. But I have colonies of the Isopods in my mourning gecko, African common toad and Blaberus tanks.   Oh and also all the containers that sat under the shelf containing the original Isopods. They get around. 

[PeterMurphy]

Yeah, very well said. I agree.

[Jimbobtom]

Old post, but I thought I'd share... I had a terrible problem with funghs gnats at one point. I keep chameleons that live in large bioactive enclosures and some were/are on permanent free ranges with large live plants. Obviously all the organic soil and such is a gnat magnet. One batch of soil was particularly bad, it erupted into a swarm of gnats, they were all through the house, I couldnt even breath without fear of them going in my mouth. Wifey was not happy, so I closed off the cham room and quickly tried everything possible. Sticky traps, apple cider vinegar, etc. didn't make a dent. Figured I was going to have to throw everything out and start fresh with sterile soil and more preventative measures. I figured I'd try one last thing. I had been wanting to get a little bit into the carnivorous plant hobby anyway, so I got a few for the heck of it. Two mexican butterworts, two sundews, and a nepenthes. I never thought these things would do much of anything in terms of controlling gnats, but man was I wrong. They absolutely decimated the gnats, within a week. There were barely any left even in the cham room, and the house had long been cleared. They all did a great job, but the sundews really went above and beyond with the gnat murder. To this day, I keep a few carnivorous plants in my reptile room. Haven't seen a gnat around the house since and that was a couple years ago. Now I get happy when I see one in an enclosure because I know it'll end up as free plant food in no time. Really one of the best investments I've made. By far the easiest and most fun(imo) gnat solution. And the simple beginner plants are extremely easy to care for if you give them what they need.

 

Sorry for the long text. I just remember freaking out about these guys and reading all of the different methods, but no one ever seems to bring up how effective these plants are.

[Homelander]

https://www.amazon.com/Original-Indoor-Insect-Trap-Non-Toxic/dp/B07H2JGSM6/ref=sr_1_6?crid=L5SM74RH3F8Z&keywords=katchy+indoor+insect+trap&qid=1584014809&sprefix=katchy%2Caps%2C159&sr=8-6

[RenOfTheRoaches]

Both springtails and isopods can help get rid of them. I've heard that springtails will actually eat fungus gnat eggs but I can't say for sure. What I do know is that springtails in large numbers will out compete the gnat larvae by eating most of the food supply from them (mold, rotting organic matter, etc). I had a big gnat problem and once I added my springtails, they drove them out real quick. I just used normal temperate springtails. Isopods will do the same but to a lesser extent and take longer to breed but a combo works great. I used temperate springtails and powder orange isopods. Dwarf white isopods might work better as I hear they directly eat mold. Many times just drying out an enclosure helps as the gnats need moisture (and fungus) to breed. Believe it or not, the gnats are harmless and actually in a way are kinda beneficial as they are usually there because there is moist fungus somewhere. I personally just don't like flies everywhere so I employ springtails and isopods to do their job for them. But if you really don't care, the fungus gnats won't harm your animals. They can destroy plants in large numbers as they can harm the roots if left uncontrolled in an enclosed space. If you want a 100% natural ecosystem, you can leave the gnats but I really don't like the buzzing adult flies so I choose to get rid of them but all in all they're virtually just an annoyance not a threat. I had bad problems with them in my roach enclosures until I used springtails consistently. Hope this helps!

[RenOfTheRoaches]

Also you can utilize those sticky gnat traps that go into flower pots. If you have them bad in your plants those work wonders but I wouldn't put them into an enclosure as your actual animals might get stuck lol.

[dogpack]

On 1/11/2019 at 10:22 PM, Jimbobtom said:

I keep a few carnivorous plants in my reptile room. Haven't seen a gnat around the house since and that was a couple years ago. Now I get happy when I see one in an enclosure because I know it'll end up as free plant food in no time. Really one of the best investments I've made. By far the easiest and most fun(imo) gnat solution. And the simple beginner plants are extremely easy to care for if you give them what they need.

I just started considering getting some of these plants.  I hope to find the ones that do not require dormancy.  Eventually I will find some available somewhere online, I hope.