simple
Achatina achatina
Posts: 97
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Post by simple on Mar 20, 2019 15:38:28 GMT
Not very long ago I gave my snails a treat: organic potted basil! I tried to remove the soil that came with the plant but the roots covered it completely, but no worries, a little extra soil won't do any harm, right? Wrong. Now every time I open any of the enclosures I'm greeted by a swarm of fungus gnats flying into my face!
And to make this harder, I can't throw the old substrate out without risking throwing out some baby snails (I'm still finding some in the adults' terrarium).
Any tips on getting rid of this infestation, like foods to avoid?
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Post by morningcoffee on Mar 28, 2019 8:18:54 GMT
Not very long ago I gave my snails a treat: organic potted basil! I tried to remove the soil that came with the plant but the roots covered it completely, but no worries, a little extra soil won't do any harm, right? Wrong. Now every time I open any of the enclosures I'm greeted by a swarm of fungus gnats flying into my face! And to make this harder, I can't throw the old substrate out without risking throwing out some baby snails (I'm still finding some in the adults' terrarium). Any tips on getting rid of this infestation, like foods to avoid? Hypoaspis miles predatory mites that are often recommended to kill snail mites are actually usually used by gardeners to get rid of fungus gnats as they eat the larvae, so you could try adding them to the tank. Unfortunately once they're in the tank and in your house, fungus gnats are very difficult to fully get rid of as they love the humid environment of a snail tank. Apart from using predatory mites, a full soil change & thorough tank clean, followed by taking steps to make it harder for them to get into the tank such as covering the tank lid, is the best way to combat them.
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Post by materathemad on Apr 2, 2019 22:16:12 GMT
Things I've used to cut down the gnat population among my houseplants:
Yellow sticky traps -- I often make my own from any disposable plastic containers, using a rosin dissolved in denatured alcohol with castor oil added to keep the dried mixture sticky.
Small indoor bug zappers
Bacterial products that kill mosquito larvae, in the soil (I've seen no problems with aquatic snails)
There's no getting rid of them completely short of starting over with gnat-free soil and keeping it that way.
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