Vivarium fly problem!? (help)

[Neill]

So I have know clue where they came from and its only in one of my 3 vivariums. TONS of flies! There a little smaller then fruit flies they don't have the big black bodies of a fruit fly. Their very tiny but there has got to be like 60 now in this on vivarium. Wondering how I would kill them off with out killing plants. Currently no geckos live in the tank so that's one good thing but I don't want the flies getting to another vivarium either.

Any help would be great!

 

[Palor]

These mites (Hypoaspis) will eat the fly larva in your substrate. They are a species of predatory mite and they eat anything small living in the top 1" of substrate. Some google fu will show you all you need to know about the Hypoaspis mite.

Also you can forgo watering for week or two, the fly larva will dry out and die.

The adult flies have a short life span, so go for their kids to break the cycle.

 

[Neill]

if i don't water a week i think ill kill a lot of my tropical plants

 

[Keith N]

Some of it has to do with the moisture in the substrate. I have used the Hypoaspis mites with great success this year when some Khuli's geckos that I had in quarentine for 2 months still had mites and introduced them into the community vivarium. Here is a link to the observation I did with them

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159361
PM me if you have any questions

 

[Tony C]

Sounds like fungus gnats, I get them from time to time in my frog vivs and just ignore them, they don't hurt anything.

 

[Keith N]

Sounds like fungus gnats, I get them from time to time in my frog vivs and just ignore them, they don't hurt anything.

I usually let them go like Tony said. I always add another small hole screen to the top of the enclosures so they stay inside.