Coconut Husks & Gnats

[Trinityblood]

I just got a bag of reptichip and I've read about people have issues with gnats. I am wondering if there is a way to prevent them before I spread the chips in the cage. Would throwing the bag in the freezer for a short time prevent them? Or are the gnats not in the husk and they will show up eventually?

[Faith.luu]

I’m not sure if this applies for gnats specifically but I’ve heard of freezing the substrate as a preventative for bugs that might be hanging out in substrate but I’d think you’d want to freeze it for more than 24 hours to be safe. I’m not sure if this genuinely works, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

Another way is to bake the substrate. This is probably a better option than to freeze. Just make sure you soak the substrate a while before you bake it. I’m not sure what the recommended temp and time to use is but hopefully someone will be able to answer that for you.

I don’t know much about gnats but I know they can reproduce really quickly, and can be really hard to get rid of, so just make sure you are doing proper and regular cleanings and hopefully they won’t be a problem for you.

[Trinityblood]

I did freeze it for a couple days. I'll see if that works.

Speaking of coconut husks, ever since I spread it in his bin, Sanzo has been really jumpy and acts like the floor is lava. He now seems to opt to climb on decor instead of the floor and he displaced a lot of the fake plants over night from climbing on top of things.



He wouldn't poke his head out of his hide for days. I purposely didn't put any of the husks under his hide because that's where his heat mat is and so he can get a way from the husks. I almost didn't feed him because I wasn't sure he would eat. I decided to try and he took his food fine, but I haven't been handling him because now when I touch him he literally jumps. He doesn't strike or ball up, just twitches violently like a person when tapped on the shoulder. When I fed him he climbed on top of his log instead of staying on the floor which is unusual.




Is it normal for a ball python to be freaked out when you give them new substrate? He had been on paper towel his whole short life before I switched it out.

[NJ Balls]

I had a substrate/gnat problem, I put the substrate in a shoebox size tub and put it in the microwave for 3 minutes.
I put it in for a minute and half and the gnats were still moving around.