Question: Tiny black bugs in terrarium

[pinstripesc]

Hi all,

I have tiny black bugs in my salamander's terrarium. They look like fruit flies, though don't seem to be, since putting a banana trap nearby didn't get their attention.

They mostly focus on one corner of the enclosure, and I didn't pay much attention to them at first. I only ever really saw one at a time. But now that my salamander is apparently doing his hibernation thing, there are more of them, and if he went down where I think, they're in the same area.

I just want to make sure they're not a problem for him.

Thanks

 

[Otterwoman]

Can you post a picture?

 

[Blackbun]

Hello, does it look like this?


Usually it's the bugs you can't set that are the problem.

 

[AdvythAF]

I would need pictures but I might know what you are talking about. They usually aren't a problem, and your animals might even eat them once in a while.

 

[pinstripesc]

Sorry, holidays had me all over the place.

They essentially look like this, except black (I realize these are fruit flies) -

@Blackbun - maybe? But super small. I couldn't say for sure one way or the other, except that they can fly and don't look like beetles. I really doubt my phone would be able to pick one up.

 

[Blackbun]

Hi pinstripe these look like drosophila melanogaster to me. The small version of fruit flies. They are harmless. Males have a solid black tip to their abdomen whereas females have three black bars and are slightly larger.

 

[jewett]

That could be fungus gnats. My house plants get these every few years, and they have also occasionally colonized my terrestrial caudate set ups.

These gnats are more a nuisance than anything. The best way to get rid of them is to allow the substrate they are attracted to to dry out, so the fungus they feed on (which may not be visible to the naked eye) to dry out, too, though I appreciate this may have negative consequences for your animal's habitat. Since they aren't a threat, you are more than likely to leave them as is. Their numbers can fluctuate and they may die out on their own.

HJ

 

[Blackbun]

Ooopppppsssss didn't read all your text pinstripe! Jewett is correct in suggesting fungus gnat which is in fact what is shown in my original photo.