# littel black jumpy bugs!!!



## BOOSTFEEN (Jun 23, 2008)

Hi everyone hope all is well. As some of you know I posted a thread about little white bugs roaming around in my cypress mulch but now yesterday I just so happened to look at my tegus basking area and I saw a bunch of little black bugs like jumping all over the place and walking fast. They kinda look like fruit flies, should I be worried about this??? I inspected my tegu but I didn't see anything on him as I'm worried it might be mites but I'm hoping Its not as I never had mites before. Has anyone had this problem??? What should I do in a situation like this??? Any help will be appreciated thanx.


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## Mvskokee (Jun 23, 2008)

man i wish i knew id change it out. thats just me


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## MMRR - jif (Jun 23, 2008)

They are not mites since mites generally don't jump and they are very difficult to see on a dark surface. My guess is that they are harmless gnats. They shouldn't bother you or your tegu other than being a mild annoyance. Make sure that you clean up quickly after you feed your tegu or when he defecates. Old food sitting around will definately attract gnats.


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## BOOSTFEEN (Jun 23, 2008)

Yea I was thinking about changing it out but I just changed it out a couple of weeks ago cause of the white little bugs so its being a pain to contantly change the mulch.


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## BOOSTFEEN (Jun 23, 2008)

MMRR - jif said:


> They are not mites since mites generally don't jump and they are very difficult to see on a dark surface. My guess is that they are harmless gnats. They shouldn't bother you or your tegu other than being a mild annoyance. Make sure that you clean up quickly after you feed your tegu or when he defecates. Old food sitting around will definately attract gnats.


Well what can I do to get rid of them??? Should I change out the mulch completely??? So your saying that they aren't mites??? Do they usually walk fast and do they roam around or they usually stick to the animal???


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## Nero (Jun 24, 2008)

Its just that time of year right now when all the bugs start invading our homes. We have huge cockroach problems here in Nevada and they are unstoppable.


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## BOOSTFEEN (Jun 24, 2008)

Nero said:


> Its just that time of year right now when all the bugs start invading our homes. We have huge cockroach problems here in Nevada and they are unstoppable.


Yea I know I'm always killing all types of bugs in my house. I looked up gnats and found out that some are harmful since some are blood sucking so I think I might just change out all the mulch.


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## angelrose (Jun 24, 2008)

or you can just bake it.


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## BOOSTFEEN (Jun 24, 2008)

angelrose said:


> or you can just bake it.


Yea the last time I baked the mulch in the oven my wife wasn't too fond of the idea so ill just buy new mulch lol


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## Kharnifex (Jun 24, 2008)

i changed out all of my cypress last night, bobby (varnyard) Told me of a really great way to get rid of mites n bugs in your cypress, big black garbage bag, fill it with your mulch and leave it out in the sun. the heat cannot escape, and you cook the little buggers, just make sure there's no hole in the bag.


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## BOOSTFEEN (Jun 24, 2008)

Kharnifex said:


> i changed out all of my cypress last night, bobby (varnyard) Told me of a really great way to get rid of mites n bugs in your cypress, big black garbage bag, fill it with your mulch and leave it out in the sun. the heat cannot escape, and you cook the little buggers, just make sure there's no hole in the bag.


Oh wow I can work with that. I think ill give it a try. is it a proven method??? How did it work out for you???


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## DaveDragon (Jun 24, 2008)

Kharnifex said:


> i changed out all of my cypress last night, bobby (varnyard) Told me of a really great way to get rid of mites n bugs in your cypress, big black garbage bag, fill it with your mulch and leave it out in the sun. the heat cannot escape, and you cook the little buggers, just make sure there's no hole in the bag.


We buy our mulch in 3 cubic foot bags. We could just make sure there are no holes and leave the bags out in the sun on the driveway and bake those little buggers!!


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## BOOSTFEEN (Jun 24, 2008)

Yea I think ill just buy some new mulch and then just leave it out in the sun just to make sure they all bake lol but it isn't really hot here in new york city its only about 85 degrees here. Is this enough to bake the little suckers.


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