# vivarium over run with bark insects...



## cacoonkitty (Aug 10, 2008)

Hi, i have 2 very large vivs...... amoungs others ,the sides of these two enclosures are lined with cork bark tiles on all three sides and on the back and the vivs each have 2 gree tree monitors living in them, i keep the vivs pretty clean as best i can with such large vivs and they have news paper in the bottom as a substrate which i change often as the monitors are quite messy animals so poop all over the place...this is why bark wouldnt be easy to clean at all ,not to mention the water saturating it when the msiters go off a few times a day , the problem is i have lots of humidity and heat inside the vivs and so some how there seems to be tiny brown bark insects now living in the cork, and wander all oven the place , they are tiny a bit like spring tails ,infact some are spring tails ,and they arnt hurting my reptiles and are living in the bark not on the reptiles, but i hate them!!!!!..they seem to get to a stage where they start to get a bit over populated and then i have to take the lizards out and clean as best i can and then use tones of ardap (animal caging insect spray) on the bark sides to kill them...this really is only temporarily the answere as they then come back ofter a month or so ..especialy in the warm weather at the moment , its so irritating, i have tried changing the substrate , and the only method i have found is to keep the vivs practicaly bare with nothin g but plastic hides and plastic plants and newspaper and this sint very nice for my animals so dodnt wnat to do this ..does any one else have these tiny weeny bark insects in there vivs ??? , i simply dont know where they come from or how to get rid of them for ever... they arnt snake mites or harmfull but just an insect that live in bark and wood, thing is i really:censor: hate them.:bash::bash::bash: i think some might come in on the wood chips.


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## Whosthedaddy (Nov 29, 2009)

Remove the water, remove the monitors and spray with Ardap. After spraying the fumes rake an hour or so to go but the effects last months and months.

Only thing to take care of is no water bowl for 24 hours.

You don't have to empty the viv at all, everything gets sprayed, barcthe monitors that is.


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## cacoonkitty (Aug 10, 2008)

Hiya, thanks for the advice...and yep thats exsactly what i have done...it seems to have got rid of most of them ,from what i can see, i used loads of the stuff as the viv is pretty dam big nearly a whole can in fact for two vivs, but i did do this before and they did eventulay come back..stupid creatures..you woyld think they would learn they will die !!!..they arnt snake mites or ones that feed from the animals so arnt any harm to them but they are VERY irritating to me and i absoloutly hate them and im sure they irritate my babies too ..so i guess i will have to buy in shed loads of ardap and treat once a month or so...lucky i am off to a parrot/bird table top sale/show this weekend..they always have it there.:2thumb:: victory:


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## benjo (Oct 31, 2007)

remove the bark tiles? i would if it was possible, else it will be costly


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## cacoonkitty (Aug 10, 2008)

yes that is exsactly what i have had to do..they just kept coming back...stubid bugs....i didnt know what to do as a backgroung so now i have bought a few natural willow trelisis so they can climb the walls of there vivarium....its all i could think to use..i cant really make a face background as it will be to heavy in the end to move because of the grout....oh well hope they like there trelisis...


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

Do they bother the monitors?


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## cacoonkitty (Aug 10, 2008)

i think so...i could imagin its pretty irritating and tickly having these little :censor: running over you when your basking...any way they have gone now....as i have taken the bark tiles out, pretty peeved to be honest as it looked nice and they did use it...plus the wood mites/ and spring tails can migrate and spread to love in the house if your not carefull and i wouldnt want that...im guessing i will need to do a fake rock background now instead....dunno what theme to go with ...they are tree monitors so needs to be rainforesty type of thing....: victory:


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## haunted-havoc (Aug 6, 2009)

fake rock isnt heavy at all. if your that worried about the weight why not make a fibre glass background.

make a background out of poly as you normally would. cover it in pva to keep all the little balls in. once it is dry cover it in a big bit of cling film (a few dabs of pva may be needed to keep it in place. then fibreglass over it. make it strong enough so it will support its own weight. then peel it off the poly and do the other side so it is nice and sturdy

it may need a few wooden supports but that itsnt much bother.

and if the vivs are the same size its even easier cos you can reuse the same poly template


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## cacoonkitty (Aug 10, 2008)

wow that sound great...but soumnds a tiny bit complicated ? or somethin g tha need a bit of practice...hehe, where can i get the fibre glass from?? i have temporarily done up there viv tonight using natural willow trelisis and woodedn branches and fake plants, looks fine and they can climb which is great..however in the long run i really want it to look a bit more pleasing to the eye as well as providing for my babys too of course!!!! so i will try the fake rock/tree background when i have the funds to buy oll the equipment, or perhaps the fibre glass..might need to pracice a bit with that option tho :notworthy:!


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