tiny bugs in my vivarium!! help!!!

cacoonkitty

cacoonkitty

New member
hi guys,
i hope someone can help me, i recently i had a problem with mites on a newly bought rough neck monitor and now i am pretty sure she has rid of them but i am now vey icky about these creatures and am begining to wory whenever i see a small moving insect in the viv room worrying the will become out of hand and take over, i know its probably me being silly but had a real prob and had to compleatly throw away all her stuff and treat her and the room totaly to make sure and also the house has just been re carpeted as we are decorating so would hate to have a problem spred to the carpets, i was just setting up my new viv earlier for my cresteds and when i had finished i decided to go an clean the rest of the glass on the other vivs i have containing my geckos and feed and spray them all rather than later,so anyway when i was cleaning my day gecko- gold dusts viv i brushed some of the bark to one side to pick up some poop and had a good look at the wood chips and in it i saw tiny,tiny weeny little insects, im pretty sure they arnt spring tails as they arnt white or elongated but a pale brown and sort of oval i think, they have legs and walk quite well and are so small and delicate looking its hard to make them out, they arnt on my geckos at all and they are fine so not repile mites i dont think or i would see them on my animals right?? so any ideas on what they are and will they hurt my animals...should i change the substrate or will these things always be presant in live planted vivs??? please help as worrying now.:( sorry about spellin am not the greatest!!:shock:
 
Nayte

Nayte

New member
Im not one with experience or knowledge of vivariums, but if there's wood, could it be termites??
 
cacoonkitty

cacoonkitty

New member
hi ,thanks for the reply, thing is they really dont look like termites they are sooo small and look like mites of some sort but as i said the geckos them self are fine and have no mites on them and these things live in the soil, i may be being very picky expecting to have a live planted viv and have no insects in it and wouldnt mind if they were spring tails, but im not sure they are as they are sort of roundish with legs at the front and side and they dont jump or anything,rather than elongated and plale in colour, of spring tails,i want a viv insect free(appart from feeder ones of course) but is this possible? i have had the substrate in this viv for 6 months with the hydroballs underneath and coco fibre on top coverd with repti bark as it is live planted and i replace the top layer when needed and keep the viv clean by spot cleaning poop ect ect and glass is cleaned every day with a disinfectant surface cleaner (reptile one) and also wiping the leaves ect ect so it looks very clean and geckos are fine but these crawly tiny creaturs harmless or will the overtake and spread to my house and vivs ect ect, is this normal or do i have a problem here?? please guys i need so more info!!! panicing!
 
cacoonkitty

cacoonkitty

New member
yes i think this is what they are thanks very much,..i have now replaced all the substrate in all my vivs after disinfecting everything and ardap..ing the bottoms (this is a safe pesticide for reps) so far so good as no sign yet of the beasties..i know they werent hurting my reps just didnt like them !!! hope they stay awy now!:biggrin:
 
D

Dragoon

New member
One pest removal suggestion is to use dry ice to fill the tank with CO2. this will kill everything off and give a big plant growth spike.
 
cacoonkitty

cacoonkitty

New member
yes i did see the post about that a while ago, but where can i get CO2 form?? as i live in the u.k i dunno if we can get stuff like this here?? sounds an easy task tho!!, and as you say ..good for the plants!:biggrin:
 
rx7master

rx7master

New member
i had these too, seems to me they came from my live plants. they would cover any dropped banana chunks that hit the substrate in my day gecko cage. (i occasionally offered my day gecko a small peice of bananna as a treat). i never knew what they were. they never were on my gecko so i didnt worry too much.
 
cacoonkitty

cacoonkitty

New member
i suppose i can be a bit icky about these things,im not in the least bit worried about touching or seeing crickets or catapillers or food insects at all, its JUST mites, i hate them!!, so far i havent seen them return however i have only recently renewed all of the substrates ect ect so i wouldnt exspect to see them yet, and i also used a special insecticide for animal enclosures that i was recomended to use by other rep keepers...ardap, and it seems to be ok so far and all my geckos are fine too 4 weeks on , as i said these crawling creatures were not effecting my geckos at all , they are all very healthy and active and i keep my enclosures very clean and shiny as i like to see my animals, and think it helps to keep them happy and healthy and it looks alot nicer too,
perhaps i have just got a bit of an issue with mites, i really just hate them!!!, hopefully they will not show there ugly faces around my geckos again!!!:fight:
 
cacoonkitty

cacoonkitty

New member
hiya, i dont think they are, (i wouldnt mind if that were the case, it doesnt matter how clean i keep it,i even boil the substrate before i put it into the vuv, i bake the wood and totaly bleach the glass vivarium, and rinse properly, but it desnt seem to be as bad if at all in the hotter vivs, its just the cooler ones for my leaftails, they are just fine but these little critters keep popping up, tiny like a speck of dust but moving acros the glass and in the substrate, the longer i leave them i am worried they will become over run, so i have cleaned the viv again now..all of them just to stop cross contamination, i have also used the residual insecticide for animal enclosures i was recomended around the room and the vivs, its safe for reps, but these things are sooo anoying...do you think i am over reacting?? the animals are fine. dont have live plantings in ther now either ....just immitation,coco fibre(boiled\0 wood and bark (baked)
 
kruler

kruler

New member
the stress from the constant cleaning of the enclosures may be worse for your animals than the pests are. If theyre not on your geckos, I suspect they are harmless and may even be beneficial by breaking down droppings.
 
cacoonkitty

cacoonkitty

New member
yes i know you are probably very right,and i certainly dont want that!! trhey only seem presant in the cooler vivs as all the warmer vivs are free of them, weird!! i think they are just coming from any plants and wood and decor that is not treated first ect, as have just finished building a massive enclosure from new materials and glass for my new jewels---a sexed pair of green tree monitors, and they have large branches and big plants inside and they are on newspaper for ease of cleaning ect , and i saw one bug in there already ,on the glass !!, its a pin point size and i squished it , but im guessing that they are un-stoppable so im going to have to try to learn to live with them i guess!!,thanks for the replys tho!;-)
 
T

Tdizzle10

New member
If you are really that paranoid, take the wood and your reptiles out of the tank, put dry ice in the tank then seal the tank up so the dry ice can fumigate the tank and kill all the critters. Soak the wood in water then put it in the oven at 300F till it is dry and that will disinfect it.
 
Deadly_Kermit

Deadly_Kermit

New member
Are you still having this problem?
Do you use crickets as a feeder? Adult crickets are very quick to lay eggs in anything that is moist. Hatchling crickets look and act the way you described. Try to catch one and get a magnifying glass on it.
 
Riverside Reptiles

Riverside Reptiles

Administrator (HMFIC)
I get different little critters in all of my live planted set ups. For the most part, I don't worry about them. I figure that they're more or less of some benefit. If they're bothering the geckos in any way...that's a different story.

As for where to get CO2...I wouldn't bother with dry ice. Just go to your local welding/gas supply shop and tell them you need the smallest tank of co2 they have. They'll want a small deposit on the tank, but you get the deposit back when you return the tank. Much easier than messing with dry ice IMO.

Also, out of curiosity, is that vield in your avatar real? Or photoshopped?
 
cacoonkitty

cacoonkitty

New member
hiya, i havent seen any now for a few weeks, but i have been trying not to worrie or search for them to be honest, it may be that sice the cold weather has kicked in with winter they are dormant at the moment, i do use crickets as feeders yes, as well as other things like wax worms and phoenix worms but i dont think these are babys crickets as i have seen tiny cricket nymphs before and they look quite diffrent,and these climbe on the glass aswell as in the soil, lets just hope they have died of for the time being !!!!
 
cliff_f

cliff_f

New member
Riverside Reptiles said:
I get different little critters in all of my live planted set ups. For the most part, I don't worry about them. I figure that they're more or less of some benefit. If they're bothering the geckos in any way...that's a different story.
Click to expand...

I have little bugs in my tanks all the time to. As long as they are not bothering your geckos I wouldn't worry about them. If you are going to use a natural type setup you are going to have weird little creatures in there all the time. I really wouldn't worry about it to much. Just keep a eye on your animals and if they do seem to bother them then take action. If not I wouldn't waste the time to try and kill them if they are not bothering your animals.
 
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