Finding small cricket-like bugs in tank

[gzanow]

This may be a tough question for people to help answer, but I'll do my best to explain what is going on here. I have 3 Leopard Geckos in a 75 gallon tank. I have had all of them for about a month and a half now with no problems. Yesterday I noticed that there were some really small bugs in the area of the water dish...They look like pinhead crickets, but I don't know how they would be able to hatch in the tank? I've heard they could be mites or gnats, but I do not believe they look the same.

I have ceramic tile for substrate. I clean out the feces daily, change the water daily and add reptisafe to the water as well. All of the hides and decor are either new or have been cleaned recently. I do keep the water on the hot side, would that be a problem? The tank temperatures average 85 on the hot side and 70-75 on the cool side. I buy about 60-80 large crickets a week and keep them in a separate small tank and give them Flukers cricket food. The tank also has mealworms available for the geckos and a calcium dish.

Any suggestions on what these small bugs might be or if I should be worried. Has anyone else come across this? The crickets that I feed to the geckos are always gone by the next morning, so its not like they are living in the tank for periods of time. Any help would be awesome! Thanks

 

[gzanow]

I've done some more research and I think they are Springtail bugs. I've read that they are harmless, but annoying. They live in hot humid areas, which would probably explain why they are near the water dish. I will take everything out and clean the entire tank and relocate the water dish to the cooler side of the tank. Hope this helps anyone else if they have similar problems.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Welcome to Geckos Unlimited

Good that these leos are in a huge tank! Just curious about their sexes?

Ceramic tile makes an excellent, trouble-free substrate.

Are you particularly concerned about your drinking water? I just use tap water for all my geckos and keep it on the cool side.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Have you warm temperatures like this somewhere in the tank?

Temperatures for all leos regardless of size:
88-93 F (31-34 C) ground temp at warm end inside the warm dry hide
no greater than 85 F (29.5 C) air temp - 4 inches above ground on the warm end
no greater than 75 F (24.5) air temp - 4 inches above ground on the cool end

Leave the UTH on 24/7. Can turn off overhead heating at night.

How many hides?

What type calcium in the tank? Are you dusting and supplementing with other vitamins...calcium?

 

[gzanow]

Thanks for the welcome! The tank has 6 hides, one which they have converted into a bathroom. I'm not quite sure on all the sexes yet. I know one is for sure a female, but the other two I got at a pet store and they are kind of small yet.

I'm not too concerned about the water itself. I just have always used repti-safe just as a precaution, but I think these sprintail bugs are becoming a problem because I do have the water on the hot side and it is probably about 90-95 degrees in that area. The tank is 70-75 on the cool side with hides available and 90-95 on the hot side with hides as well. I dust my crickets 3-4 times a week with Rep-Cal and then then 1-2 days a week I spray the food with the Vitamin supplement that I bought from Petco.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Thanks for the welcome! The tank has 6 hides, one which they have converted into a bathroom. I'm not quite sure on all the sexes yet. I know one is for sure a female, but the other two I got at a pet store and they are kind of small yet.

I'm not too concerned about the water itself. I just have always used repti-safe just as a precaution, but I think these sprintail bugs are becoming a problem because I do have the water on the hot side and it is probably about 90-95 degrees in that area. The tank is 70-75 on the cool side with hides available and 90-95 on the hot side with hides as well. I dust my crickets 3-4 times a week with Rep-Cal and then then 1-2 days a week I spray the food with the Vitamin supplement that I bought from Petco.

You are welcome, gznaow! I like to see new members get off to a good start.

So you have a 75 gallon tank. What are the dimensions, especially length x width?

Even in a tank that large, only one male is allowed. Housing more than a single male per enclosure is asking for trouble.

You could be overdoing the vitamins and calcium. Like the dust on type, not a spray on. Please give me the exact brand names and types of your supplements...with or without vitamin D3. Too much can be as harmful as too little.

BTW, any chance that you posted the picture before maybe as you were creating it? Cool custom build!

 

[gzanow]

The tank dimensions are 48" x 18" x 21". I was told to always dust my crickets, otherwise the geckos wouldn't be getting enough calcium. I leave a dish of the Rep-Cal w/ Vitamin D3 in the tank and dust my crickets with it as well. On days I do not dust I Spray them with Zilla Vitamin supplement food spray. Let me know if I should be doing something different or how many times I should be dusting them. All the geckos are still under a year old the for sure female being the oldest at 10 months. The other two are still a little big smaller but seem to get a long just fine. I'll see if I can check the sexes later today. Do you know about what age the males start fighting with each other?

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

The tank dimensions are 48" x 18" x 21". I was told to always dust my crickets, otherwise the geckos wouldn't be getting enough calcium. I leave a dish of the Rep-Cal w/ Vitamin D3 in the tank and dust my crickets with it as well. On days I do not dust I Spray them with Zilla Vitamin supplement food spray. Let me know if I should be doing something different or how many times I should be dusting them. All the geckos are still under a year old the for sure female being the oldest at 10 months. The other two are still a little big smaller but seem to get a long just fine. I'll see if I can check the sexes later today. Do you know about what age the males start fighting with each other?

Please remove the calcium with vitamin D3 from the tank. Chance of D3 overdosage with free access to D3 (or multivitamins).

Keep a small bottle cap of plain calcium carbonate in the tank 24/7 for backup only. If you notice much licking going on something else is amiss.

A D3 containing calcium like Rep-Cal's (better Zoo Med's Reptivite with D3/A acetate) can be lightly dusted only 2-3x per week at the very most. Otherwise too much dusting.

What are the contents of the Zilla vitamin spray?

How long have you had the 10 mo female? Don't know an exact age when males will begin to fight. Once the males mature even a little (and they will know who's who before we do ), aggression probably will happen.

Did you create the ledges? Nice work .

 

[gzanow]

Thanks for all the info and ideas! Yep I created the ledges and it took quite the amount of time. I've had the female as long as the other two geckos, but I got her from someone else. Can I just stop using the vitamin spray and dust the crickets 2-3 times a week?

 

[gzanow]

Could I use the Repti Calcium without D3 by zoo med for the calcium that goes in the bottle cap?

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Thanks for all the info and ideas! Yep I created the ledges and it took quite the amount of time. I've had the female as long as the other two geckos, but I got her from someone else. Can I just stop using the vitamin spray and dust the crickets 2-3 times a week?

Could I use the Repti Calcium without D3 by zoo med for the calcium that goes in the bottle cap?

You are welcome.

You are V-E-R-Y creative! Wish that I had just some of your skills!!! Hope that you will share a picture of this on GU's Naturalistic Vivarium forum.

Yes, Zoo Med's Repti Calcium without D3 is a fine product for the in-tank bottle cap. The human NOW brand of pure calcium carbonate is fine too and cheaper. Perhaps some health foods store near you carries that.

If you only use Rep-Cal's calcium with D3 for light dustings 2-3x per week your leos will be missing vitamin A acetate. That is important for eye and skin health. That's one reason why I asked about the vitamins in Zilla's spray.

Vitamin D3 can also be dusted too much. That's why lightly dusted 3x per week is max.

 

[cricket4u]

You are welcome.

You are V-E-R-Y creative! Wish that I had just some of your skills!!! Hope that you will share a picture of this on GU's Naturalistic Vivarium forum.

Yes, Zoo Med's Repti Calcium without D3 is a fine product for the in-tank bottle cap. The human NOW brand of pure calcium carbonate is fine too and cheaper. Perhaps some health foods store near you carries that.

If you only use Rep-Cal's calcium with D3 for light dustings 2-3x per week your leos will be missing vitamin A acetate. That is important for eye and skin health. That's one reason why I asked about the vitamins in Zilla's spray.

Vitamin D3 can also be dusted too much. That's why lightly dusted 3x per week is max.

Hi,

It was so obvious how much you care about their well being that I just had to offer a few suggestions and warnings.

You mentioned you leave worms in a dish, do you leave food or fruits for them as well? Gnats are very common if so.

The vitamin spray is no good, buy a powdered supplement instead.

I do not see any thermostat probes or digital thermometers?

You may want to use bottled water instead of adding Reptisafe. I'm a bit wary of the ingredients and it may be best not to risk it. Too much extra stuff for my comfort level anyway.

If you feed large amounts of insects, it may be best to switch to a calcium supplement with less D3. I'm guessing they're young and eat plenty and on a daily basis which can lead to too much d3.

Main problem
They normally behave while very young, however the situation can change in a heart beat once they are juveniles. You will have to wait until they are juveniles in order to sex them correctly, by then a young male can attempt to mate with a young female. A female this young is underweight and if she becomes gravid, there's a huge chance of becoming eggbound and death can follow.

Well, that's all I can think of. I have to at least give you some credit for the set-up, although I don't agree with housing them together. Nice to see the effort and space.