Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a question. There seems to be some very tiny bugs in my turtles tank. They are very tiny. At first i thoguht they might just be baby fruit flies(i dont' really know what fruit flie babies look like) but now i know they aren't fruit flies.

They are about the size of a grain of salt. They aren't everywhere, mostly under or by the rocks, water dish and piece of wood i have in there. They also like the food dish. I have seen them crawling on the turtle but i haven't noticed them doing any damage(no red marks, or other problems).

I"m wondering what these are, how to get rid of them and keep them from coming back. I"m going to be cleaning out her tank and removing the old substrate and putting a new one in. most of hte stuff i can bleach but how do i clean the plants in her tank?

ok I forgot to add that the little bugs are shaped a like an oval(like a foot ball).

I may know where the mites are coming from. In the other room i have a worm compost bin. I was feeding the worms a few days ago and noticed that the surface had a bunch of tiny little bugs(i'm assuming they are the same bug s in the turtles tank). I emailed the lady i got he worm bin from adn she said it was common for mites to be in the bin with the worms. And that they won't really hurt the worms.

I"m going to try and remove the "mites" from the bin using some of the methodes i have read of websites.Hopeuflly that will help and i will be moving the bin father away from the turtle.

SO how do i clean the turtles tank?especially the plants as i dont' want to reintroduce the bugs to a cleaned tank.

Hi,

I asked the same question a long time ago but it never got answered. Anyway, I found out most likely those little white bugs don't do any harm--at least to the turtles. They feed on leftover food as well as turtle droppings and seem to congregate underneath bark/leaves, etc. I've also checked my turtles and they don't seem to be infested by them.

If you keep the medium a bit dryer, the bugs seem to go away. In high humidity and with ample food, they breed and explode like crazy. However, I haven't found a way to keep the medium dry while keeping humidity high so I've just let the bugs thrive.

Johnny

Thanks but my bugs are black/brown/reddish in color. ALso my substrate is fairly dry, I thought that moisture might help the bugs so i stopped misting as much lately but the bugs haven't changed. I"m also struggling to try and raise my humidity as right now its only 50%(alberta winters are cold and very dry) with daily sprayings.

Do these little bugs fly, or hover at all, or are thay just crawling around?
If they fly when disturbed but land again right away, they could be something called a fungus gnat, which is harmless. These tend to appear in potting soil, etc., that is kept moist, and feed on fungi that are growing in it.
Without seeing them its hard to say for sure what they are, though.
You might consider physical removal: if they seem to congregate in one area, remove and replace the substrate in that area.By doing that you could be removing any eggs, too, and prevent an infestation.
I had noticed tiny white mites starting to appear in my hatchling tank, so I opted to completely change out the substrate, and haven't seen any since, but I don't doubt they'll be back.
As for the plants, if you can remove them from the habitat and take them to the kitchen sink, you can spray them down with water really thoroughly (be sure to do the undersides of the leaves too) to knock any bugs (and eggs) off.
Do the best you can to remove any uneaten food, too, that may be attracting insects.
Keep in mind insects and mites are really good hitch-hikers, so its a good idea to rinse things off before introducing them to your enclosure (including your worms...).
Stephanie

Thanks, They dont' fly, only crawl. I would take a pic but they are very tiny i dont' think i can. I will take some out and put them on some paper so maybe i can describe them better.

But even if htey are harmless, which i think they are, i'm still going to clean out everything.

Thanks

OK i really checked out her tank and there are also a few winged bugs. I"m assuming they are the adult or somethign as they look sort of similar. They look a bit like fruit flies but are more skinny and long. They are also all black. They are smaller then a fruit fly also.

Could this be the adult form of the crawly bugs?

Is there a website that tells you what sort of bugs they might be,pics maybe?

Valerie, there are soooo many different kinds of insects that you might be better off going to the library and checking a book about insects. I don't know of a website (there probably are several). Are you in school? A science or biology teacher might be able to steer you towards a good reference, or help you understand identifying characteristics, and help get you started that way...
Stephanie

Thanks for trying. I guess I will never know as its going to be impossible to look through all the insects

I cleaned out her tank yesterday. PUt in new peatmoss and bark. Fix her tank cover to add more lights and heaters.After fixing the cover the temp finally was able to get to 85* is that a good daytime temp for her?Before fixing the hod the daytime temp was only 75* and 65 at night. and the humidity finally got to a good range(70% up from 40-50% before).

After cleaning out the substrate and putting the new one in i still saw a few of the flying insects. Hopefully their numbers won't increase.

Thanks

Thats a good temperature for the 'warm end'; its a good idea to have a bit of a range of temperatures in different areas of the enclosure, from about 75-85, so that your turtle can move around and regulate its own body temperature when it needs to.
Sounds like you're on the right track.
Stephanie

well i have a spot light on one end and a ceramic heater light at the other. I think there is places she can go that are cooler, like under her house, buried in the peat,behind the plants and so on.

Before i only had the spot light on one end and then the temp would only get up to 75 if i was lucky. And she wasn't too happy, she started not coming out and hasn't eaten in a while. Its really cold where i live(alberta) and it was quite hard to maintain and good temp adn humidity before adding the ceramic heater and mister.

I'll maybe take a pic of the setup tonight. This is only her winter home,she goes outside during the warmer days of summer.