Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've recently purchased an albino Pac-man frog. He his housed in a 10 gallon tank with bed-a-beast soil as the substrate, some fake plants, a shallow water dish, and a half a log for shelter (purchased from the pet store). I've been feeding him crickets so far. He's been eating well, is alert, growing and seems healthy (and boy, is he cute!). Tonight, I was enoying watching him chow down and was looking at his habitat when I noticed these tiny white things moving around in his water. And I mean really tiny. Then I noticed that they were also in the soil, and on the log. Yikes!!!! What are they and where did they come from??? Will a throrough cleaning and srubbing, replacing the substrate etc with hot water be enough? The only thing I can think of was that I tried to feed him a wax worm with tweezers and the worm let a few drops of something out while trying to escape. Just thought it was worm poop.

Soak your log in hot soapy water for about 30 minutes. Rinse log after. Change soil. Wash plant with hot soapy water and rinse off. clean cage. hopefully that will help

Um, I know what it is but I need to ask questions to prevent this problem:
Do you feed the guy ONLY store bought feed(including live insects)?
Do you wash your hands before handling him and his cage?
Do you have other animals and to they go outside?
How often do you change his cage over including the dirt?
Do you have the little guy and his cage around house plants? It sounds like you have a mite problem some how. This link explains all about them.
http://mrec.ifas.ufl.edu/Foliage/entomol/ncstate/mite.htm
They sound like Cyclamen Mites, if not that one its another type of mite. basically you will need to change and wash thoroughly almost EVERYTHING. first clean the cute lil' guy good and thorough, grab some type of tupperware or plasticware and clean wil some and warm water, poke some holes in the lid and put him in it. Put that aside in a warm spot so he won't get cold. buy some more reptile dirt and soil, get rid of ALL dirt and soil. Wash vigorously the pots they were in, the frog's cage, and everything in the cage. Do this every week until you don't see them ANYWHERE after a while.
plant mites

Thanks for the help! I had gone back to the pet store to ask about it and they had no clue! Here's the answers to your questions - yes, I have only bought store bought food - mainly crickets, I haven't handled him because I thought I would do more harm than good, and having just got him, I didn't want to stress him out. I do have other pets, but they are all indoor only animals (cats and a parrot), I hadn't changed the cage yet at the time as I just got him, and I don't have any live house plants in my house. I did do a complete cage clean out last night, scrubbed everything thoroughly, isolated the little guy, changed the soil, scrubbed the glass. I'll keep my eye on it and keep cleaning regularly. I agree, they did look like mites, but I'm just not sure how they got there. I'll check out that site as well. Thanks again!

probably springtails, just clean the tank. google springtails and see if anything looks familiar.

Yes! They are probably springtails! (great food for small amphibs) They will not hurt anything, and are naturally in most wood, bark, and substrate. They actually could be beneficial to the viv, as they eat the molds associated with decaying vegetation. I would never use any soaps to wash a cage. If anything use a 10% bleach/water solution.