Pests in T's enclosure

[reptyls]

I have started seeing these little buggers in a couple of my t's enclosures. I keep my T's on dry eco earth. These little things are building tunnels along the glass and I find them inside and outside of the enclosures. They kind of look like the little sugar ants. How can I i.d. them and get rid of them? I have attached a couple of pics.

 

[Kodi]

The pictures aren't all that clear but they kind of look like pseudoscorpions to me. They feed on mites and ants so I think they could be beneficial, but I've never heard of them in a T's enclosure so let's wait for someone more experienced to weigh in.
If they are ants you need to switch out the substrate immediately.

 

[shining]

How many legs do they have?
Are they climbing glass and plastic or climbing silicon?
How do they move? Fast and erratic? Slow and predictable? Do they jump?
Are they anywhere else in the house that you've noticed?
Do they have pedipalps?
Are they on your Ts?
Are any of your Ts near a molt?

I'm no expert but the answers could help.

 

[EulersK]

Unintentional animals in a tarantula's enclosure are universally bad. It doesn't really matter what they are, you should focus on eradicating them and then figuring out how they got in there in the first place.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Pests in Pets enclosures living together & singing "Hallelujah, Yankee Doodle"? That wouldn't happen :-s

 

[Chris LXXIX]

I tell you this: better safe than sorry, man. Therefore better the stress of a re-house instead of worst issue/s later. Yeah, I don't know now which exactly those are, nor I can ID well via your pics but definitely from the little I've seen, I wouldn't want one of those even near one of my enclosures.

Just for remain into that lovely, annoying, status quo "safe mode" that never harmed no one so far :-s

 

[petkokc]

Interesting, never saw those...

 

[reptyls]

The re-housings started last night. They are only in a couple of enclosures. They look like either sugar ants or grease ants, they are moving in a line from the enclosure up the wall and into a tiny crack. I have not witnessed them anywhere near the T's, only in the substrate tunneling around. I will be filling the crack in the corner of the ceiling tonight and finishing with re-housing the rest of the affected T's and keeping a close eye on the other enclosures. I will also try to get some better pictures of the little bastards.

 

[JumpingSpiderLady]

If they are ants, you can sprinkle cinnamon all around the enclosures until you're sure they are no longer in your home. Ants will not walk on cinnamon.

 

[shining]

The re-housings started last night. They are only in a couple of enclosures. They look like either sugar ants or grease ants, they are moving in a line from the enclosure up the wall and into a tiny crack. I have not witnessed them anywhere near the T's, only in the substrate tunneling around. I will be filling the crack in the corner of the ceiling tonight and finishing with re-housing the rest of the affected T's and keeping a close eye on the other enclosures. I will also try to get some better pictures of the little bastards.

Could be termites too. They rely on pheromones to walk a line and are attracted to cellulose in coco husk/fiber, peat and mulch in farm fields. If you live near some planting grounds this wouldn't surprise me. If they are indeed termites, they have no interest in your Ts.

As for calling an unforeseen animal in an enclosure an uninvited pest is a bit rude, we set the perfect invitation up, an ideal habitat. If you build it they will....

There are some beneficial critters we attract like springtails and cleaner mites. Not everything is negative, stop the fear mongering!

 

[Scolopendra1989]

They have the pale colorations of small termites, I'd hope to get a more up close look at them but they could be fleas or something. If you see them working together or acting communal, I'd say get your T out of there. If you see a large set of jaws on the pests, get your Ts out. Also if you see the pests pick up any objects in the environment they are most likely termites and you do not want to deal with them antagonizing your Ts. They could be pseudo scorps and could be helpful, it's important that you identify the species but I'd say better safe than sorry. Good luck though!

 

[lunarae]

The cinnamon deal actually only seems to work on specific species of ants. At least from my experience. I would try it but I wouldn't count on it. It may work better on the smaller species of ants but I didn't have luck with that on the larger species of ants and it detouring them. Considering you said you saw them forming a line and moving into a crack in the wall though it sounds like ants. I would suggest rehousing, added with putting some ant bait around your enclosures for the ants to find instead and take back to the nest. They have the kind where they take it back to the nest and it'll kill the queen, that's going to be your best bet long term. It's what I've done around here. Now only ants I have are the ones I want in my formicariums.

 

[JumpingSpiderLady]

The cinnamon deal actually only seems to work on specific species of ants. At least from my experience. I would try it but I wouldn't count on it. It may work better on the smaller species of ants but I didn't have luck with that on the larger species of ants and it detouring them. Considering you said you saw them forming a line and moving into a crack in the wall though it sounds like ants. I would suggest rehousing, added with putting some ant bait around your enclosures for the ants to find instead and take back to the nest. They have the kind where they take it back to the nest and it'll kill the queen, that's going to be your best bet long term. It's what I've done around here. Now only ants I have are the ones I want in my formicariums.

I've only ever had a sugar ant problem. Annoying things. Cinnamon worked against them.

 

[viper69]

Interesting, never saw those...

Neither have I because the pic is so blurry.

 

[lunarae]

I've only ever had a sugar ant problem. Annoying things. Cinnamon worked against them.

Yeah. I had carpenter ants and they just laughed at me I think. XD I know it worked for my aunt against the red and black ones which is where I heard about it. But the bigger species I think they could care less.

 

[REEFSPIDER]

Hang me out to die if you must but hear me out on this...

I know that everyone generally agrees that small flies/bugs/pests in the enclosure are bad. But don't you think there are more diverse and probably dangerous "pests" in a tarantulas Wild enviornment? I mean people love to fall back on the old "tarantulas are millions of years old and they can handle a lot of crap" line. But why wouldn't they come with adaptations to cope with such pests also???

 

[Kodi]

Hang me out to die if you must but hear me out on this...

I know that everyone generally agrees that small flies/bugs/pests in the enclosure are bad. But don't you think there are more diverse and probably dangerous "pests" in a tarantulas Wild enviornment? I mean people love to fall back on the old "tarantulas are millions of years old and they can handle a lot of crap" line. But why wouldn't they come with adaptations to cope with such pests also???

I think the problem is that they're constantly condensed in their living space, opposed to in their natural habitat where a pest occasionally crosses the T's path.

 

[tnerd93]

Unintentional animals in a tarantula's enclosure are universally bad. It doesn't really matter what they are, you should focus on eradicating them and then figuring out how they got in there in the first place.

oh i never knew t's evolved in a completely sterile environment devoid of any other animals, thanks for the info

 

[EulersK]

oh i never knew t's evolved in a completely sterile environment devoid of any other animals, thanks for the info

They also didn't evolve in captivity. There's a picture floating around of an Aphonopelma that made a burrow in a pile of cedar chips.

What works in the wild doesn't necessarily work in captivity.

 

[JumpingSpiderLady]

I'm going to use a fish example because I know fishkeeping. Fish in the wild can and do get ich. It's a parasite. It will not kill wild fish because when it drops off to continue its lifecycle the fish will have moved on before the offspring get to the parasite stage again. In a tank, it's a different story. Ich will kill captive fish because they have nowhere to go.
In the wild, a tarantula may get chewed on by a bug and move away to escape it, therefore continuing to survive. As our pets, they don't have that option.