Please tell me this is spring tails!

hassman789

Arachnobaron
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I have been noticing little white bugs in my curly hairs enclosure. This is seriously making me nervouse. I notice them outside on the table its on too. I once saw one crawling on her leg. And I can focus on any random spot in the tank and I will somtimes see one. I've looked at some pictures and from what I've seen springtails have long bodies and the predatory mites kind of look like ticks. The things I have seem to compare to springtails (I hope) I have a picture so I was hoping if someone could confirm they are springtails.
Sorry the pictures not that good but they are TINY

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48944632@N02/4854198180/

And spring tails are NOT bad right? Do they pose a threat to my tarantula? And could this have somthing to do with leaving the molt in the burrow?
 

MichiganReptiles

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Google springtails and look at the images. To me it doesn't look like one, but maybe it's larger than I'm used to seeing?
 

Warren Bautista

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It could possibly be a springtail with it's tail folded in.


Definitely not a mite, those things are just blobs with legs, I can clearly see defined body sections on that thing.
 

QuantumGears

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Apr 11, 2009
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I'm not seeing the furcula which would indicate spring-tails, but it doesn't look like a mite. Maybe its a newly hatched cricket like MOBugGuy suggested?
 

hassman789

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Oh my god I just had a scary thought! could this be a baby termites!?:eek:
I typed in baby termite on google images and there was one that looked alot like what I have! I got the hide from outside during the winter and never baked it or anything. Stupid me! Does anyone think I have termites!? Could they have come in on the wood and been dormant until now? Either way I'll be rehousing in a few days. and I saw the tiny bugs a short distance away outside my leopard geckos enclosure, but I don't see any in the enclosure. If I had termites, would I be seeing large ones too? Because all the bugs I'm seeing are the same size.
 

hassman789

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Oh I just did some more searching and I am pretty sure they are booklice. I read here they are harmless to tarantulas. Now I just have to worry about them getting to the rest of my house and being a pain in the butt!
 

Cirith Ungol

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Just for the record, springtails are good for an enclosure as they clean up, as are predatory mites, which eat other mites. Other mites can be any sort of mite. As long as they don't crawl in bunches on your animal or if you find hordes of them lodged into the animal's soft spots but in stead find hordes of them on the substrate (around debris) then you're alright.
 

hassman789

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There are no hords of them at all. I just notice the occasional one running around. I'm rehosing both my tarantulas in that room so while they out I'll use some cleaning agent (not to worry sprayed driectly onto the paper towel) to kill off the ones on the table (and of course to clean). Then I will be sure to use lots of water to wash alllll the cleaning agent off.
 

micheldied

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I've seen those occasionally in my enclosures before.
But they've never done anything that I could see affected my Ts.
 

Stan Schultz

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I got some better pictures of them. They are from under a microscope. ...
Definitely psocids, aka "booklice." See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psocoptera and http://www.lexic.us/definition-of/psocids. These can't tolerate very wet conditions, and cleaning the cage (simple dish soap and water) will almost surely kill them.

They are capable of tormenting the tarantula by crawling over it (and maybe getting into its book lungs) if allowed to become too numerous, but are generally regarded as relatively harmless.

Unfortunately, they're a lot like cockroaches: Once you see one they're all over the place! Which means that they're also living in your antique book collection, the carpeting throughout your home, even your soiled clothing hamper!

Wash out any tarantula cages where you find them, and otherwise don't worry a lot about them.
 

Bill S

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Picture definitely looks like a psocid or book louse. (Not to be confused with body lice - something completely different.) The book lice I've dealt with (in caves) eat the mold that grows on bat guano, and are in turn preyed upon by pseudoscorpions. In your case, the booklice are probably feeding on molds growing in the substrate in your tarantula cages. Maybe on the remains of old food items or on tarantula poop. The adults are flying insects. If they do not find their ways into other cages or to other food sources, they should disappear eventually. However, if they find other food sources in the house they may be around for a while.
 

hassman789

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I washed the enclosures and baked the wood that was in them. But I'm sure I didnt get rid of the ones on the table and everything because they were probably also on the ground and everything. So I'm hoping I don't find anymore!
 
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