So I was transferring my crickets to another cage so I could clean out theirs (I keep soil in there to lay babies). I generally keep the soil damn so the eggs can hatch and all that. Well, the last batch of babies had hatched a few weeks ago, and all the adult crickets have already died of age. Today, while transferring, I noticed at the corner of my eye something moving in the wet spot, where my water crystals usually lay to keep the soil damp. I looked very carefully, and there were a ton of white little bugs, nearly microscopable, crawling around in the wet soil. Over time, they burried themselves in the soil and I had to move it around to expose them.
No where else in the cage there are any of these. They are sticking to the wet soil only. Also, I wanted to note, that I cannot find these things ANYWHERE inside my other cricket cage (The one without soil).
Before feeding my tarantula's any of these crickets, I wanted to make sure these aren't some sort of mite or anything and are only soil pests or something. If they're mites, I might have to start my cricket breeding over again...*sigh*
let me know as soon as you guys can, thanks!
edit: uhh, I take that back. I just checked the dish that holds the water crystals in my "dry" cage and there ARE a few crawling around in there...Now I'm really worried. :\
edit2: there's a small pile of dead crickets and cricket skins in the corner of my cage. Digging through it and looking carefully, there's NOT a single one of the white bugs. Apparently they're only staying in wet spots...
No where else in the cage there are any of these. They are sticking to the wet soil only. Also, I wanted to note, that I cannot find these things ANYWHERE inside my other cricket cage (The one without soil).
Before feeding my tarantula's any of these crickets, I wanted to make sure these aren't some sort of mite or anything and are only soil pests or something. If they're mites, I might have to start my cricket breeding over again...*sigh*
let me know as soon as you guys can, thanks!
edit: uhh, I take that back. I just checked the dish that holds the water crystals in my "dry" cage and there ARE a few crawling around in there...Now I'm really worried. :\
edit2: there's a small pile of dead crickets and cricket skins in the corner of my cage. Digging through it and looking carefully, there's NOT a single one of the white bugs. Apparently they're only staying in wet spots...