Tiny white bug

[kimbosaur]

Last night I noticed a tiny white bug scurry from my snake's hide. Only reason I noticed it was because of the black cardboard background. It was probably just under a mm including its legs and was white. I was reading up on mites and it seems they are usually black or dark red. Other than cleaning up the tank, any precautions I need to take or should that be okay. Anybody know what it is? I want to say a dustmite but it's too big.

[guidofatherof5]

What bedding are you using?
Sounds like a wood bug(my name for them).

[kimbosaur]

Aspen shavings! Could that be a source?

[guidofatherof5]

Might be. You might need to heat your bedding before you use it.
Another way to solve the problem is a spray of Provent-A-Mite.
It's an equal opportunity bug killer.:)

[PINJOHN]

don't have a clue to what it is, except to say it isn't a mite, unless they have developed a new giant strain, in my small experience with them they were of a size that you had to look carefully to convince yourself that they were indeed living creatures, certainly no scurrying
say an extra hail Mary tonight for avoiding a fate worse than death ;)

[Light of Dae]

I'd be inclined to agree with Steve, Wood bug creature sort a thing, Bake your aspen like a tray of cookies :) around 350F for 10-15mins :D Should kill off any nasty little thangs. Oh and if you don't like the smell of toasty wood, boil a little water with vanilla in it n your house will smell like your actually baking cookies :) <<<Awesome trick I learnt for selling houses, makes them more inviting. Always did it in a kettle so I could leave it on the stove without it looking outa place.

[kimbosaur]

That's a relief! At the same time, it's pretty annoying. From what I've been reading, at $8 for an 8.8 L pack, I've been overpaying for it. You'd expect it to come bug-free at the least.


...and now I'm craving for fresh-baked cookies.

[Light of Dae]

:D I got an AWESOME recipe for chocolate chip cookies <<<---The best *Insert drooling face here*

... Think I'm going to bake some actually... Its freaking COLD n WINDY n SNOWING n brr stupid winter... Sure glad I brought in some firewood last night when it wasn't storming outside!

The Aspen shavings I had bought from Walmart was a 10L bag for only $7 after tax :) and I haven't noticed any bugs in it, mind you now I'm just using dry coco husk, but I'll be mixing in some aspen to use it up.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I have never seen any bugs in my aspen... but if it's white... it's probably harmless. Mites are black and they are pretty obvious. They crawl on the snakes, get in their eyes and will be on your hands after touching the snake.

[Light of Dae]

Ha, I searched 'tiny white bugs in wood' on google n found this lol

http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/garter-snake-lounge/4473-tiny-white-bugs-wood-shavings.html

s (http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/garter-snake-lounge/4473-tiny-white-bugs-wood-shavings.html)eems like a dejivu :D

[d_virginiana]

I don't know how this thread went from discussing bugs to cupcakes in such a short time, but I'm not complaining about it :D I'm personally going to try making baklava this weekend if I can find the stuff for it.

Hm.. When I see bugs in my animals' bedding, I usually pretend I didn't see it. Then I check back a day or two later, and if there is still something there I swallow my aversion to dealing with insects and do a bedding-change. (Never had mites, just random things like fruit fly larvae and cricket hoppers...)

[katach]

Ok I did some looking and I think it's a wood mite. Image and instructions on how to rid them.
How to Get Rid of Wood Mites | eHow.com (http://www.ehow.com/how_5631467_rid-wood-mites.html)
https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTYkzZZMFomLicXuTw5uSY_kyAppyJmg M4iQ6rG4Tl25FIoupa5

Ok, now back to cupcakes and cookies! :D

[infernalis]

Ok, now back to cupcakes and cookies! :D

http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/garter-snake-lounge/1293-its-oh-so-quiet-shh-shh.html

Thanks..

[EasternGirl]

Weird...I put a post up here the other night, but apparently it didn't go up for some reason. I said that I wouldn't mind having a recipe for peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies :rolleyes:. Wasn't there a post up here about peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies? Good grief! What is going on...am I imagining things?

[katach]

It got moved to the oh so quiet thread. This was getting way too off track. (sorry)

[EasternGirl]

no that's fine...at least I know I'm not losing my mind!

[ConcinusMan]

Still trying to figure out what white bugs have to do with cookies... but nevermind.:cool:. Sounds like a harmless bug that can often be seen in soil/decaying plant matter. However, I've never seen them unless the substrate was dirty and/or too damp. They don't do well unless there is significant moisture and/or bacteria growth/decomp. Might want to make sure your substrate is dry and clean and humidity isn't too high. The same kind of conditions that allow these bugs to thrive can cause problems for your snake.

Have any live plants/soil been in the tank? What about wood objects? There's many ways for them to get in there but they won't survive for long if the substrate is dry as it should be.

[Mommy2many]

I've had them. Someone once told me they come from plants and are harmless, though no less bothersome to us (people, not snakes) I still get them on occasion, though I have no live plants in my tanks. I do use aspen shavings and have live plants near and around my tanks. They are tiny, white and I have seen them on my snakes. More of a PITA I believe than anything else.

[kimbosaur]

It looked exactly like the picture Kat posted.

As for the enclosure, the humidity doesn't seem to be too high at 55%. The substrate is completely dry pretty much all of the time. Either way, I think I will be switching substrates because my albino regurgitated a piece of Tilapia about 30 mins after I fed it to her and it was covered with aspen. I'm still nervous of whether or not she got any into her system, so I will be getting either some newspaper pellets or repti-bark.

[katach]

We switched to care fresh it lasts a bit longer in the tanks and is about the same price when you take into account the frequency of changing. It doesn't stick to the food as much either. The pinkies I got from Layne Labs were so amazing that when they defrost they aren't sticky at all.

[ConcinusMan]

It looked exactly like the picture Kat posted.

As for the enclosure, the humidity doesn't seem to be too high at 55%. The substrate is completely dry pretty much all of the time. Either way, I think I will be switching substrates because my albino regurgitated a piece of Tilapia about 30 mins after I fed it to her and it was covered with aspen. I'm still nervous of whether or not she got any into her system, so I will be getting either some newspaper pellets or repti-bark.

Reptibark is even worse if it gets swallowed. Loose coconut fiber (ecoearth) seems to pass just fine with no harm. I guess the lesson here is while some substrates are safer than others one should still take all precautions to ensure that it doesn't get swallowed no matter what you're using. I simply tong feed bite sized pieces and that works for me. They swallow it so fast it never touches the substrate. As for the tilapia, it does happen sometimes (regurgitation) with that fish for some reason. It's happened to me a few times. Try feeding them smaller pieces, and smaller quantities per feeding when using tilapia. I wouldn't worry. Your snake was probably in no mood to eat after throwing up that tilapia.

As for the little white bugs, they don't generally bother the snake. If they bother you, a little provent-a-mite should get rid of them.

[kibakiba]

You can make a large bag of carefresh last a long time by frequently picking out soiled pieces. Since we're always broke, we tend to improvise when it comes to anything costing money. Whether its feeding a little bit less ofen/ less in amount or cleaning the tank less often, but picking out soiled pieces more. My snakes are well taken care of despite the money problems, so don't make a stink about it like people tend to... But, it works.

[ConcinusMan]

Spot cleaning is common practice. Nothing wrong with that.

[infernalis]

Spot cleaning is common practice. Nothing wrong with that.

I just did that to a dozen cages tonight. I was feeding, and since they were all in the feeding boxes, I washed water bowls and picked out the soiled spots.

[EasternGirl]

Do it myself quite often...water bowls and poop removal!

[kibakiba]

Well, I mean I spot clean for longer than most people would, just because the lack of money.

[EasternGirl]

You do what you have to do...you love your snakes, we all know that:).

[kibakiba]

Yeah I know. There have been a couple people that have attacked me over that sort of thing though.

[infernalis]

Hey, check it out, I found a tiny white bug in one of my enclosures this evening...

http://www.reptard.info/rich/dubia3.jpg

http://www.reptard.info/rich/dubia2.jpg

http://www.reptard.info/rich/dubia1.jpg

[kibakiba]

Hehe, those actually look cute after moulting... They still scare me a bit though!

[infernalis]

I can't believe my daughter actually let it walk on her. (That's her wearing the watch and wrist bands)

[kibakiba]

Maybe cause it's cute while it's like that ;)

[EasternGirl]

Ewww....I'm going to dream about those bugs crawling on me now! Love reptiles...hate bugs!

[infernalis]

Ewww....I'm going to dream about those bugs crawling on me now! Love reptiles...hate bugs!

Insectivore reptiles eat bugs, so if you ever get a lizard, be ready to work with lots of bugs.

[EasternGirl]

No lizards for me then...

[ConcinusMan]

Not all lizards require insects though.

[EasternGirl]

I'm just happy with my snakes...not really a lizard person...no offense to any lizard owners :rolleyes:.

[kibakiba]

I want a tegu! :D

[kimbosaur]

Hey, check it out, I found a tiny white bug in one of my enclosures this evening...
http://www.reptard.info/rich/dubia2.jpg


:eek:

...if that's what you call a "tiny" bug, I'd hate to be around when you find a "big" one!!

[ConcinusMan]

Is that one of your roaches? Yuck. Even worse as albino. *Crunch* *squish* :D

You would probably like it here in San Bernadino county then. There's roaches that look just yours Wayne, just running around wild. The other day there was a huge one on the hood of my car. He held on to about 50mph before I finally lost grip.

[infernalis]

Is that one of your roaches? Yuck. Even worse as albino. *Crunch* *squish* :D

You would probably like it here in San Bernadino county then. There's roaches that look just yours Wayne, just running around wild. The other day there was a huge one on the hood of my car. He held on to about 50mph before I finally lost grip.

Before you lost what grip??:p

[RedSidedSPR]

I want a tegu! :D Me too or something like it.

Not gonna happen though. Anytime soon at least.

[kibakiba]

Yeah, I'm not going to buy one until I know I can take care of it properly. That and I'd like to be living with my boyfriend, so we could share the responsibility.

[EasternGirl]

I almost bought a baby cornsnake tonight...it was so tiny and so pretty...the colors were amazing. But I really don't know anything about cornsnakes...so I didn't want to buy one if I didn't know exactly how to care for one...

[infernalis]

I almost bought a baby cornsnake tonight...it was so tiny and so pretty...the colors were amazing. But I really don't know anything about cornsnakes...so I didn't want to buy one if I didn't know exactly how to care for one...

Down at the bottom of this forum is a link, as is in my signature, ssnakess has plenty of experienced corn people who would be happy to assist you.

If you can keep a garter snake, you could keep a corn without any problems.

[EasternGirl]

Thanks! I just went and registered...always great having another snake forum!

[infernalis]

You are already set up.

[EasternGirl]

Groovy! Thanks...