To the mods: I wasn't sure if I should put this thread under the "Enclosures" section or "General Tortoise Discussion"...If you feel that it should be moved to the Enclosures Section, please feel free to move & I apologize in advance...wasn't sure :shy:
Okay, so I came home from work the other day and picked up the leftover dried up, shriveled food from Tilly's enclosure, and as I did...(btw, it's grossing me out reliving it as I type the words, it's giving me the heebeejeebees!!!) I noticed a ton of little teeny-tiny whitish (almost clear) insects crawling all over the substrate, right under where the shriveled up lettuce leafs were. Size-wise, I'd say almost microscopic, like the size of the opening in a sewing needle. They were moving around too fast, and way too small to take a picture of to show you. I freaked out and texted Nick at work telling him exactly what I saw. He said to dump out all the substrate, clean the entire enclosure out with soap and water, buy fresh substrate that night, and throw out the rocks had picked from train tracks (across the street from where we live), since he feared maybe the bugs came from inside the rock? Soo...I went out to a new pet store that specializes in reptiles (a local one), whom, might I add, also knows what they are doing/talking about AND actually takes good care of their animals they're selling (unlike the other pet shops I had been to recently)....anyways...So I bought a big bag of zoo-med cypress mulch and we put it in her enclosure right after we cleaned the heck out of it first. So far, no bugs...
Should I be freaking out like this? These little tiny insect things were so gross looking, and fast moving...Does this come from substrate (it was a combination of sphagnum peat moss and cypress mulch....from Home Depot...prior to the new bag I just got from the pet store after noticing the insects) or does it come from the rocks we picked from the railroad tracks? Are all insects bad?
Any advice/comments on this would be greatly appreciated.
Okay, so I came home from work the other day and picked up the leftover dried up, shriveled food from Tilly's enclosure, and as I did...(btw, it's grossing me out reliving it as I type the words, it's giving me the heebeejeebees!!!) I noticed a ton of little teeny-tiny whitish (almost clear) insects crawling all over the substrate, right under where the shriveled up lettuce leafs were. Size-wise, I'd say almost microscopic, like the size of the opening in a sewing needle. They were moving around too fast, and way too small to take a picture of to show you. I freaked out and texted Nick at work telling him exactly what I saw. He said to dump out all the substrate, clean the entire enclosure out with soap and water, buy fresh substrate that night, and throw out the rocks had picked from train tracks (across the street from where we live), since he feared maybe the bugs came from inside the rock? Soo...I went out to a new pet store that specializes in reptiles (a local one), whom, might I add, also knows what they are doing/talking about AND actually takes good care of their animals they're selling (unlike the other pet shops I had been to recently)....anyways...So I bought a big bag of zoo-med cypress mulch and we put it in her enclosure right after we cleaned the heck out of it first. So far, no bugs...
Should I be freaking out like this? These little tiny insect things were so gross looking, and fast moving...Does this come from substrate (it was a combination of sphagnum peat moss and cypress mulch....from Home Depot...prior to the new bag I just got from the pet store after noticing the insects) or does it come from the rocks we picked from the railroad tracks? Are all insects bad?
Any advice/comments on this would be greatly appreciated.
