Little Red Bugs - ID

[kbaker]

I am not sure where this belongs, but because the bugs are in my Box turtle enclosure I posted it here.

Can anyone identify these little red bugs? It's hard to tell how tiny they are from the picture, but they have doubled in size and it looks like there are black adults, too. They live on the fingus on the logs half buried in my box turtle pen. After doing searches, all I found was spider mites and these are not those.

 

[Kristina]

Ewww.

They are probably harmless, but I would get some diatomaceous earth and sprinkle it on them - that should kill them, but not harm your boxies.

 

[RV's mom]

there is an excellent site where you may post the best of your pics and someone will ID them for you. Go to www.bugguide.net and follow the ID request instructions.

teri

 

[Yvonne G]

That's a great site, Teri...I hope KBaker doesn't mind, but I submitted the picture to the site. Was interested in getting an answer, as I've never seen them before.

 

[kbaker]

That's a great site, Teri...I hope KBaker doesn't mind, but I submitted the picture to the site. Was interested in getting an answer, as I've never seen them before.

Thanks, emysemys. I don't mind. It helps because I should have been working instead of posting pictures.

I am interested to see what they are and why I have not heard of them. They don't seem to affect the box turtles and as long as they are of no harm, I don't plan on killing them. They might turn out to be a good food for the baby turtles.

 

[dmmj]

any results yet? I don't know what they are, but they look dangerous to me, no fact to back that up, just going by the pic.

 

[Tom]

They look like a beetle larva to me.

Kevin, e-mail the pics to me and I'll post them on http://www.roachforum.com/
There are tons of entomologists and serious "bug" guys there.

 

[Yvonne G]

Looks like they are thrips. However, when I do a web search on thrips it says that they eat the juices out of plants, and kbaker (Kevin) thinks they are eating the fungus on the wood in his pen.

 

[kbaker]

Looks like they are thrips. However, when I do a web search on thrips it says that they eat the juices out of plants, and kbaker (Kevin) thinks they are eating the fungus on the wood in his pen.

I did a search and there are quite a few variety of thrips from all over. I have found some sites that say they eat fungus spores. During the hot/sunny part of the day they disperse with very few in sight. In the morning, they are covering every little piece of fungus on just the one log. They are supposedly hard to get rid of and depending on the type, can cause a lot of damage. One site suggested using a natural preditor like ladybugs.