Are these mites crawling all over my tort? vid and pic

[GSM]

Vid/gif:

https://imgur.com/03OfnGw

This water death scene happened overnight. I believe this happened because I introduced reptibark without nuking it first!

 

[ZenHerper]

The long-bodied ones in the water dish are springtails...tiny terrestrial crustaceans that eat detritus (they'll clean up your tortitat).

They usually ride into a habitat with wood-based bedding.

Non-harmful. People pay money to buy and add them into bio-active set ups.

The video is hard to tell. Are they the same long-bodied thing as in the water dish? Then no worries.

Mites are round. You can test to see if the critters jump when you poke them (mites won't do that, springtails will). Spider mites and related mildly annoying household species will run all around. Blood-sucking mites mostly cling to the skin and hide inside the shell and between scales.

 

[GSM]

Thank you so much - I just tested the jump test and they did all indeed do so. I have read about them being good cleaners. But I am concerned that they're overflowing now - I've removed food and poop asap - do you think, with time, their numbers will decrease as they struggle to feed all those mouths?

I'm also a little bit concerned they're crawling all over the tortoise shell and neck, sometimes. I've seen him twist his neck (a new animation!) to get them off, so they must be a nuisance at times.

 

[GSM]

This happened a few days before I noticed the bug outbreak and I was alarmed that he'd injured his leg, but looking back, it was probably an itch. He walked fine after 60 or so seconds of doing that.

 

[GSM]

First post vid now in gif:

 

[ZenHerper]

Their toenails will catch on carpet...not a recommended walking surface, for sure. lol

They can be a nuisance when over-populated. Likely too many eggs carried along in the bedding. Leave extra shallow pans of water overnight - they don't understand the smooth surface and will drown quickly. That should help get them to a balance point.

Frequent soaks for the tort to get them off.

 

[GSM]

Their toenails will catch on carpet...not a recommended walking surface, for sure. lol

They can be a nuisance when over-populated. Likely too many eggs carried along in the bedding. Leave extra shallow pans of water overnight - they don't understand the smooth surface and will drown quickly. That should help get them to a balance point.

Frequent soaks for the tort to get them off.

It's definitely not the carpet. He's walked miles on it - and seems to love it, as there are other surfaces I let him walk on. This was a one-off and for sure freaked me out for a moment. I do think he's trying to reach an itch, looking back.

Good shout on the extra shallow. I've noticed they walk across my usual water, but maybe the 'death scene' occurred because I added extra amounts. I'll try that tonight.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[ZenHerper]

As crustaceans, they can manage a fair amount of water during the day, but for whatever reason they did not evolve an ability to swim out of water in the dark (can't see far enough? dunno. Unintellgently Designed lol).

Diluted essential oils will kill them, but torts have very sensitive noses. A last resort.

Torts are also susceptible to topical anti-parasiticides sold for other reptile species, so I would not buy something like that.

People often dump out substrate and replace it, but the cycle will begin all over again. If you can get them to a manageable population, all the better.

 

[GSM]

As crustaceans, they can manage a fair amount of water during the day, but for whatever reason they did not evolve an ability to swim out of water in the dark (can't see far enough? dunno. Unintellgently Designed lol).

Diluted essential oils will kill them, but torts have very sensitive noses. A last resort.

Torts are also susceptible to topical anti-parasiticides sold for other reptile species, so I would not buy something like that.

People often dump out substrate and replace it, but the cycle will begin all over again. If you an get them to a managable population, all the better.

Aha, that is funny. Noted btw - ty again. I may do one nuke run this weekend. But then again, it's been nice not to deal with mold!