Little bugs in eco earth ):

[newbieeesulcata]

Hi everyone. This is my first time posting here. I have a young sulcata tortoise approximately 6 months old. When I first got him home I was told to keep his enclosure dry like very dry to prevent respiratory infection so I did. A while later I noticed he started to get slightly raised scoots and I got paranoid and looked around and found this forum and read just about every single post about sulcata care. I adjusted his diet. Ordered grass seed mix for tortoise and I feed him many grasses and weeds. I also mix zoo med grassland food and mazuri occasionally. His humidity is a minimum of 80% 24/7 (it's usually higher). His new growth seems to be wonderful

The problems I started to encounter with the higher humidity initially were only mold. There isn't any mold on the substrate but there has been mold on the enclosure wall. I immediately wipe it with rubbing alcohol as soon as it is spotted and it seems to be under control because I haven't seen it for a while. For some reason it never appeared at least visually on his substrate. I use zoo med eco earth.
The mold problem seems to be solved but I have a new problem and I don't know what to do ):
There are little bugs in his enclosure. This seems to have happened after I started making his environment more humid and moist and I don't want to stop doing that because it seems to be helping him but I don't know how to be rid of the bugs. Many of the other posts say they are white but these seem to be darker like brown or black. They don't move too slowly considering their size and I immediately crush them with my finger when they're seen. I seen them walk on the enclosure wall. A lot of posts said to boil or bake the substrate but they also said they will likely return soon after. Is there any type of substrate I can switch to that avoids these bugs?

Thank you so much!

 

[Pure Tortoise Power]

Hi everyone. This is my first time posting here. I have a young sulcata tortoise approximately 6 months old. When I first got him home I was told to keep his enclosure dry like very dry to prevent respiratory infection so I did. A while later I noticed he started to get slightly raised scoots and I got paranoid and looked around and found this forum and read just about every single post about sulcata care. I adjusted his diet. Ordered grass seed mix for tortoise and I feed him many grasses and weeds. I also mix zoo med grassland food and mazuri occasionally. His humidity is a minimum of 80% 24/7 (it's usually higher). His new growth seems to be wonderful

The problems I started to encounter with the higher humidity initially were only mold. There isn't any mold on the substrate but there has been mold on the enclosure wall. I immediately wipe it with rubbing alcohol as soon as it is spotted and it seems to be under control because I haven't seen it for a while. For some reason it never appeared at least visually on his substrate. I use zoo med eco earth.
The mold problem seems to be solved but I have a new problem and I don't know what to do ):
There are little bugs in his enclosure. This seems to have happened after I started making his environment more humid and moist and I don't want to stop doing that because it seems to be helping him but I don't know how to be rid of the bugs. Many of the other posts say they are white but these seem to be darker like brown or black. They don't move too slowly considering their size and I immediately crush them with my finger when they're seen. I seen them walk on the enclosure wall. A lot of posts said to boil or bake the substrate but they also said they will likely return soon after. Is there any type of substrate I can switch to that avoids these bugs?

Thank you so much!

I also have these darker bugs in my enclosure. And they turn out to be fruit flies, which like to eat the remains of my sully's food. They can't do harm to your tort. So I'm not worried about them living in the enclosure.

 

[Pure Tortoise Power]

Also, there's no way to avoid having these bugs around. A sulcata hatchling and teenager require high temps and humidity, which also the ideal environment for these bugs. So it's inevitable.

 

[newbieeesulcata]

I can live with them as long as there is no harm to the tortoise
I have another question. After the humidity most of his shell seems to be leveling out except for one part. The front. There is still a bump there and I'm not sure if it's improving or not. It's tough to get on camera but I'll try. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. Does he look good to you guys?

 

[Yvonne G]

If I'm seeing the same bump you're talking about, that's his spine. The spine is fused to the underside of the carapace. Nothing to worry about.

 

[newbieeesulcata]

If I'm seeing the same bump you're talking about, that's his spine. The spine is fused to the underside of the carapace. Nothing to worry about.

Awesome . Thanks for the reply. I did circle the bump I'm seeing in these attached pics. Apart from that does the rest of him look okay? I don't really have much experience with torts but I'm trying my best. I just get very paranoid, I apologize.

 

[Yvonne G]

Yes, that's his spine. Perfectly normal. There's a bit of pyramiding, but it should be less noticeable as he grows. At this stage it's only cosmetic and nothing to worry about.

 

[newbieeesulcata]

Yes, that's his spine. Perfectly normal. There's a bit of pyramiding, but it should be less noticeable as he grows. At this stage it's only cosmetic and nothing to worry about.

I hope he grows out of it quite a bit. Part of me will always wish I had known earlier on and prevented even the littlest of pyramiding from forming. I am very relieved / happy it is only cosmetic though.
Thanks