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 #1022872


Smart frog
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 Tiny white bugs HEPL PLEASE

While I was watching my toads this AM I noticed a small little white bug swimming in the water. It was just skimming along the side of the glass. It looked as though it was cleaning all the bacteria off the glass. It is about the size of a pinhead, and round in shape.

I only just took all the water out of my tank to change the setup. I didn’t scrub it down but it was empty. I don’t know where this little thing could have come from or if it is bad. There are no white spots on my toads and there are no new toads in the tank. Any ideas?




10/15/06  10:17am

 #1069775


Emerald Basiliks
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   Message To: Smart frog   In reference to Message Id: 1022872


 Tiny white bugs HEPL PLEASE

mites
11/22/06  06:07pm

 #1360134


SpiderLove
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   Message To: Smart frog   In reference to Message Id: 1022872


 Tiny white bugs HEPL PLEASE

I have a large tarantula in a 40 gallon tank. I put down about a 2 inch layer of Bed-A-Beast (it’s made of coconut husks and looks like dirt. It’s good for burrowing spiders. Anyway, I recently discovered those same tiny white mites infesting the coconut husk stuff after some of the female crickets I fed to my spider laid eggs in it and the eggs hatched. I freaked out, did some research on other forums and was told that "...they usually show up on dead crickets, and half eaten cricket carcasses. These mites usually stick to feeding on carrion, I’ve never seen them on one of my inverts. The only mites you really need to worry about are the little orange-red buggers." This might only be true for invertebrates, but so far I have not seen the white mites on my spider so I’m not as worried anymore. I don’t know what they do to amphibians or reptiles, though I doubt they do anything to them. They like very humid, wet environments, so it may be very hard for you to get rid of them because that’s the type of environment your frogs need.

All I can suggest, if you want to get rid of them, is to thoroughly clean the tank, take everything out of it including the frogs, and find a way to safely sterilize all the decorations (furniture). Wood items should be baked at a moderate temperature (200-350 degrees) for an hour to an hour & a half. I suppose it’s possible to microwave them if they can fit into your microwave, but I’m not sure how long to recommend, and in either case (microwave or oven) I strongly advise you to keep an eye on them in case they catch fire. Plastic items can be washed in hot water (110 degrees) with a mild dish detergent (I recommend natural dish detergents for this because they don’t have antibacterial agents which can be very harmful to animals, are toxic to the environment, and actually make bacteria more resistant). If you find mites on your pet, I’ve been told you can use a Q-tip dipped in Vasaline to remove mites (I suppose it suffocates them). Again, I don’t know how advisable this is for amphibians.

After everything is clean, try not to leave uneaten food items in the tank for more than a couple of hours, and generally keep the tank as clean as possible without stressing out your frogs.

I hope this helps. I also hope others have more feedback for you on this.



07/15/07  08:45pm


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