Your one stop reptile community

chris6 · #1 (**permalink**) 11-27-2005, 03:58 PM

Hello!

I am new to the site, but hope you can help me. There are these tiny white bugs in my red tail boa's cage. I have had them before, mostly when it was very hot. They like the water dish, inside and out. Look a little elongated. Very small - best seen when flashlight shining on them. Can swim. Are so small can barely see them on your finger, but look more silver against your skin. It is very cold here, not sure why they are in the cage. Went to pet store yesterday - snake guy gave me "De Flea." Didn't work - they are back with a vengance (sp?)! In the corners - crawling on the glass, all over the water dish. Any idea what they are? How to get rid of them? We clean the cage very well. As a matter of fact, we just cleaned it. Clean water dish every day. Here's the weird thing - I have never seen them on or near the snake itself. What the heck are they and how do I kill them? Help! PS. We use cedar chips for our substrate - mean anything?

mhsrunner · #2 (**permalink**) 11-27-2005, 04:26 PM

CEDAR IS POISONOUS TO SNAKES! if you want wood substrate aspen works great but IF YOU DONT GET THAT CEDAR OUT OF THEIR IMMEDIATELY YOUR SNAKE WILL BE DEAD OR HAVE A SEVERELY DAMAGED NERVOUS SYSTEM IN A SHORT AMMOUNT OF TIME. newspaper, aspen, or brand name reptile barks are fine, but cedar and pine will kill your snake. im sure somebody will be along to help you with the bug/mite problem. good luck

chris6 · #3 (**permalink**) 11-27-2005, 04:45 PM

It's actually ExoTerra Forest Bark - it smells like cedar. Sorry!

mo1416 · #4 (**permalink**) 11-27-2005, 05:32 PM

Do they look anything like this??

http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/en.../silverfi.html

I don't know for sure if it's a match but untill someone with more knowledge (which is just about anybody on this board)

replies I'll try and see.
Also I use Cypress mulch for my Boas. It looks nice and seems to hold heat and humidity really well. and it doesn't cost that much.

chris6 · #5 (**permalink**) 11-27-2005, 07:27 PM

It is hard to tell if they look like that - they are so tiny. Maybe? If so, what then? Change the substrate brand? Change the type of substrate? Is that where they would be coming from?

Since I haven't had much help with this so far, I did clean the cage again! Got rid of the bark. Bleached the cage. Bleached the water bowl. Baked the new substrate at 225 degrees for about 30 minutes. Sprayed the De Flea again. So far, so good. We'll see.

But anyone with any advice on this issue, please respond.

Thanx!

blysprutan · #6 (**permalink**) 12-05-2005, 04:56 PM

Hmm In swedish we call them "hoppstjärtar" freely translated "jumpasses"
They are not harmfull for your snake.
They live on the snake`s "poo" and other stuff in the Bark

http://www.bioresurs.uu.se/myller/skog/hoppstjart.htm
This is a swedish site with pics.

If it`s not this animal.. pse take a pic and we will find it for you

Advertisement