Springtail infestation please help!

Kimmi

New Member
Messages
2
Hello I am new to this website so forgive me if I am doing this wrong. I have had my crestie since March with no problems, but I recently bought a piece of grapevine wood from Pangea that must’ve been infested with springtails, I have never seen them until putting the wood in the tank.I am fairly certain they are springtails and not mites, they are light brown and have oval bodies with little antenna things and I have not found any on Phoenix (my gecko). It was only a few at first but it’s been less than one week and I am already seeing more and more of the things. From what I’ve read online I know they aren’t harmful but I noticed some outside of the tank today. I have the tank in my bedroom which is in a basement, and it can get very humid in basements so my worry is that they will be able to survive outside the tank and infest my entire bedroom. To make things worse, my tank is on top of my dresser and I found springtails on my clothes. I took everything out and washed it but I can’t put anything back in there until the springtails are gone. This is the first piece of wood that I have gotten for the tank and I didn’t realize beforehand that I needed to boil it or bake it. I washed it thoroughly with hot water like everything else I put in the tank. I am planning on boiling it tomorrow but the tank is already covered in them so how do I go about getting rid of them? Is there any chance they could survive outside the tank for very long in a humid basement ? I don’t mind them being in the tank but if they can infest my room then I need to get them out ASAP. Any advice or information is greatly appreciated.
 

acpart

Geck-cessories
Staff member
Messages
15,119
Location
Somerville, MA
Can you take a picture? That doesn't sound like springtails. It's possible it's grain mites. Here's an article I wrote about getting rid of grain mites. Some judicious washing with hot water may help curb the problem:

Aliza
 

Kimmi

New Member
Messages
2
Can you take a picture? That doesn't sound like springtails. It's possible it's grain mites. Here's an article I wrote about getting rid of grain mites. Some judicious washing with hot water may help curb the problem:

Aliza
Thank you for your reply. I read your article but I can’t be certain what they are because this is my first time dealing with anything like this. Your article says that they can come from contaminated food, and I did introduce a new kind of food the same day that the grapevine wood was put in the tank. It’s Pangea fig and insect diet, but I have not seen any of them in the food dish or on Phoenix. I only see them on the grapevine wood, burrowing in the ecoearth substrate, or outside of the tank. I use the eco earth bricks and I’ve never seen them until introducing the grapevine wood into the tank. They seem to stick near the wood, they will come out of the cracks in the wood and I also saw them hiding in cracks in my dresser as well. I’m praying that they aren’t termites
75247
 

sunfighter

Member
Messages
31
Newly purchased grain products cab be placed in the microwave for a few minutes to kill adults, larvae, pupae and eggs of any unwanted insects.
 

indyana

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,336
Location
Massachusetts, United States
In order to clear out, you can clean and then bale the wood in a oven at around 250 F for at least a couple hours (heat needs to penetrate to core). I think you'll have to clean out the tank substrate as well. After that, you'll have to monitor to see if they come back. It's possible they are just colonizing from the basement, as I'm not sure that many could have been in a piece of dry wood.
 

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