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Potential Bug Problem

ShadowStrike

ShadowStrike

New member
It sucks that my first post on this site has to come at such a potentially bad situation, but I found some bugs in my snakes water today.

I picked him/her up about a week ago, a young ratsnake about a foot and a half long, healthy as far I could tell. He's in a ten gallon tank, water bowl, half log and branches from the pet store, a rock, and a drift wood structure. I soaked the drift wood and rock in bleach water for about a half hour and even put them in the oven at 200 for about 15 minutes. Current substrate is construction paper. 100 watt day light bulb keep the warm side around 80-85 degrees and 50 watt red light keeps it around 70* on the warm side at night. I just fed him two pinkies yesterday and by all means he seems healthy. I have not seen him shed or defocate yet.

Today I'm scanning the cage and notice some small black insects in the water, that at first I thought were fleas. I have two dogs, two indoor/outdoor cats and just figured maybe the fleas are out early this year and they just caught us off gaurd, but when I come to inspect my animals, none of them have any fleas. I walk back by the tank and see a little black bug flying around and land on the paper, same bug that was in the water earlier.

So, they're not fleas. They're not mites.. they're small but clearly visable. I'd estimate 1-2mm big. They're all solid black, have two body segments, and have 4-6 legs that are hard to see. And they fly. Upon removal of a rather porous (sp?) rock I notice a few them sitting under it, possibly dead, but they burrowed down in the paper substrate, which is about two layers thick. They don't seem to be messing with my snake, but What the hell are these things?.

I cleaned the tank out and put new paper down and will be keeping a close eye on what happens in the next few days and if these bugs develop again.

Thanks for any and all help.
 
Mites are black and look like pepper floating in the water bowl. They don't fly. I think it sounds more like a fungus fly more than anything else. Do you have house plants near by? They live in moist soil.
 
They look more like a beetle than a fly, but then again, detail is hard to see.. they're small but bigger than a speck of pepper for sure.

No live plants around really.

Could it be possible it survived the sanitizing I did and came in with either the rock or wood?. I'll be completely sanitizing them again in the next couple days.

Hopefully, I'll never see them again, but if I do I'll be taking some pics.
 
I have grape wood in a couple vivs. It produces piles of sawdust, and I occasionally find drowned beetles in the water bowl. They are big, though, maybe 3/16". Or so. I've had it for several years, and the beetles are still going.
 
it sounds like termites? Mabie. Termites tend to come in woodsy areas. It could also be fruit flies looking for a place to breed if your tank is humid.
If the bugs are comming in from your actual home or windows, you may want to try replacing the mesh on your cage with something with smaller space divisions. If the issue cannot be avoided you may want to switch your tank to fake wood, hides, and plants.
A natural enviorment as promising as it is can be a target for breeding grounds or food sources for insects.
 
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