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Alright guys I hate to make my own thread about this but it's kind of an emergency and I can't find anything about it online.
I just made a new enclosure for my Pacman frog last night, I bought some organic unfertilized potting soil from Lowe's as substrate, along with some sphagnum moss I've had for a while. When I put the frog in there last night, she buried herself in the dirt, as they do. Today, I dug her out and placed her in her water dish in an attempt to maybe make her defecate, as she had a pinkie mouse a few days ago. When I put her in, after a few minutes I noticed a LOT of what appeared to be tiny whitish insects (very tiny) floating in the water around her and crawling on her back. They looked like silverfish a bit and rapidly jumped off my finger when I scooped some up. She doesn't look injured by them but there were a lot of them, and it had to have been from this new enclosure because I've never ever noticed anything like this before, and her smaller, old enclosure had the exact same substrate and everything.
I'm taking my turtle to the vet Thursday, so I'll ask about it then, but in the mean time, does anybody have an idea about what these are or how I can get rid of them? Pretty wirried about it, thanks in advance for any help.
Pic related is new enclosure
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springtails, they're probably living in and off the sphagnum.
harmless if not beneficial.
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>>2009340
What do you mean by beneficial? How could it be benificial?
Is there any way I can make sure that they are springtails or to get rid of them if I want?
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beneficial for sure. they will eat any mold/fungus that wants to grow in your tank. completely harmless to your froge.
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>>2009343
And so we can guarantee 100% that these creatures are in fact the benificial springtails?
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>>2009342
don't get rid of them. many frogs keepers deliberately add them. it makes for a much more sanitary terrarium.
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>>2009342
>What do you mean by beneficial? How could it be benificial?
eats decaying garbage, keeps other critters that eat the same garbage away due to competition (i.e mites)
the only way to not have some critters living in your tank is to not use substrate and have no humidity.
look up an image of springtails, it should be pretty obvious.
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>>2009347
these are springtails. keep in mind this photo is zoomed in quite a bit. you can't usually make out their antennae with the naked eye.
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>>2009349
Thank you for your help, I appreciate it. Is there any way that these white dots could be anything except springtales?
I just want to make sure because I have grown quite attached to my Pacman frog, Mr. Packykins. :)
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>>2009352
damn those are big.
it should be mentioned that they're not mites because surface mites actually drown.
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>>2009355
also if you can order some tropical woodlice, they're tiny white woodlice.
provides some sort of healthy competition for springtails.
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>>2009338
Springtails are amazing, you should start a culture with those t.bh f.am
They should be Folsomia candida. If not, maybe Sinella curviseta.
I've actually found a single globular springtail in my salamander enclosure. They are too cute.
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