For terrarium folk, white things in tank?

[taxidermynerd]

I noticed in the millie tank today, there are some little white bug-looking guys. I'm trying to figure out if I need to worry about them or not.

They don't look like springtails, and so far they're staying in the leaf pile (the pile of decomposing leaves the millies eat.

I'm thinking they could be dwarf white isopods, seeing as at least 4 hitchhiked their way in with the millies. They also look like tiny isopods, so it's most likely them.

Thoughts?

 

[hrafn]

How tiny are they? Could they be wood mites?

If you can get a picture, it might be easier to identify them.

 

[Serin]

I have two bioactive vivariums and they house all sorts of tiny creepy crawlies. These things are almost all beneficial. There are many types of springtails, mites and isopods that can pop up in a terrarium and they all feed on decomposing matter and help to keep the environment clean.

 

[taxidermynerd]

I ended up stripping the tank and putting in new substrate. It smelled kind of gross once I got in there deep.

 

[Distaff]

A gravel drainage layer covered with a cut to fit sheet fiberglass screen is IMHO, a *must* for any high humidity viv. A layer of charcoal is useful too. The substrate should be very light and fluffy. I like ABG mix with some home compost. A healthy viv should smell like a walk in the woods on a damp morning - not funky. I have two planted higher humidity vivs - one for a cornsnake, and the other for a king snake. The other vivs are dirted, but mostly dry for desert snakes.

 

[Serin]

My enclosures have several inches of drainage covered by screen and a wide assemblage of natural soil microfauna. I have a salamander in one and geckos in the other. The tanks have no odor and smell fresh and woodsy. A drainage layer is quite important, as is the introduction of springtails or something similar to keep the enclosure clean. Otherwise you will get mold and foul odors.

 

[taxidermynerd]

Good to know. I'll have to get some screen, and some more drainage material. My frog has a drainage layer, so I guess I'll work on one for the millipedes soon.