Tiny white bugs in my Horsefield tortoises enclosure. I think they're woodmites? Need help getting rid of them :/

EmmaM

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Hi, this is my first post on here so forgive me if this is the wrong category or something

Before I cleaned out my Tortoises enclosure last, I noticed a few tiny round white bugs in his enclosure, and some were even crawling on him. I didn't think it was that big of a problem, probably just because it was time to clean it meaning the enclosure was stinky, so I cleaned out his enclosure entirely, cleaned the enclosure with a reptile enclosure cleaner, replaced the soil (I found out recently the soil the pet shop recommended to us is actually not suitable for horsefield tortoises, so I'll be replacing that soon entirely) and cleaned Eddie (my tort). Then today (about 3 weeks later) I saw they were back, and there was WAY more of them. It is about time to clean it out again, so I'm going to do that as soon as i have the chance, but I don't want to have to worry about them coming back again. What can I do to make them go away? I've done a bit of research but I want a definite answer, do I have to replace all the wooden things in the enclosure? Do I replace the enclosure entirely? I'm so confused.

(I've tried taking photos of the bugs but they're so tiny my camera can't focus on them)
 

Srmcclure

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Most likely those are springtails and they are detritivores. They eat dead things, poop and the left over food you missed. Tank cleaners basically. They won't hurt your tortoise at all. Some keepers like them because like I said, they help clean the enclosure. I have those and pill bugs in mine ?
 

Srmcclure

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Pretty sure they are springtails still.
You can take all your substrate out and bake it, and that will kill them, but they are attracted to warm humid places so a tortoise enclosure is the perfect environment for them. If you buy more substrate, clean the enclosure again, you'll get them again. Its just a part of tortoise keeping. Bake your stuff and it'll kill them. They will eventually make their way back in from what I've heard from others, so do it again when they come back ?‍♀️ pretty much anyone that has the humid, hot environment needed for most torts have these guys

You can do a search on here for these bugs and maybe someone else has another way thats not harmful. You can also freeze it from what I hear, But baking seems easier.
 

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