Bugs

[Maggie3fan]

There was a large Russian in the tank for a while, then 2 box turtles and now another tortoise...these are what us kids growing up in San Francisco called roly polies. This tank looks like a nursery for sowbugs, pill bugs salt bugs whatever you call them, there are thousands of babies always closed and lots of others walking around...so my question I use this tank for quarantine purposes...should I worry about these bugs?


The very little ones can't be seen by my camera...so many of them...

 

[TheLastGreen]

Seems to be roly polys, hingebacks love them, I think it could be fine, no expert on them, but the only worry could be their poop or pee? I don't think they will eat at a burrowing tort but not sure...

 

[Yvonne G]

No worries. They are nature's clean up crew. However, sorry to say, you need to start fresh each time you use that enclosure for a new animal - new substrate, cleaned and sanitized dishes and hides, etc.

 

[Blackdog1714]

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[ZenHerper]

The old substrate is the risk -- viruses, bacteria, fungal spores can all stay dormant waiting for the next reptile host. How long depends on the particular microbe, but the risk is too high to reuse substrate for quarantine purposes. That's the point of quarantine: making sure that pathologically infective stuff doesn't make itself at home in your habitats.

Might the terrestrial crustacean cultures in the sub become pathogen carriers? Maybe.

Work from home and earn a little loot!
...

PSA: it is illegal to ship terrestrial crustaceans across state lines without USDA permits at both ends (they are non-native, invasive herbivores, which will become more and more relevant as climate change progresses).

 

[Maggie3fan]

The old substrate is the risk -- viruses, bacteria, fungal spores can all stay dormant waiting for the next reptile host. How long depends on the particular microbe, but the risk is too high to reuse substrate for quarantine purposes. That's the point of quarantine: making sure that pathologically infective stuff doesn't make itself at home in your habitats.

Might the terrestrial crustacean cultures in the sub become pathogen carriers? Maybe.


PSA: it is illegal to ship terrestrial crustaceans across state lines without USDA permits at both ends (they are non-native, invasive herbivores, which will become more and more relevant as climate change progresses).

In sticking up for myself....yes, I know about the substrate....I guess it did sound like I moved a box turtle out and a tortoise in....while I do what I want...gimme a break. The tank stays empty for many months or more. Yes it is the same old substrate but it lay fallow more than not. try buying decent substrate in Oregon. I'm sorry...I am a bad influence

 

[ZenHerper]

...The tank stays empty for many months or more. Yes it is the same old substrate but it lay fallow ...

Which is still a contagion risk.

 

[Maggie3fan]

Which is still a contagion risk.

OK you win...lol

 

[jeff kushner]

The advice is very sound, the Cavendish(banana) killer is a fungus that remains in the ground dormant for decades and it remains the crux of the Spermia theory which suggests that Earth was seeded by Dormant bacteria & funguses which then took hold. Prions from which Mad-cow disease originates, can remain in the soil dormant for scores of years as well, still able to infect a host.

Mags, you don't want your next turtle to go ballistic with MadCow........wonder if that's even possible(??) but it does make an interesting picture in my mind....of some half-crazed turtle, loaded for bear. & looking for trouble.............LOL


Go dump that junk out and put a shovel in the ground.....it's better than old dirt....LOL

The bugs are great though........well, maybe not a ZILLION of them .......

LOL

 

[Yvonne G]

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And that's a pretty good price.