HELP! Bugs!!

[shereen]

Hello, my name is Shereen. I have two Tortoises, Doogle is 3 years and Small Stuff is 8 months. I do have a worry about Doogle When cleaning her vivarium out early I noticed that when I put her back in that there were lots of little white bugs crawlng on her shell!!! They were that small they just looked like little dots running all over her! I gave her a warm bath to clean them all off but can anyone tell me what this is and if she needs medical attention. Thanks

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: HELP!

The bugs are not because of the tortoise...no medical attention is required. The bugs are in your substrate. The only way to get rid of them is to dump the whole thing, sanitize the habitat and start over with fresh substrate. What are you using for substrate?

Yvonne

Oh, and...

to the forum!

 

[shereen]

RE: HELP!

Thank you for the quick response and the welcome message. I was using wood chippings but today I changed to a mixture of chippings and terrabark for a more natural feel for her. My 8 month old is in a seperate tank due to the size difference where I have used the same wood chip but he doesn't seem to have these symptons. I thought it may be down to her food but I wash it every day. What would you suggest I should use as i've also tried sand but this irratates her eyes.

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: HELP!

I need to know what kind of tortoise you're talking about.

Sand isn't recommended because its harmful if they eat it accidentally. I like to use cypress mulch or orchid bark, but the kind of tortoise determines the type of substrate.

Yvonne

 

[shereen]

RE: HELP!

There both Hermanns

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: HELP!

I don't keep hermann's tortoises, but from what I've read here on the forum, a substrate of aspen wood bedding is highly recommended or you can make your own 50% soil/50% sand. But I think its important that they be kept on the dry side. The bugs in the substrate usually happen when its being kept moist.

Yvonne

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You can purchase aspen in pet shops in the reptile department. Its usually packaged up as Snake Bedding.

 

[shereen]

RE: HELP!

Thank you very much for help. Im pleased someone was able to help me and i'll definatly be a regular user to this site.

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: HELP!

When you get a chance take a look at this thread:

http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-1000.html

There's a good care sheet there for the Hermann's tortoise.

Yvonne