Safe Pesticides

[I Love Tortoises]

Hello guys. I have an indoor enclosure for my tortoises. They are all nice and healthy but today I have spotted some white spider-like bugs in their substrate. What are some good pesticides for getting rid of the insects without harming my tortoises? Thanks.

 

[Tom]

Hello guys. I have an indoor enclosure for my tortoises. They are all nice and healthy but today I have spotted some white spider-like bugs in their substrate. What are some good pesticides for getting rid of the insects without harming my tortoises? Thanks.

There are no toxins that are safe for your tortoise but deadly to little insects. There are methods for dealing with ants when necessary, but not for the detrivores.

What you saw there are called springtails. They are harmless detrivores and they are preventing your enclosure from being overrun with fungus, mold and bacteria. They are the clean up crew and totally normal. They come from the surrounding environment and colonize our enclosures because the conditions are suitable for them to live and multiply. Over time, if you do nothing, their colony will stabilize and maintain itself at a sustainable level for the resources that are available to them. Their is often a "bloom" when they first get started, but their numbers reduce over time. You now have a "bio-active" enclosure and you didn't even mean to do it!

 

[wellington]

But, if you can't stand to have them in your house, the other option is to get roly poly bugs. Either way you will have one kind of bug or another.
Baking the substrate before using, 250F for about 3 hours will hold off the bugs longer, about a year or more, than if you don't bake it, but does not hold them off indefinitely.

 

[I Love Tortoises]

Hello guys I have spotted some brown-orange bugs today. Are they mites? How can I get rid of them? @Tom @wellington
Sorry for the low quality. They move really fast and they are really small.

 

[wellington]

I don't know the different bugs. I can tell you that way back why I had indoor enclosures, had the bugs, they never spread outside the enclosures. There really is not way to get rid of them permanently. You can back the substrate to hold them off for about a year or so or get the pill/roly poly bugs that will eat them.

 

[Tom]

Hello guys I have spotted some brown-orange bugs today. Are they mites? How can I get rid of them? @Tom @wellington View attachment 356880View attachment 356881
Sorry for the low quality. They move really fast and they are really small.

I have never seen parasitic mites on a tortoise, so that is not likely it. Might those be juvenile Blatta lateralis? Also a harmless detrivore, if yes.

 

[I Love Tortoises]

I took a new photo. Google lens said it was bedbugs.

I have never seen parasitic mites on a tortoise, so that is not likely it. Might those be juvenile Blatta lateralis? Also a harmless detrivore, if yes.

There is a photo with higher quality. Google lens told me that they were bedbugs but I'm still not sure. If they are bedbugs are they harmful to the tortoises?

 

[Tom]

I'm not familiar with that one, and I'm pretty sure bed bugs are at least mammal specific. Seems unlikely that you would have bed bugs in a reptile enclosure.

 

[I Love Tortoises]

I'm not familiar with that one, and I'm pretty sure bed bugs are at least mammal specific. Seems unlikely that you would have bed bugs in a reptile enclosure.

Thank you for your replies. They tend to roam around the parts with more humidity. I usually soak my tortoises food before I put their food on their rock and the substrate absorbs some of the water. They infested the part that absorbed the water. I guess I will just remove the infested part and put some new substrate. Maybe that will do the job?

 

[Cathie G]

I took a new photo. Google lens said it was bedbugs.

There is a photo with higher quality. Google lens told me that they were bedbugs but I'm still not sure. If they are bedbugs are they harmful to the tortoises?View attachment 356891

Google is wrong. That's not a bedbug. But if you squish one in a paper towel and don't see blood you'll know for sure it's not. It doesn't even look like a bedbug. I have to be vigilant here because there's a lot of that here in our city and surrounding areas.

 

[TammyJ]

What substrate are you using?

 

[I Love Tortoises]

What substrate are you using?

Forest floor

 

[TammyJ]

What is that? Is it purchased in a bag at the shop? Can we see some pictures of it and the enclosure and tortoise?

 

[I Love Tortoises]

What is that? Is it purchased in a bag at the shop? Can we see some pictures of it and the enclosure and tortoise?

I bought it online. Here's a picture

 

[Tom]

What is that? Is it purchased in a bag at the shop? Can we see some pictures of it and the enclosure and tortoise?

Its cypress mulch. Its safe for tortoises.

 

[TammyJ]

Maybe in this case, the substrate could be switched to something else like orchid bark, with no bugs, since they are a bother.

 

[Sarah2020]

Personally I would have to clear it all out, disinfectant and them get new different substrate. I do get small flies in the summer and use a sticky fly trap attached to the glass. Speedy is very good at dispatching an annoying ant!