Tiny white bugs in and under water dish

[jellyturtle2727]

I just noticed these white bugs in and around my Hermanns water dish.. there’s a good bit of them now that I looked closer at everything. Are these harmful or helpers? I can’t figure out what type of bug they are.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

The one on the right looks like a silver fish. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverfish

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Welcome to the forum! One does indeed look like a silverfish as mentioned above, not bc 100% on the other but it look like a potential springtail. Both are harmless, tbh with the heat and moisture of substrates, bug are bound to appear sooner or later, as long as you aren’t overrun it’s fine.
Ours had a population boom recently🥲but turning over the substrate seems to have brought them down a bit lol.

Whilst you’re here, I don’t suppose we could get a photo of your enclosure? Along with any of the following information would be great also!😊it’s so good to know how new members are keeping their tortoise🥰

Sorry if it seems such a influx of information when you’ve just asked a simple bug question lol, it’s just something I like to do for new members to hopefully help if adjustments need making, there’s SO much misinformation out there.

What sized enclosure do you have? An adult needs up to 8x4 foot to roam, roaming is vital for their health, it aids in digestion and building muscle strength, they’d walk long distances in the wild.

For a basking bulb you want an incandescent floodlight(example attached) on a 12hour timer, basking temperature directly under the floodlight should be 95-100f. The rest of the enclosure should be ranging 75-80 during the day.
You may also wish to add ambient lighting on the same timer, providing shady areas with hides and safe plants.

Then CHE/CHE’s(ceramic heat emitters) always on a thermostat, for night heat if your house drops below 60’s at night.

What type of uv do you use? Again packaging photos are good! If housed indoors for a large portion of the year, indoor uv is a must.
Uv should be a t5 fluorescent tube, avoid the compact and coil uv bulbs, they don’t give out enough uv and can hurt the tortoises eyes. The uv can be on a 4 hour timer from noon. I’ve attached examples of the two brands to go for and some examples of how to mount them.

With lighting avoid anything labelled halogen or mercury vapour.

How’s your humidity? You want to aim to have the bottom layer of substrate damp, to do this pour lukewarm water into the corners, not loads but enough to dampen the entire bottom layer. To stop that top layer getting dry/dusty, mix the substrate now n then. Check your monitors and substrate to do the pours as and when needed.

What kind of substrate is it you’re using? For substrates, either coco coir, dampened and packed down by hand as a base, with a layer of orchid(fir not pine) bark or forest floor on top, or just the orchid bark/forest floor. Never use anything with sand mixed in, no top soils and no kinds of moss.

How’s their diet been with you?🙂

If your enclosure is no longer big enough
I’d personally recommend you make your own base. The closer you can get to a 8x4 size the better😊
When making your base, just make sure the material is safe, some use flower beds, or take a large bookcase, take out the shelves and lie flat, or just make their own, for all these options I’d line with cheap pond liner to protect the base, making sure the liner goes up the sides too and make sure those sides are deep enough to prevent escape missions🥲
I’ve also included examples of stands people make/buy to hang their lighting, use a temperature gun to determine how high the basking bulb needs to be, the uv I suggested needs to be mounted 18-20 inches from the substrate.

For a water dish a shallow terracotta saucer is considered safest, they have grip in the event your tortoise flips themselves, most pet store options are a known hazard. I’m noticing the one in the photo looks smooth with steeper sides.

I’d also always recommend getting your hands on a temp gun, they’re SO handy when setting up a new environment or for checking your monitors are correct🙂

Any information/photos you can provide on your set up would be great😁

 

[Chubbs the tegu]

Those are springtails.. harmless lil cleanup crews

 

[jellyturtle2727]

Those are springtails.. harmless lil cleanup crews

Are you sure? They didn’t look like spring

Welcome to the forum! One does indeed look like a silverfish as mentioned above, not bc 100% on the other but it look like a potential springtail. Both are harmless, tbh with the heat and moisture of substrates, bug are bound to appear sooner or later, as long as you aren’t overrun it’s fine.
Ours had a population boom recently🥲but turning over the substrate seems to have brought them down a bit lol.

Whilst you’re here, I don’t suppose we could get a photo of your enclosure? Along with any of the following information would be great also!😊it’s so good to know how new members are keeping their tortoise🥰

Sorry if it seems such a influx of information when you’ve just asked a simple bug question lol, it’s just something I like to do for new members to hopefully help if adjustments need making, there’s SO much misinformation out there.

What sized enclosure do you have? An adult needs up to 8x4 foot to roam, roaming is vital for their health, it aids in digestion and building muscle strength, they’d walk long distances in the wild.

For a basking bulb you want an incandescent floodlight(example attached) on a 12hour timer, basking temperature directly under the floodlight should be 95-100f. The rest of the enclosure should be ranging 75-80 during the day.
You may also wish to add ambient lighting on the same timer, providing shady areas with hides and safe plants.

Then CHE/CHE’s(ceramic heat emitters) always on a thermostat, for night heat if your house drops below 60’s at night.

What type of uv do you use? Again packaging photos are good! If housed indoors for a large portion of the year, indoor uv is a must.
Uv should be a t5 fluorescent tube, avoid the compact and coil uv bulbs, they don’t give out enough uv and can hurt the tortoises eyes. The uv can be on a 4 hour timer from noon. I’ve attached examples of the two brands to go for and some examples of how to mount them.

With lighting avoid anything labelled halogen or mercury vapour.

How’s your humidity? You want to aim to have the bottom layer of substrate damp, to do this pour lukewarm water into the corners, not loads but enough to dampen the entire bottom layer. To stop that top layer getting dry/dusty, mix the substrate now n then. Check your monitors and substrate to do the pours as and when needed.

What kind of substrate is it you’re using? For substrates, either coco coir, dampened and packed down by hand as a base, with a layer of orchid(fir not pine) bark or forest floor on top, or just the orchid bark/forest floor. Never use anything with sand mixed in, no top soils and no kinds of moss.

How’s their diet been with you?🙂

If your enclosure is no longer big enough
I’d personally recommend you make your own base. The closer you can get to a 8x4 size the better😊
When making your base, just make sure the material is safe, some use flower beds, or take a large bookcase, take out the shelves and lie flat, or just make their own, for all these options I’d line with cheap pond liner to protect the base, making sure the liner goes up the sides too and make sure those sides are deep enough to prevent escape missions🥲
I’ve also included examples of stands people make/buy to hang their lighting, use a temperature gun to determine how high the basking bulb needs to be, the uv I suggested needs to be mounted 18-20 inches from the substrate.

For a water dish a shallow terracotta saucer is considered safest, they have grip in the event your tortoise flips themselves, most pet store options are a known hazard. I’m noticing the one in the photo looks smooth with steeper sides.

I’d also always recommend getting your hands on a temp gun, they’re SO handy when setting up a new environment or for checking your monitors are correct🙂

Any information/photos you can provide on your set up would be great😁

me set up is

Welcome to the forum! One does indeed look like a silverfish as mentioned above, not bc 100% on the other but it look like a potential springtail. Both are harmless, tbh with the heat and moisture of substrates, bug are bound to appear sooner or later, as long as you aren’t overrun it’s fine.
Ours had a population boom recently🥲but turning over the substrate seems to have brought them down a bit lol.

Whilst you’re here, I don’t suppose we could get a photo of your enclosure? Along with any of the following information would be great also!😊it’s so good to know how new members are keeping their tortoise🥰

Sorry if it seems such a influx of information when you’ve just asked a simple bug question lol, it’s just something I like to do for new members to hopefully help if adjustments need making, there’s SO much misinformation out there.

What sized enclosure do you have? An adult needs up to 8x4 foot to roam, roaming is vital for their health, it aids in digestion and building muscle strength, they’d walk long distances in the wild.

For a basking bulb you want an incandescent floodlight(example attached) on a 12hour timer, basking temperature directly under the floodlight should be 95-100f. The rest of the enclosure should be ranging 75-80 during the day.
You may also wish to add ambient lighting on the same timer, providing shady areas with hides and safe plants.

Then CHE/CHE’s(ceramic heat emitters) always on a thermostat, for night heat if your house drops below 60’s at night.

What type of uv do you use? Again packaging photos are good! If housed indoors for a large portion of the year, indoor uv is a must.
Uv should be a t5 fluorescent tube, avoid the compact and coil uv bulbs, they don’t give out enough uv and can hurt the tortoises eyes. The uv can be on a 4 hour timer from noon. I’ve attached examples of the two brands to go for and some examples of how to mount them.

With lighting avoid anything labelled halogen or mercury vapour.

How’s your humidity? You want to aim to have the bottom layer of substrate damp, to do this pour lukewarm water into the corners, not loads but enough to dampen the entire bottom layer. To stop that top layer getting dry/dusty, mix the substrate now n then. Check your monitors and substrate to do the pours as and when needed.

What kind of substrate is it you’re using? For substrates, either coco coir, dampened and packed down by hand as a base, with a layer of orchid(fir not pine) bark or forest floor on top, or just the orchid bark/forest floor. Never use anything with sand mixed in, no top soils and no kinds of moss.

How’s their diet been with you?🙂

If your enclosure is no longer big enough
I’d personally recommend you make your own base. The closer you can get to a 8x4 size the better😊
When making your base, just make sure the material is safe, some use flower beds, or take a large bookcase, take out the shelves and lie flat, or just make their own, for all these options I’d line with cheap pond liner to protect the base, making sure the liner goes up the sides too and make sure those sides are deep enough to prevent escape missions🥲
I’ve also included examples of stands people make/buy to hang their lighting, use a temperature gun to determine how high the basking bulb needs to be, the uv I suggested needs to be mounted 18-20 inches from the substrate.

For a water dish a shallow terracotta saucer is considered safest, they have grip in the event your tortoise flips themselves, most pet store options are a known hazard. I’m noticing the one in the photo looks smooth with steeper sides.

I’d also always recommend getting your hands on a temp gun, they’re SO handy when setting up a new environment or for checking your monitors are correct🙂

Any information/photos you can provide on your set up would be great😁

my set up is about half the size of yours but I’m planning an upgrade when he gets bigger he’s only a couple months old right now. I use a cocoquire & Forrest floor mix as substrate

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Are you sure? They didn’t look like spring

me set up is

my set up is about half the size of yours but I’m planning an upgrade when he gets bigger he’s only a couple months old right now. I use a cocoquire & Forrest floor mix as substrate

Perhaps they’re both young silverfish, I’ll admit it’s hard for me to say for sure, but they don’t look like anything harmful, at least not to me.

Sounds great! Hope you stick around! It’s so nice watching folks journeys on here, if you ever have a question, they’ll be someone around to answer😊

 

[jellyturtle2727]

Perhaps they’re both young silverfish, I’ll admit it’s hard for me to say for sure, but they don’t look like anything harmful, at least not to me.

Sounds great! Hope you stick around! It’s so nice watching folks journeys on here, if you ever have a question, they’ll be someone around to answer😊

Silverfish aren’t harmful? Minecraft has taught me otherwise lol! I’ll change his substrate this week just to make sure the population stays under control. I’ll be sticking around! He’s a funny pic of my guy Zeno climbing Mount Squishmallow today

 

[jellyturtle2727]

Silverfish aren’t harmful? Minecraft has taught me otherwise lol! I’ll change his substrate this week just to make sure the population stays under control. I’ll be sticking around! He’s a funny pic of my guy Zeno climbing Mount Squishmallow today