New Crestie Owner // springtails

[panthman]

Alright so I have recently transferred my crestie to a new castle converted out of a china hutch. I got a batch of springtails that I have been cultivated for the past three weeks and added them into the substrate mix a few days before transferring my gecko. From what I've read, springtails are harmless. However today I noticed they have gathered en mass into my gecko's water dish. They seem pretty happy, the gecko seems unconcerned. I'm mostly wondering if anyone has experienced this before and their thoughts on the occurrence. Thank you !

 

[Jetfire]

They're likely congregating in the water dish because the rest of the enclosure is too dry for their preference. Springtails like it too moist for Crested and Gargoyles, in my experience. I use Dubias as janitors, and springtails for my frogs. The frogs don't mind the extra moisture one bit.

 

[acpart]

I do have some springtails in my crestie and garg enclosures. I also have white isopods and dermestid beetles. I often find the beetle larvae in the water dish when the population gets too large.

Aliza

 

[Yvonne G]

Geez! You people actually WANT the darn springtails in your enclosures? Us tortoise people fight to get rid of them! Does this mean that your lizards actually eat these pesky critters? Maybe I need a lizard.

 

[Jetfire]

I've never had a problem with springtails with my tortoises indoor pen. Granted, they live outside in their run, coming indoors for winter. The only pest I get with their indoor pen is my cat, Chicken. He likes to steal and eat their food if I don't keep a wire cover over the pen.

 

[acpart]

Springtails and other small scavenger bugs are pretty essential to a bioactive environment. They eat the geckos' feces and other discarded stuff like dead crickets. Some of my garg enclosures have no visible poop in them at all because of the scavengers.

Aliza

 

[panthman]

They're likely congregating in the water dish because the rest of the enclosure is too dry for their preference. Springtails like it too moist for Crested and Gargoyles, in my experience. I use Dubias as janitors, and springtails for my frogs. The frogs don't mind the extra moisture one bit.

great to know! thank you ^_^