Help!!!!! Mites ? ID needed!!!!

[classdwhite]

I found a bunch of these in my snakes tank the other day, are these mites? They were crawling all over the inside of the cage and I found a couple outside and I just found one in my other tank across the room so they're apparently roaming. Please help me I'd these and reassure me that they're not going to eat the house out from under me

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/classdwhite/image-1.jpg (http://s100.photobucket.com/user/classdwhite/media/image-1.jpg.html)

[daddio207]

Definitely NOT a mite !
No idea what it is either lol

[classdwhite]

I've been doing a lot of reading a possibility right now is a springtail? I dunno, I'm still freaked out.

[Rigby & Marcy]

Are they hanging around the water dish, and they're about half the size of a sesame seed? It looks like a springtail. Rigby got them in his water this summer which is odd because none of the others had them, and they're all on the same bag of aspen.

[classdwhite]

There have been a bunch in the water bowl plus a couple in the substrate, a few crawling across the glass, a few on the outside, everywhere! They are small but there were also some tiny ones which leads me to believe they've been there a bit and are reproducing like mad.

[zazoo31]

I found this post, they are identical:

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103756&highlight=springtail

[smigon]

Yes, definitely springtails. I had them in two of my tanks which were side by side.

Isolate those tanks that you know have them, quarantine them until the springtails are gone.

To get rid of them dump all the substrate and clean the viv. Add the new substrate and make a ring around the water dish so if any sloshes out it will not get the substrate wet. Maybe even just use papertowels. It will take about of month of daily (sometimes 2-3x a day) cleaning to get rid on them. Look at the waterbowl every few hours, and if you see anything dump and clean the bowl.

I personally like the white ramekins from Ikea or Target because you can see the bottom of the bowl and know if there are any in there. They will have their babies which will float around in a group on top and just clean them out! Make sure the outside and bottom of the bowl is completely dry before adding the water.

After a few weeks you will notice the numbers getting smaller, but just be sure to check as many times as you can!

Good luck, and let us know how it is going!

[smigon]

They were completely gone for about a week, but I noticed a couple about 3 days ago, very tiny, I am guessing hatchlings. Cleaned the bowls out again and none yesterday or today so far.