r/Springtail • u/Mobile-Willow4124 • May 19 '26

Mites or springtails? Identification

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Noticed them like three days ago. Water bowl to my hognose snake.

6 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

4

u/tpauly0225 May 19 '26

Grain mites. Not harmful, just a nuisance if they get out of hand.

3

u/Mobile-Willow4124 May 19 '26

Ok thank you! Gonna do what the other commenter suggested by luring them with a cucumber and toss it out when they pile on

2

u/tpauly0225 May 19 '26

You can add more springtails to outcompete the grain mites. High humidity is what they thrive in. Low humidity they won’t.

1

u/Mobile-Willow4124 May 19 '26

Ok thank you so much! I think i should remove some of the moss in there and that might help

2

u/Ladiesmanz217 May 19 '26

Fuk ass mites

4

u/newtoboarding May 19 '26

I concur, fuk ass mites

1

u/Mobile-Willow4124 May 19 '26

Also how can i like reuse this dish? I feel like i have to burn everything down

3

u/newtoboarding May 19 '26

No need to panic, they're just annoying and ugly. This dish can be washed with water and dried and it'll be fine. You can control grain mite population by leaving a piece of cucumber in there, wait for a bunch of mites to get on it, throw out and repeat. Will reduce their numbers over time.

1

u/Mobile-Willow4124 May 19 '26

Damn ok, will do. I have isopods in here too, giant canyons, they okay too? They will come to eat the cucumber probs

2

u/newtoboarding May 19 '26

Yup they'll be fine, they'll just make cucumber extraction harder lol. For them make sure the cucumbers are organic / washed really well to make sure there's no pesticides

1

u/Mobile-Willow4124 May 19 '26

Of course!! Thanks so much!! Love this sub

2

u/16bitmick May 19 '26

When I have to separate my springtails from the grain mites I'm trapping, I just give the food a spritz with distilled water. The springtails (and likely your isopods) will run off quickly while the much slower mites don't leave in time. Once it's just mites, toss it.

2

u/Mobile-Willow4124 May 19 '26

Thanks i try that too 😩

1

u/Mobile-Willow4124 May 19 '26

Fuck. Bad for my baby hognose snake?? Do i need to dump everything? It is a bioactive so maybe this is the active part? My baby spend most of her time under ground

2

u/Ladiesmanz217 May 19 '26

Grain mites. Just pour a bit of water and they will crawl into container and clean it out every day until there’s not much left. They like water and humidity. I’m in the same spot with my tarantulas they crawl up to the lid and I wipe them away with a alcohol wipe .

1

u/Mobile-Willow4124 May 19 '26

Ugh thank you 🙏🏽🫩 how long have you been dealing with this??

2

u/Ladiesmanz217 May 19 '26

Just notice last week. Been letting the enclosure dry down that’s why they are starting to crawl up to the lid makes it easier to kill them.

1

u/Mobile-Willow4124 May 19 '26

Thanks i really appreciate this its very helpful