Mites in BP habitat?

[BP_Pascal]

I was changing my BP's water today and noticed small white bugs moving across the surface( there were tons!) and I immediately checked him. There were none on him but I looked at the substrate and saw a few. They are white do I don't know if they are mites?

[DooLittle]

I've never *knock on wood* dealt with mites. But I believe they are only black, not white. Do you have pictures???

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[BP_Pascal]

No I dont have pictures, I already changed the water , but they were about as big as a grain of pepper and they were ....gliding through the water .

[John1982]

I love the smell of P.A.M in the mornin.

[BP_Pascal]

I love the smell of P.A.M in the mornin.

What are you talking about?

[DooLittle]

Hmm.

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[John1982]

Pam kills bugs. Unless you give more information it's the only advice I've got for you, sorry.

[Crazy4Herps]

Snake mites are exclusively black. The white mites may have come in with substrate or pieces of wood in the enclosure; clean out the entire enclosure and give the snake a soak / wipedown. I have heard of people finding small light-colored bugs in enclosures and not having a recurring issue after they were cleaned out. Best not to use PAM or any other pesticides near your animals unless absolutely necessary.

[John1982]

http://www.vpi.com/publications/the_...of_snake_mites

[John1982]

Without further information I'd say the bugs are probably wood mites. They won't specifically harm your snake but I imagine a serious infestation would at least annoy and eventually stress your animal.

Snake mites are not exclusively black but if you're viewing these little white bugs crawling around with the naked eye they're almost certainly not the culprit. If you're using a wood based substrate I'd clean the tub and use newspaper or paper towels for a while. I'd also dump the bag from which the substrate came.

Springtails are another small white bug that could be a possibility if you're using cypress or another substrate that generally comes damp in the bag. They're very vulnerable to desiccation so dryer substrates such as aspen are generally free of them. Like the wood mites they're largely harmless and a thorough cleaning of the enclosure, with a switch to newspaper or paper towel substrate, quickly routes them out. Springtails jump like crazy though so if the bugs you're viewing aren't hopping all over the place these are not a likely suspect.