Possible mites on young crestie

[Kristy]

I was doing my normal cage cleaning today and I noticed some tiny little black bugs in Slurps water dish.

He is on papertowels, always has been. So I took him out, looked him over top to bottom, I didn't see a single spot on him that even resembled a mite. That was with a magnifying glass, I checked around his eyes and ears too. Nothing.

Nothing at all on the paper towels. He has been in a room by himself since I got him. He will stay there for a long time because I got him from petco, I quaratine longer for anything that comes from petstores.

I also haven't brought any new animals into the house since him. So I can't even imagine where he could have gotten them from if thats what he has.

Now, the bugs. They were black and only in his water dish. They actually looked more like worms but I have never seen a mite so I don't know exactly what they look like.
I do have a live plant in a pot in his tank. Which I noticed has fruit flys living in it, so it has been removed as of today. Could they be larvae from the fly's?

Any input is appreciated. Let me know if I should order some PAM just to be safe.

Thanks

[tigerlily]

Mites would look more like a dot ---> .

I've never heard of crestie's having mites either. Maybe Emily has some more insight on that. She's the woman!

It's more likely that you were seeing a larval form of some bug. I'd clean out that water bowl, and keep a close eye on things.

[Kristy]

I had never heard of Cresties having them either. I have heard of Leopard Geckos having them though.

They definately weren't a dot. More worm like. I wish I could have gotten a pic but they were way too small.

I cleaned out the whole enclosure and put in fresh water in a new dish. I will watch and see what happens. I also have that plant in an empty tank with a bowl of shallow water. I want to see if the flies I found in the plant are the culprits.

[tigerlily]

Sounds like a good plan!

[Kagez28]

do you feed crickets? cause sometimes if you leave them in there they can lay eggs and hatch out little bug looking things.

[Kristy]

I do feed crickets and try and make sure they are all out the next morning. I may miss one or two. Do you think they will lay eggs in the water dish though? I don't think these were crickets though, the looked to wormy.

[mlededee]

were the worm things moving/could you tell for sure that they were alive? cricket poop might look like a tiny worm if it was in the water dish. fruit fly larvae are white, squirmy looking worm things and tend to appear in abundance on anything rotting like a dead cricket or old cgd.

do NOT treat anything in or around the cage with PAM--geckos are far more sensitive to chemicals and will absorb it directly through their skin which will not end well.

what you are seeing may have been something from the plant. keep an eye on things and see if they reappear. check around the gecko's eyes and vent to make sure there aren't any actually on the gecko. just keep the cage clean and watch for more and we'll go from there.

[Kristy]

Thanks Emily,

They were definately moving. I watched and even had my son look to make sure I wasn't seeing things and he said they were moving.

They were too long and thin to be cricket poop I think.

I did check all around his eyes and in his skin, ears, vent. Didn't see a thing.

I will watch and let everyone know. If I find them again I am going out and buying a microscope.

EDIT: Will stay away from the PAM. I will wait and see, and take further action if I find them again.

[Kristy]

Just an update... It wasn't mites after all. I cleaned out slurps tank, removed the live plant and put that in a seperate tank with a shallow water dish.

Left it for a few days not a single bug in slurps tank or water dish, no worms, nothing.

In the tank with only the plant there were worms in the water dish, or bugs, larvae. Turns out I have a little colony of fruit flies living in that plant. So The plant has been retired from crestie cages and is being "aired" out, outside.

Major relief

OH and I succesfully bred crickets in my cricket bin without even nowing it. So I have hundreds of little pinhead crickets in a spare ten gallon. So thats a plus.