tiny insects found

[George]

After saying good morning to our beardie George, I noticed that in and around his water dish are very tiny insects with somewhat translucent bodies. They look just like crickets but are very very tiny. They have the long antennae as well as the two spiky things that point out of the back of a cricket. But as I mentioned they are very very small maybe 1/16 of an inch. Is it possible that these are baby crickets? If so, how does this happen? We sift his sand often to clean out any food/feces around the cage.

Has anyone ever experienced this?

 

[zebraflavencs]

Morning and welcome !
yesssssssssss it is possible that what you are seeing are indeed newly hatched crickets. A photo would confirm this.
Hope this helps out !
This link has pictures of newly hatched and older baby crickets.
http://chamownersweb.tripod.com/Crickets/Adult_Crix.htm
Janie

 

[renich]

Welcome!

Could very well be baby crickets. Do you leave crickets in your beardie's viv?

 

[George]

Well, George usually eats all his crickets, but lately he has been lazy and waits for them to come to him. I didn't see any crickets in his cage early this morning, but I just went over to the cage to identify the little insects again, and I saw a rather large cricket between the glass and the water dish.

Should I be concerned about these little critters? It kind of freaks me out a bit. I don't want them bothering George, and as I said he has been a bit lazy lately, and hides in his log for about 80% of the day.

 

[zebraflavencs]

Okay, two issues.
First issue is that crickets can and will chew on a sleeping dragon. Give George a once over, checking for open wounds.
Second issue... crickets tend to need damp environments for eggs to hatch.
You have sand, which means under that water bowl, water has slopped, and not only are the baby crickets hatching, but I would guess a goodly amount of bacteria is likely to be present, making for some unhealthy situations.
Bacteria is consumed by the baby crickets, baby crickets are consumed by either George or the adult crickets. Final result... sick George.

Now, let's get a bit of information from you please.
How old is George (hatch date if you have that, otherwise time you have had him, and apprx age when you acquired him).
Size of enclosure.
Which UVB, brand as well as type (ie; tube, compact, mvb)
Age of said uvb.
Distance from basking spot to uvb/basking light.
Substrate we know. How often do you do a complete changeout ?
Diet normally offered on a daily basis.
Any calcium or vitamins offered ? If so, when?
Temps of basking spot and how they are recorded/measured ?

So, for the moment, you may wish to remove the sand completely, and get a fecal sample off to your vet for parasite testing.
Just a thought.
Hope this helps out !
Janie

 

[George]

Wow..... you are right, the water dish is surrounded by damp sane because recently George loves to splash it out of the bowl (although we have never witnessed this, when we come home the water is always gone and the sand outside of the bowl is wet).

George is approximately 1.5 years old, we got him last summer and he was approx 7 months at the time.
He is in a 3'x2' glass enclosure
UVB= Eko-terra 10.0 36"
UVB is approx 1 year old
distance from the top of his hollowed log to light is aprox 7-8"
We last changed his sand in the Fall, we try to change every 6 months so he is due soon
He dines on approc 10 large crickets every other day, and eats fresh kale every day and sometimes he will eat peas and carrot
We sprinkle his kale with calcium
The temp of his cage is measured by a small thermometer that is in one corner of his cage. It registers at 80-85 degrees consistently

I love the idea of not having sand!!!! It is so messy. My only concern is that George loves to dig. On active days he will take all the sand from one area of the cage and move it to another side of the cage....then later in the day he will even it all out again......not sure why, but he seems to sporadically do this.

A question about cleaning up the tile when he poops on it.... how do you clean it?

 

[zebraflavencs]

Ah... Several things you will want to revamp, if not change out altogether.
First would the the uvb. Tubes only have a life of at the most 6 months, so for the last 6 months, George hasn't gotten any uvb.
Second would be that the uvb in use, was substandard for dragons needs.
I highly recommend a Reptisun 10.0. If you go to the main site here, you will see a store sticky. Click on that, and you can order one from there, or directly from Pet Warehouse.com.

Next issue. That sand.. 6 months is a looong time for it not to be totally changed out. You can keep the sand, but change it out monthly.
Now there is nothing saying you can't leave a portion of the enclosure with sand, or create a container, removable, to hold sand for him to dig about in.

As for tile, I tend to spot clean as needed, with non scented baby wipes. Once a month I have a steam cleaner where I will steam clean the tiles, wipe dry with a cloth towel, allow the enclosure to further dry, then toss said towel into the wash.

Diet. Here is a great list to help you choose a healthy diet for George.
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html
Which calcium do you use, and is it sprinkled daily ?
Here is a great vitamin to use weekly on his crickets or salad:
http://www.petmountain.com/product/reptile-supplements/105550/rep-cal-herptivite-multivitamin.html
This is the calcium I use, also made by the same company:
http://www.petmountain.com/product/...cal-ultrafine-calcium-without-vitamin-d3.html

At George's age, you only need sprinkle twice a week. Once a week with the vitamins.

The thermometer you have in use... I suspect it doesn't have a probe ? If not, then it can be off by as much as 20*F-/+. See if you can't find a digital thermometer with a probe. I have found them at hardware stores, garden centers as well as Walmarts in the small appliance section.

I think that covered everything fairly well...
Were you able to do a once over on George to ascertain no wounds were present ?
Hope this helps !
Janie

 

[renich]

Yep, when I switched from sand to tile, it was a blessing in disguise. So much cleaner. What we did was lay papertowels under the tile. For spot cleaning, we used the unscented baby wipes. For deep down cleaning, we lifted the tiles and gave them a good cleaning.

Here's the link to the site's store. We are affiliated with Pet Mountain. All proceeds are used to maintain the site.
http://mybeardie.com/bearded-dragon-reptile-supplies.php?itemtype=ReptiSun

 

[zebraflavencs]

Also, to eliminate the water bowl, which I suspect he tends to wallow in, try offering him a soaking bath, say 3-4 times a week in the kitchen sink, or even your bathtub. Water up to his shoulders, temps baby warm, duration for around 20 minutes.
This will allow him to be well hydrated, his poos might start passing there ( easy clean ups !) and no extra humidity in his enclosure.
Not to mention this will aid in his shedding, when he gets around to that, next time.
Hope this helps !
Janie

 

[George]

We just took him out and I don't see any spots. We removed all the sand from the corner and all the baby crickets that we could see. I have attached a few pics of George....he looks pretty healthy to me....but I'm the furthest from an expert. As far as bathing him, our last visit to the vet (approx Oct of last year, we went because he had very smelly diahrea) she told us that we did not need to bathe him and that spraying him everyday would be sufficient. After reading many of the posts here I noticed that people bathe their beardies quite often......so now I'm confused????

I'm trying to convince my son to change to tile. It is his pet and he does most if not all the maintenace. He thinks that picking up the poop will be harder to do than it is now (where he just scoops it with a sifter). Do you just use a paper towel to scoop it off the tile, then wash it with a damp papertowel?

Sorry can't post the photos.....even compressed I keep getting getting an error that it is full to contact an administrator????

 

[zebraflavencs]

Many vets have outdated information, particularly if they are not herp dedicated vets.
From our observations, misting does very little in the hydration of a dragon, and increases the ambient humidity levels which can lead to all sorts of issues.

Thus the bathing in a separate place outside the enclosure is an excellent way to rehydrate and keep well hydrated, and as an aide in shedding, and in my humblest opinion.. the best place my dragons to poop.

Now as for posting pictures, we tend to use something like www.photobucket.com
to store our photos. This site has the ability to convert sizes as well as send via an email or a forum site like here, so you can post your pictures.

Candice, one of our members, was kind enough to post a thread with step by step, picture instructions on how to use photobucket to post your photos.
This is that thread:
http://mybeardie.com/bearded-dragon...isual-how-to-post-pictures-using-photobucket/

Hope that helps !
Janie
oh, I use non scented baby wipes to clean up the poo/urates. Those are damp enough to use as a scrub should the waste matter dry in, as well as it drys well enough so it isn't a damp spot left long.
I also monthly, steam clean the tiles for maintenance.
I can walk you and your son through that if you would like.

 

[George]

Thank you everyone for your input! This site is amazing!!!!!!!

Have a great day!

 

[renich]

Glad you were able to get your questions answered. It looks like Janie took care of you.

Tell your son that yes, you need to pick the poop up with a papertowel or something. You can flush it down the toilet (not the papertowel). Tile is the better choice for your dragon. Especially since you have baby crickets growing, it is not the best environment for your beardie.