Tiny brown bugs in emp enclosure?

Woohoo for my first post! ...

Anywho, today i was checking out the tank when i spotted a cricket leg that my emps had tossed out of their burrow. To my dismay, when i prodded it with a pen, i noticed these teensy little brown bugs scurrying all around it. >.< I've read there are good AND bad mites, and that the 'bad' mites are white and hang out on scorpy joints, so anyone have any clue what these are? I checked out the scorps themselves and they dont have anything on them..... I have noticed however, that over the last couple of days they have been acting kind of oddly, coming out of the burrow during the day to run around like crazies and try climbing the walls, as though they are discontent or want OUT. I'll continue reading through older posts on here in the meantime, but any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[quote="GinaBallerina88"]Woohoo for my first post! ...

Anywho, today i was checking out the tank when i spotted a cricket leg that my emps had tossed out of their burrow. To my dismay, when i prodded it with a pen, i noticed these teensy little brown bugs scurrying all around it. >.< I've read there are good AND bad mites, and that the 'bad' mites are white and hang out on scorpy joints, so anyone have any clue what these are? I checked out the scorps themselves and they dont have anything on them..... I have noticed however, that over the last couple of days they have been acting kind of oddly, coming out of the burrow during the day to run around like crazies and try climbing the walls, as though they are discontent or want OUT. I'll continue reading through older posts on here in the meantime, but any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[/quote

i have no idea about the bugs, but the exploration of the emp is pretty much normal behavior...
mine come out at the most random times, be it early morning, mid afternoon, or the dead middle of night...
i guess it comes down to how comfortable they are...

btw, welcome to SF...
glad to see another Fl member =)

Hi welcome to the forum!

im not really sure what the bugs are but as they appear to be around the dead stuff they are prob eating it so im thinking they are probably harmless howevever thats not to say they wont stress the scorps out if there is a load of them...im still a noob really so best to wait for some more experienced peeps to comment by anyways Welcome!!

Hey, thanks for the welcomes, and for answering so quickly.
I've actually been hanging around here for awhile (a few months?) just kind of gathering information and tips (local pet store ppl dont seem to know much about what they are doing!). Especially when i'd first gotten the scorps and had no idea what i was doing. and I know i've come across this topic a few times but now i can't seem to find it again.... just like those little bugs who now seem to have disappeared >.< Lol. Thanks again!

GinaBallerina88 wrote:

Hey, thanks for the welcomes, and for answering so quickly.
I've actually been hanging around here for awhile (a few months?) just kind of gathering information and tips (local pet store ppl dont seem to know much about what they are doing!). Especially when i'd first gotten the scorps and had no idea what i was doing. and I know i've come across this topic a few times but now i can't seem to find it again.... just like those little bugs who now seem to have disappeared >.< Lol. Thanks again!

lol i know the feeling...
ive never paid attention to those threads cause i havent had that problem yet

well like i said, welcome...
if you have a question just ask, theres more than enough knowledgeable people here to help you out sweetie

Are you sure they are brown and not red?

Could be baby crickets

ive had them in my emp enclosure too but they didnt seem to stress out the scorps or do them any harm but i just gave the enclosure a clean out and ive not really seen them since.

They are about the same exact color as the coco fiber substrate i have in the tank... so reddish-brown? And I guess they could be baby crickets? I HAVE seen them popping around in there. :-D

Just an update I suppose...

I took the towel off the top of the tank and let it dry out for a couple of days. Don't know where they could've gone TO, but i think those bugs have officially taken off.
Just to be sure, in fact, i pulled a meanie-little-boy move. Yanked a cricket's leg off so I could leave it out as bait, been about 16 hrs. hours and still no tiny-unknown-bug activity. Heh, small favors.

ive just seen some in my flat rock's enclosure. i swear that they are already in the substrate when you buy it .

Manser wrote:

ive just seen some in my flat rock's enclosure. i swear that they are already in the substrate when you buy it .

They're likely acting like the mites in my tanks did. Doesn't take long to spread from one tank to the next.

I'm not calling these mites, but likely they are just migrating to each of the tanks.

If they flew and were smaller than a regular gnat I would say they are just fungus gnats that show up on new substrate sometimes but leave after awhile.No idea what these are but most bugs are harmless and just annoying.

I have problems with scuttle bugs that came in with plants. They look kind of like fruit flies but run around over flying. Does this sound familiar? And welcome, although slightly delayed

They could be Springtails. I have had them before in my tank.