Weird bugs on cork bark - springtails maybe?

[poodude289]

Hello, in a bit of a panic here - I looked in my enclosure tonight and noticed an infestation of tiny black bugs. It was hard to get proper pictures but I tried, please tell me these are harmless. Th

 

[poodude289]

I noticed they have antennaes

 

[poodude289]

There was a lot of them.

 

[Ratmosphere]

Hard to tell from the pics but they look long like springtails, I would say harmless.
I’m pretty sure the black kind are called “snow fleas” and less common than the white springtails used as a cleanup crew. How many of them did you see?

 

[m0lsx]

There are various species of springtails. I recently acquired some orange ones. But at least one species of dark-coloured springtails are good in arid enclosures. Lepidocyrtus, is, I belive the most common dark springtail.

 

[poodude289]

Hard to tell from the pics but they look long like springtails, I would say harmless.
I’m pretty sure the black kind are called “snow fleas” and less common than the white springtails used as a cleanup crew. How many of them did you see?

Tons, including ones that were like little black dots.

 

[Ratmosphere]

Do you think they look like snow fleas?

They still there now?

 

[Tarantula Trooper]

From the pics the little buggers do look like springtails.

 

[poodude289]

Do you think they look like snow fleas?

They still there now?

Maybe? It's hard to tell with how small some of them are. They do look like springtails like on the glass, but like I said some others just look like black dots.

 

[Ratmosphere]

Snow fleas are a type of springtail, they gather in large numbers and jump when you get close to them. I think they are common where you are from.

 

[poodude289]

Snow fleas are a type of springtail, they gather in large numbers and jump when you get close to them. I think they are common where you are from.

 

[poodude289]

A little bit concerned they could be termites lmao

 

[poodude289]

They don't seem to jump when I disturb them

 

[poodude289]

Thinking they could be booklice instead

 

[poodude289]

Although, some of the bigger ones appear to have wings like a termite....

 

[poodude289]

Their antenna go forward and not to the side like booklice, so I don't think it's those.

 

[poodude289]

I just googled and booklice can end up with wings, so it's possible still that it is those.

 

[poodude289]

I honestly think there might be a mix of booklice and springtails, not just one of them. I pray this isn't termites.

 

[Ratmosphere]

If it bothers you, you could always replace/heat treat the substrate and the cork bark.

 

[poodude289]

If it bothers you, you could always replace/heat treat the substrate and the cork bark.

I'm going to but it'll have to wait, from what I can see termites when they are younger are pale / creamy, and I've seen nothing like that. It's all black, some are tiny and some are a little larger with wings, maybe around 1mm. There are those, and there's the ones that look like springtails. I think it's more than likely springtails and booklice, not termites. If it was termites, I'd probably be seeing the creamy things, and not black ones enmasse. If I'm wrong, please correct me - I'm using Google for this information.