PLEASE HELP!
Please help me figure out what these bugs are! I recently moved from NY to NC and was warned that there are alot of bugs down here – I just didnt thing I would be dealing with them so quickly! I moved into a new-build house about a week ago and the day before yesterday noticed these tiny tiny little blackish bugs on my laundry room floor. I now also have them along the back wall in my kitchen. Upon inspection of my patio, which is on the other side of that wall, I was appalled to find hundreds of these bugs. They do not fly and they stay on the floor – they dont crawl up on table legs, walls, cabinets etc. I initially thought, after looking through your site, that they might be springtails but these bugs do not jump like people were saying springtails do. Please help me find out what these are and how to get rid of them – the bug spray i bought did nothing! I am getting the weeby-geebies!! Thank you!
Jodi

Ed. Note: We incorrectly identified these Springtails as Booklice, but then the following letter arrived and corrected our error.

Correction: (05/26/2008) not a book louse
After looking closely, I think that your book louse is a collembola. … at the top of the page, the dark bug facing left on a white background. I think this because I’m looking at both under a scope at the moment. Check out the antennae – lots of medium-length segments, like a collembola, rather than a short scape and long thin flagellum like a book louse – and the shape of the head, which seems much more like a collembola as it is not wider at the base than the tip, the way a book louse is. FWIW,
Liz D. (small bug newbie)

Need bug ID please
I’ve been doing reptile rescue/rehab for close to 30 years now. I’ve seen every mite, springtail, tick etc there probably is in snake enclosures. However today, I found a film of "dust" floating on the surface (none sank that I could see) of a baby Amazon tree boa’s water bowl. The enclosed photo is of 2 specks of the "dust" at 1600x plus whatever the zoom of my digital camera might have added. I can’t find any good photos of larvae stages of various mite species. Plus it only has 6 legs. The only other "bug" I regularly see in the snake cages other than springtails and occasionally reptile mites is some type of very small fly that dies off when the cages are dry but come back when they stay damp for a few days or when bowels move or when a snake sheds, they stick around till the shed dries. (We lovingly refer to these flies as "shed flies". We use permetherin to kill off mite infestations. Permetherin does not kill these flies …anyway, that’s another topic. What is this little bug the larvae, pupa or adult stage of? Any idea? I observed the one on the right sloughing. It appears the one on the left had already sloughed. I can see them a lot better directly through the microscope than you can see in the photos. Sorry about that. It’s the best I can do with the equipment I have. Thanks
Brett Gardin

Hi Brett,
This is one of the Elongate Bodied Springtails in the suborder Arthropleona. In our humble opinion, this is Podura aquatica, which, according to BugGuide is: “Semi-aquatic. Often found floating on the surface of small bodies of standing water such as ponds, as well as on stream and pond banks.”

Scorpion Tank Infestation Help
Hi Bugman,
I was hoping you would be able to help me out with these critters. I am the proud owner of several great species of scorpions, and today, under closer inspection of my Pandinus imperator tank I found these nearly microscopic specs crawling on the glass. My first reactions was "oh great, lice/mites" and I was about to disassemble the entire tank and whatnot for cleaning, but I thought I would have a closer look as a pair of crickets in the tank were happily munching away on these tiny critters. Under a microscope they look very unusual, and I cannot figure out if they are lice, mites, or very newly born crickets. The closest thing I’ve found on your site are booklice, but I can’t figure out why my tank would be infested with them. If you could help identify these I would very much appreciate it. Thanks,
Blanton A.

Hi Blanton,
This is a Springtail. Springtails are minute, primitive insects. Over 2000 species of Springtails have been identified worldwide. Your specimen appears to resemble an image on BugGuide identified as a species in the genus Ceratophysella and Family Hypogastruridae. It was found associated with leaf litter. The Springtails will not harm your Scorpions.

A million little critters
I noticed these "patches" of pinkish little things over the surface of our swim pool the middle of this February. I have lived in this house for over 20 years…never seen this before. The location is on the Central coast of California, San Luis Obispo. The size of the creatures are about 1 to 1.5 mm Any thoughts??
John

Hi John,
These are Springtails, minute insects that are found in large aggregations. They are often associated with swimming pools. Perhaps the drought this year has led them to your pool if they have never congregated there before. Springtails need moisture to survive, and they flourish under the proper conditions.

Thanks for posting the pictures and letters on Spring Tails. Similar to one of your readers we saw these little guys on Christmas day in Oregon and have been stumped for a month trying to determine what they are. Here are two more pictures we took that you can publish. The Douglas fir needle gives you a little bit of scale.
-Kevin Joyce

Hi Kevin,
We are glad to hear our site assisted you in the identification of your Snow Fleas, a type of Springtail that can be very plentiful on warm winter days.