Tiny red bugs in earth

[vallery]

Hi,

I am away right now and my cousin is taking care of my snails. I was talking to him today and he said he noticed in one tank (only) very tiny red bugs scurrying around in the dirt. Said when he disturbed the earth a little there were tons of then scurrying around said they were really, really tiny and red. Would anyone know what these might be? Are they dangerous to the snails in that tank.
Thank You Vallery

[fasti]

Hi Vallery,

what I can tell you is that 99% of bugs are dangerous for snails. I don't exactly know which bugs it can be (I don't know Canadian fauna). F.e. in Russia we have several kinds of mites which can live in the earth. What you can do:

- clean snails by water
- move snails to empty tank (just put list of white paper on the button) and check will these bugs appear again (if yes, it can mean that they catched their eggs inside snails)
- destroy whole substrat
- clean the tank very thoroughly
- use a new substrat
- check other tanks (bugs could move)

If you use substart from forest you have to temper it before (this process destroys all bugs, ants and so on)

[rosiesnail2]

It sounds like those tiny red spiders you find on stones and walls.

encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ26ldTM_ThfpC5i7NqIAmiVuPLSFb4mc-e6vyitYbPhyNPFspj heres a picture of one

[tsrebel]

99% of all bugs are NOT dangerous for snails. How on earth could they survive? But then again, some mites and other bugs may harm the snails. To be safe, I'd do as fasti says. I think it is especially worrying that they are so many.

[fasti]

Tsrebel, I meant only bugs which can appear in the tank

[britt333]

They sound like clover mites.They will smear and stain a bright red if it is them.I don't know if they are harmful to snails but maybe with this info on name you can research them more to find out.

[vallery]

Thank You everyone.
I will do some research while I am away, and once I get home I think I will rebuild another tank for them and also give them a bath and put them on some paper as suggested. I have to check out the situation when I get home because my cousin said the soil is pretty much infested so even if they are not harmful to the snails I would rather not have an infestation. It seems odd though that they are only in one tank.
Again thank you and anymore information or suggestions would be appreciated.
Vallery x

[vallery]

Rosie
I sent that link you left for me to my cousin and he said that is exactly what they look like. Do you know the name of those spiders?
Val x

[oscar101]

Those are not actualy spiders. Their called spider mites due to their spider like appearence. Their red so they have a "harmfull if consumed" appearence to preditors. Their not actualy harmfull to your snails but its still best to be rid of them. They feed purly on vegitation (both fresh and rotting). You may find feeding your snails becomes a little more expensive with these guys in your tank as you will most likely end up giving your snails more than 3 times the usual amount of feed with these guys in the tank purly because you think that your snails have gained a bigger apetite when actualy, the mites are eating the food to at an extensive rate. These also are known pests within house holds, living hapily on most wooden surfaces feeding of the tiny amount of fibre provided by the wood untill better scources of vegitation come into contact with the wood. These wont cause any visible damage to your wooden furnature if this happens but you may see the colouration fade. these are common greenhouse pests and often make their way into your fridge if your not carfull.
Im not trying to scare or panick you, I just thought its better you know what your deeling with so you can take the appropriate precautions to get rid of them.

[blondekiss]

Gud bit of info there Oscar! & well done rosie!! x Hollie

[rosiesnail2]

Yeah, They are spider mites however my mum calls them spiders