what else could these critters be

[zx12busa]

Hi all I have been away for work for 5 days and have had a friend mind our pythons...she has just me and said I have a mite infestation...they were perfect before I left..I have never had mites ...she mentioned they vary in size and crawl jump and fly..what else could they be..I fly home tomorrow...she mentioned there r hundreds over the encloses and even on the power boards and leads which are mounted on top of the enclosures...I will upload pics as soon as she sends then..thanks in advance to anyone who comes up with suggestions ...I cant imagine mite population can go from zero to 100s in 5 days..my enclosures a cleaned twice weekly and snakes are feed and washed after every feed and when handled

 

[Adamd]

They aren't wevils are they, I got an infestation in my mealworms farm for want of a better word and with in a couple of days went from 0 to countless. I'm sure they don't fly though I have never had mites either so probably not much help

 

[Paintbrushturkey]

perhaps hump backed fly? if there was any food, shed or faeces left in the enclosure that may explain an explosion in fly pop

 

[tahnbug]

I have a similar issue, I've got an infestation of little (1-2mm) winged bugs in my enclosure that seemed to just spring up overnight! I've Googled all the things I can think of and none of the pictures look like these bugs

 

[tahnbug]

Just FYI the things I Googled are fruit flies, baby crickets, fleas and of course mites They didn't help me, but maybe one of them is what you have?

 

[tahnbug]

OK mine WAS fruit flies, and my friend has a similar issue with bugs liking the dampness near the water bowl where her beardies splash, and she has prevented it in the future by moving the water bowl every day so the sand dries properly. Hope this helps!

 

[Thyla]

Hi all I have been away for work for 5 days and have had a friend mind our pythons...she has just me and said I have a mite infestation...they were perfect before I left..I have never had mites ...she mentioned they vary in size and crawl jump and fly..what else could they be..I fly home tomorrow...she mentioned there r hundreds over the encloses and even on the power boards and leads which are mounted on top of the enclosures...I will upload pics as soon as she sends then..thanks in advance to anyone who comes up with suggestions ...I cant imagine mite population can go from zero to 100s in 5 days..my enclosures a cleaned twice weekly and snakes are feed and washed after every feed and when handled

Mites can easily go from nothing to thousands in the blink of an eye. Unless your looking daily for them, a few thousand can go unseen, and in 5 days they can be covering every square inch within a 1 meter radius. I've seen it happen in cricket breeding. However mites don't fly. It could be zigzag flies (thats what we called them). They are small sized flies which moved in a distinct zigzag way. I would be checking moisture sources like under water bowls, etc.