Springtails (?) in the enclosure

[pixelatr]

Hi all, I've seen a couple other posts about this but I have kind of a strange situation. Yesterday I went to feed my Bluey (His name is Muppetron) a blueberry and noticed that there were genuinely hundreds of small, white bugs which I think are springtails. I panicked a bit and immediately replaced his substrate and deep cleaned his enclosure, but somehow the next day there are still a decent number of them hanging around. My main concern is that there were so many of them, everywhere I looked in the surface of his substrate I could see hundreds, which I assume isn't normal for springtails. It also bugs me (no pun intended) that there were a decent number crawling on the outside of his enclosure as well.

When I gave him a bath it didn't seem like any of them were in him, which is good, but I still feel like there shouldn't have been that many of them, and I have no idea where they could have come from.

If anyone has any ideas as to how I can control the population of them or can confirm that they are in fact harmless (I've attached a few photos) that would be fantastic!

Thanks!

[splashy07]

Springtails are harmless and actually beneficial as they consume decaying matter and debris. They are often used in bioactive setups to control mold.

[Silver]

Are you able to get anything more up close photo wise or clearer? Maybe on a solid (dark) colour background like a piece of card? I can't really make anything out in the photo you attached, so I'm not sure whether or not they are springtails. Or if I am just blind.

If they are springtails they're beneficial, most of my reptile enclosures have springtails in them on purpose, if conditions are good for them they can be in the thousands. I have a culture of them I have had for at least 6 years and they are very prolific when they are kept in the right conditions.

They are harmless to furniture, people, plants etc. They also won't go very far outside of substrate, they need things moist to survive and they feed off mould, fungus etc so you won't get an infestation in your house if they are springtails (unless your house is particularly wet and mouldy). Most springtails who get out an enclosure would die within a day due to lack of moisture.

There are other things they could be aside from springtails though so trying to confirm they are definitely springtails or not would be a good idea imo.