please help my horse field tortoise

Question
hello please can you help my horse field i have had him from Christmas and is fine but 3 weeks ago i noticed some think small and white running on his shell so i changed the bedding as i do once a month and gave him a bath, then i thought problem solved but i noticed one a week ago the same on his neck, please help i don't know ifs its a mite or what i use wood shavings could it come from there, please can i have your advice. please im desperate and i know it could be life threaten, how do they get them.

thank you so much i hope you can help

Answer
Hi Helen, I suspect that what you are seeing are Springtails. These are very tiny, oblong whitish bugs that typically take up residence where there is humidity and decaying organic matter. I get them in both my tortoise enclosures and frog tanks. People with houseplants often have them in the soil as well. If the conditions are right they just seem to appear.  You will often see them clustered in large amounts under the water dish or on droppings or old food as well. They feed on decaying organic matter. You can reduce their numbers by letting soil dry out somewhat for a few days and keeping the organic matter in the tank reduced, droppings and food removed promptly. Some keepers feel they can actually help keep a terrarium clean but if they get to the point where they are swarming in large numbers on your tortoise then that is probably annoying. I would not be concerned about seeing just the occasional one on him.

There are a couple sites about springtails here, the photos are a bit misleading. Springtails are very small.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/alan.cann/articles/springtails.html

http://www.springhalen.dk/white_tropical.JPG