# What are the weirdest things/hitchhikers youve found in your tanks?



## Gamble (Aug 1, 2010)

Hey All -

Today i found a moth in one of my tanks.

In the past ive found;
A snail, a rose weevil, a crane fly, and a few beetles.

Mind you, i disinfectant or boil/microwave/bake everything before i put it in my tanks and they are pretty well sealed up so i know these things didnt crawl in after the fact. (To the best of my knowledge)

So it got me thinking: 
What are some of the weirdest things or hitchhikers youve found in your tanks?

Thx for sharing everyone!


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## Buddysfrogs (Mar 29, 2012)

I've found countless moths and found tadpoles lol

2.2 bassleri 2.3 E.A Santa Isabella 1.1 tinctorious Patricia 0.1 Green Sipplewini 0.0.3 Leucs


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## Gamble (Aug 1, 2010)

Buddysfrogs said:


> I've found countless moths and found tadpoles lol
> 
> 2.2 bassleri 2.3 E.A Santa Isabella 1.1 tinctorious Patricia 0.1 Green Sipplewini 0.0.3 Leucs


Tadpoles arent weird or a hitchhiker! (Although they sometimes might hitch a ride!) Lol


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## Mer_ (Sep 11, 2011)

I have found some slugs, millipedes, and earthworms. There was a possible centipede, but I killed that thing so fast that I don't count it.


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## Gamble (Aug 1, 2010)

Mer_ said:


> I have found some slugs, millipedes, and earthworms. There was a possible centipede, but I killed that thing so fast that I don't count it.


Lol right! ... yea i forgot, i found a millipede once too.


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## Armson (Sep 8, 2008)

I just killed a centipede today. 

Problem is when I noticed it before I thought it was a little bigger.........


-B


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## SMenigoz (Feb 17, 2004)

How about a 2" hornet? Can't recall the specifics, but he must have been dormant in some driftwood used in the tank(no, I didn't bake the wood back then).
Scott


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## goof901 (Jan 9, 2012)

SMenigoz said:


> How about a 2" hornet? Can't recall the specifics, but he must have been dormant in some driftwood used in the tank(no, I didn't bake the wood back then).
> Scott


A hornet?!?!?!?!?! how did you catch/kill it?


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## fieldnstream (Sep 11, 2009)

I found a leopard seal...still have no clue how it got in the viv.


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## phender (Jan 9, 2009)

I found a damsel fly. A larvae must have hitched a ride on some water plants I picked up at a pond center.


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## yomamafat (Jun 16, 2010)

I hate millipedes - they make me angry!


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## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

fieldnstream said:


> I found a leopard seal...still have no clue how it got in the viv.


It was probably after the penguins...


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## chesney (Jan 18, 2007)

A black widow!


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## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

Not in viv, but similar... I keep y tads in 8 oz plastic cups, and leave the cups uncovered until the tads pop legs. One day, as I was doing my chores, I notice a big froglet sitting on the rim of a cup. My first thought was, how did I not catch you earlier... my next was, wow! yer a biggun! So, I go to pull out the now empty cup, only to find a tad still in there. Hmmm... I look in all the cups, one by one and all still had tads. I suppose he must have grown up in his parents tank and hopped out while I was working in there


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## Samtheman (May 10, 2006)

Weirdest hitchhiker I ever had was a dragonfly. Two of them. I came back from a long weekend to find one dead and the other beating its head against the glass. Oh, and it was a 20 gallon long. My best guess is that they hitchhiked on some java fern I had in the miniscule pool I had in the front of the tank that's maybe 2"x3"x4." There were certainly plenty of drowning fruit flies to prey upon.


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## ICS523 (Mar 10, 2012)

I seem two have a permanent population of crane fly in my tank, they constantly drown in the water and I see one floating dead almost every time I check on the tank, but they just keep popping back up I guess they must be hatching and breeding or something. One of these days I aught to Co2 bomb my tank


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## frog dude (Nov 11, 2011)

I once found a big crazy brown spider in my viv. I knew it wasn't a south American spider because I saw that kind of spider very often (still do), so I just assumed it adapted to the high humidity and ate left over fruit flies. I have no idea how the heck it got in though...


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## Krenshaw22 (Apr 21, 2011)

3 HUGE Roaches that I killed and pulled out, a few earthworms, and fire ants that caused me to redo my entire setup, as they decided to make my viv the new home.

Oh also a fern out of nowhere sprouted.


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## Gamble (Aug 1, 2010)

chesney said:


> A black widow!


Seriously? 
And it didnt kill your frogs?


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## Gamble (Aug 1, 2010)

Samtheman said:


> Weirdest hitchhiker I ever had was a dragonfly. Two of them. I came back from a long weekend to find one dead and the other beating its head against the glass. Oh, and it was a 20 gallon long. My best guess is that they hitchhiked on some java fern I had in the miniscule pool I had in the front of the tank that's maybe 2"x3"x4." There were certainly plenty of drowning fruit flies to prey upon.


That is pretty weird.


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## volsgirl (Mar 29, 2012)

Today, I saw movement along the wood on the background. It was too fast to be an isopod. So, I went over to check it out and to my surprise saw a very large red ant, just under 1/2 inch long. I have no idea how it got in there!!!

I went to get the sucker out, and it fell to the bottom, where it immediately became food for one of my terribilis. Does anybody know if ants carry disease or parasites that could be dangerous to my frogs. Should I be worried???


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## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

Ants are one of most dart frogs #1 diet in nature. In fact they suspect that they are a necessary ingredient in the manufacture of their toxins. But not native north american ants. I would worry most with ants about introducing pesticides they may have been exposed to. Other than that, ants "can" become a pest in your viv if they becomes established. But IMO, if your frogs eat them and they are free of pesticides, I'd consider it an addition to a varied diet.


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## chesney (Jan 18, 2007)

Gamble said:


> Seriously?
> And it didnt kill your frogs?


Nope, the tank was Uninhabited at that time. I collected her to take to school and bombed the tank with Co2.


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## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

Gary Busey


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## nonliteral (Mar 26, 2012)

hydrophyte said:


> Gary Busey


..and it didn't kill your frogs?


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## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

hydrophyte said:


> Gary Busey


LOL. OK you win.


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## son of a addict (Jul 3, 2009)

A cat. I have 1 tank with sliding doors and the cat figured out how to open them, fortunately he didn't harm the frogs but they had just started laying eggs and haven't laid since.


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## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

nonliteral said:


> ..and it didn't kill your frogs?


It only wrecked my stuff a little bit.


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## claymore (Feb 24, 2010)

I have found Snails, fungus gnats, some kind of decomp eating Nematoad. 

Tons of Mushrooms too.


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## andersonii85 (Feb 8, 2004)

It must have come in on a plant, but I had a greenhouse frog (Leptodactylus sp.) show up one day in my terrarium.


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## Tricolor (Jun 12, 2009)

I collect and use local oak bark and other neat looking wood pieces. A type of bee is destroying the yellow ash trees here. well I had some emerge in my mint t tank. they tried eating them but spit them out. I was able to kill the bees and no harm came to the terribilis. I am guesing they stung them but with no ill effects?


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## thedude (Nov 28, 2007)

My first tank wound up with 2 weird black wasps I'd never seen before. Still no clue on that one cause they aren't native here. Recently one of my tanks has these odd, BRIGHT yellow snails in them. They have spiral shells with red stripes. Have to be tropical or something, must have come in on a plant.


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## BethInAK (Jul 12, 2011)

fieldnstream said:


> I found a leopard seal...still have no clue how it got in the viv.


Sea Leopards can be very dangerous, according to Shackleton.


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Nemerteans. The first time I saw one in a tank, it was horrible. Now they have migrated into almost all of my tanks (still don't know how they do that). They do my frogs no harm, so I'm trying to accept them as part of the collection now.

Richard.


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## Phyllobates (Dec 12, 2008)

thedude said:


> My first tank wound up with 2 weird black wasps I'd never seen before. Still no clue on that one cause they aren't native here


I've seen something like this too. I've gotten them a few times when I didn't bake my leaf litter prior to setup. They disappeared quickly for me.


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## andersonii85 (Feb 8, 2004)

thedude said:


> My first tank wound up with 2 weird black wasps I'd never seen before. Still no clue on that one cause they aren't native here. Recently one of my tanks has these odd, BRIGHT yellow snails in them. They have spiral shells with red stripes. Have to be tropical or something, must have come in on a plant.


Check out photos of soldier flies. They look like wasps but their not. I've had them pop up from soil that I composted and used in terraria.


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## thedude (Nov 28, 2007)

andersonii85 said:


> Check out photos of soldier flies. They look like wasps but their not. I've had them pop up from soil that I composted and used in terraria.


Nope. I wish they looked like that, these things were diabolical looking.


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## FHal11 (May 8, 2012)

I just recently saw some small rove beetles, and a few of their larvae. While they are too small to do any damage to future frogs, they will definitely be preying on the other microfauna.

Is it ok for these to be in the viv? I started a thread about it, but didn't get much info...thanks!


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## Toxic (Jul 9, 2012)

A few years back i used to work in a flower shop in NY and we would always get shipments of plants from Florida and that's when i would find the coolest hitchhikers around. That's right, frogs!! Every time plants came from FL i would thoroughly look through them and find at least one frog. Needless to say those little guys where what sparked my passion for frogs.

I know that title says "weirdest things/hitchhikers youve found in your tanks" but i thought it would be a nice story to share with you guys.


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## kitcolebay (Apr 7, 2012)

My son spotted a dragonfly in our 150 this morning. Looks pretty young and pretty cool! Think it safe to leave in there or shall I remove it? I haven't added anything recently, but some sheet moss from Josh's around 3 weeks ago. Maybe it hitchhiked on it.
Here's a pic...









Thanks, Chris


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

Two enormous beetles...that jumped and climbed the glass at me...scared the crap out of me...I mean HUGE


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## Krenshaw22 (Apr 21, 2011)

I'm having fern gametes pop up in my tanks regulary and one has completely develop. Got 3 more developing in two different tanks.

Sent from my Desire HD


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## varanoid (Jan 21, 2011)

chesney said:


> A black widow!


Same here that was my wierdest and most concerning.

Others have included just a couple things such nematodes I let be, snails that somehow died off on their own, and the ocasional fungus fly.


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## cyck22 (Sep 8, 2011)

I have little black flys in my leuc viv but i cant tell if they are humpback flys or fungus gnats..
Other then that just mushrooms.


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## brad0608 (Jun 5, 2012)

I find dorment queen bald faced hornets in rotted wood when searching for new springs at the end of the year (about know).


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## kitcolebay (Apr 7, 2012)

Anyone happen to know if there would be any problems leaving the dragonfly in my viv? Personally, I think it's pretty damn cool to see it flying around in there and have no problem leaving him be. He's got 6 ft. of space and a waterfall. Any thoughts?

Thanks, Chris


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## glass frog (Dec 19, 2011)

kitcolebay said:


> Anyone happen to know if there would be any problems leaving the dragonfly in my viv? Personally, I think it's pretty damn cool to see it flying around in there and have no problem leaving him be. He's got 6 ft. of space and a waterfall. Any thoughts?
> 
> Thanks, Chris


I believe with the up pointing wings that is a damselfly and i don't know of any ill effect it could have but i am no expert on them.


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## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

fieldnstream said:


> I found a leopard seal...still have no clue how it got in the viv.


Wait... What?

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2


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## stephen-mcginn (Sep 26, 2010)

i found about a thousand centipedes in my 4month old tegu vivarium. And pill bugs, millipedes, earth worms, centipede, spider, wierd white bugs and worms that break down all my organic debri, fruit flies, snail, moth, springtails, gnats, some odd plants that were never their before, and a waterbug from my javamoss. ALL FOUND IN MY FIRE BELLIED TOAD/TREEFROG TANK.


P.S. I know you shouldnt mix breed _*but 6 yrs ago i didnt so lay off!!!!!*_


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## yellow dart frog man (Mar 8, 2011)

A black snake, bee nest, and a 5 lined skink.


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## stephen-mcginn (Sep 26, 2010)

yellow dart frog man said:


> A black snake, bee nest, and a 5 lined skink.


how the hell does that happen?!


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

get a grip....someone is pulling our collective legs....


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## Phyllobates azureus (Aug 18, 2010)

How about an eastern lubber grashopper in my bakhuis viv? It was hopping all over the place, and it was easily 4+ inches. It was quite a hassle to get that big boy out of the vivarium. Or more likely "big girl", based on how huge it was.

I will bet money no one will top that.



> and a 5 lined skink.


I believe I owe you money. ROFLMAO! How did it get in there?

I admit that's stranger than my eastern lubber.


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## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

Unfotunatly, just found out I've got soem kind of roaches breedign in my 75 gallon Exo terra....gonna have to tear it down I think. They're bigger than my 6 vanzos in there.


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

love that line: "no see ums"


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## Gamble (Aug 1, 2010)

pdfCrazy said:


> Unfotunatly, just found out I've got soem kind of roaches breedign in my 75 gallon Exo terra....gonna have to tear it down I think. They're bigger than my 6 vanzos in there.


How did they even get in there? 
Im assuming that they left some eggs on something you put in there.


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## avlo (Apr 19, 2012)

found a full size earth worm one morning. other than that just snails


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## Krenshaw22 (Apr 21, 2011)

Pulled about 3 in palm roach out two days ago

Sent from my Desire HD


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## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

Well, 1/2 the plants came from cuttings from other froggers, which were clean and impossible to have any hitchhikers. The other 1/2 came from a large greenhouse/nursurey. When put them in....I thouroughly cleaned the sloil off the roots. I did find one baby in the potted soil when I cleaned them. figured there were no more. I was wrong apparently. http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/general-discussion/89853-roaches-my-viv.html


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## Tricolor189 (Sep 17, 2012)

nothing really thank goodness


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## Mark Allen (Dec 4, 2012)

I have a C. ornata and I had just cleaned his tank and added a bunch of new decor a couple days before and I heard her jumping around one night and got up to see what was going on and she was chasing a lizard (A. carolinensis) around trying to eat it... i grabbed my frog out and redid everything all over again from fear of parasites at the time I didn't have a lid on the tank because she can't climb and I didn't think anything would climb in but I got one the next night


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## SMenigoz (Feb 17, 2004)

Thought I'd dredge up this old thread after finding something in my Orchidarium a few months ago. Found a crested gecko (newly hatched) that must have come in with plants purchased. There must have been egg(s) laid in the plant substrate... was a shame to find it dead. I used to raise these guys years ago. Since they typically lay two eggs, I'm keeping a close eye out for the other one...
Scott


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## GRIMM (Jan 18, 2010)

SMenigoz said:


> Thought I'd dredge up this old thread after finding something in my Orchidarium a few months ago. Found a crested gecko (newly hatched) that must have come in with plants purchased. There must have been egg(s) laid in the plant substrate... was a shame to find it dead. I used to raise these guys years ago. Since they typically lay two eggs, I'm keeping a close eye out for the other one...
> Scott


Wow that is quite the hitchhiker! To bad it died.

Funny this thread got brought up today. This morning I found a mutant sized slug in my tank. Luckily it was in an old ff culture I had in the tank so it was an easy extraction. As thick as my pinky finger. Eyes so big I swear it was looking at me. Now frozen in my freezer...I hope


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## AndyShores (Jan 6, 2009)

I once found a barking tree frog in a bromeliad grow tank I had going - all the broms were mail ordered, but this guy pretty likely just got in the house and was lucky enough to find his way to that tank. I was spraying the broms one day and he just popped his head out


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## wikiwakawakawee (Jan 24, 2013)

I found a slab of meat in mine, not really a hitchhiker, but i have no idea why anybody would think of doing something like that haha


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## JonRich (Oct 19, 2012)

I've found wolf spiders,yellow sac spiders,millipedes, I actually still have some centipedes in one of my tanks (they were eating the nemerteans ),moths,I have a colony of B.dubia roaches in one tank (I assume from a year + of feeding escapes), white flies,snails, and god knows what else.


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## Gamble (Aug 1, 2010)

I HATE these bastards! 














Sent from my Galaxy Note II using Tapatalk 2


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## miko12 (Mar 25, 2011)

I had those too in my Exo terra orchid tank. Most plants came from ecuagenera and did not 'sterilize' plants and fern bark. I had to redo the whole tank.... Lesson learned.



[[/B][/B]


Gamble said:


> I HATE these bastards!
> View attachment 38479
> View attachment 38480
> 
> ...


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## Azurel (Aug 5, 2010)

Gamble said:


> I HATE these bastards!
> View attachment 38479
> View attachment 38480
> 
> ...


Holy crap that is all in one tank G?

sent from my Galaxy S lll


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## Elphaba (Aug 26, 2007)

Good grief, Nick, my skin's crawling. Much obliged. 

I have a population of crane flies in my 18" cube tank. They don't bother me now that I know to expect them, but the first one that flew out into my face startled me enough that I almost cracked the glass lid I'd cut for the top. Sheesh.

(Crane flies aren't harmful, are they?  I don't see how they could be...)

Best,
Ash


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## Gamble (Aug 1, 2010)

Azurel said:


> Holy crap that is all in one tank G?
> 
> sent from my Galaxy S lll


Yea man. In the 125g.
I found those in the feeding bowl ... now imagine how many more are in the actual tank!

When I finally find the time to start building their 60g Protean, I'm bleaching every plant & running boiling water over every inch of wood. 
(The plants & wood cost me $400 or so ... I'm not just tossing it out)


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## Gamble (Aug 1, 2010)

Elphaba said:


> Good grief, Nick, my skin's crawling. Much obliged.
> 
> I have a population of crane flies in my 18" cube tank. They don't bother me now that I know to expect them, but the first one that flew out into my face startled me enough that I almost cracked the glass lid I'd cut for the top. Sheesh.
> 
> ...


I've had those before too. 
As far as I know they're not harmful & will eventually just die off.

Although I heard the same about the millipedes. Still waiting for that to happen.


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## jloucks (Mar 10, 2013)

Samtheman said:


> Weirdest hitchhiker I ever had was a dragonfly. Two of them. I came back from a long weekend to find one dead and the other beating its head against the glass. Oh, and it was a 20 gallon long. My best guess is that they hitchhiked on some java fern I had in the miniscule pool I had in the front of the tank that's maybe 2"x3"x4." There were certainly plenty of drowning fruit flies to prey upon.


Yea, I imagine fruit fly's would be on the menu.


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## jloucks (Mar 10, 2013)

Millipede and big crickets. The crickets probably came from the other frog or lizard tanks.


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## jloucks (Mar 10, 2013)

AndyShores said:


> I once found a barking tree frog in a bromeliad grow tank I had going - all the broms were mail ordered, but this guy pretty likely just got in the house and was lucky enough to find his way to that tank. I was spraying the broms one day and he just popped his head out


What did you do with him?


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## CanewtReps (Jun 29, 2012)

Earth worms... very strange...

Earwigs which scared me quite a bit.


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