Is this a baby super?

[dondeb562]

lol! my keyboard got soda spilled on it so my keys stick!! Yes that was supposed to read "bird food". It is very common to see those in pet stores and a lot of the food will have them and they are just everywhere! They turn into little moths.

 

[RachelRiot]

ROFL. Oh jeez so I am gonna have a crap load of little moths everywhere. Ha ha ha! I am gonna let them know tomorrow. Wont be buying it from them anymore.

 

[Syn]

If you keep them try breeding them! Mwahahaha!

 

[RachelRiot]

Ha ha ha! I just told my husband and he said I better get those things out of the house. Ha!

 

[dondeb562]

I usually freeze my bird food over night. It will kill any of them or eggs in them.... can probably do the same with the bedding

 

[RachelRiot]

I usually freeze my bird food over night. It will kill any of them or eggs in them.... can probably do the same with the bedding

Thanks I will try that now.

 

[dodolah]

urghhhh.. I hate it when things are inconclusive.
Hey Rachel, try to get a clearer pic of those larvae.
I will contact my friends in entomology dept. Now, I am curious what the heck is this thing.

 

[Eric Adrignola]

It's a MAGGOT! No, I dont' think so. Looks like a moth larva. Like a skinny waxworm, probably a pest in the bedding. OR a clothes moth. Hard to tell.

 

[RachelRiot]

urghhhh.. I hate it when things are inconclusive.
Hey Rachel, try to get a clearer pic of those larvae.
I will contact my friends in entomology dept. Now, I am curious what the heck is this thing.

No problem. Give me a little bit and I will definitely post some more pics. I will also put something in there for size comparison. I am dying to know what they are too!

 

[dccr1234]

fly larva
a very big fly larva lolz

 

[RachelRiot]

Ok here we go. Sorry it took me so long to get them up.

This first little guy decided to cacoon himself up already. I did manage to get him off of my box and into a container while still cacooned. I didnt disturb it at all.

 

[RachelRiot]

I forgot to add that they walk like inch worms.

 

[dodolah]

that really looked like wax worm:

I think that's what it is.
unless somebody can share their expertise.

 

[Eric Adrignola]

If the cocoon is a cocoon, as in it's a silky cocoon, not just a pupae, definatly a moth. That said, it looks thin to be a waxworm. Waxworms are usually plump, even when they're starved and dying.

The mouthparts are very similar to a waxworms, or even a clothing moth - heck, any moth fits the bill...

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N

 

[jejton]

They look like waxworms but the truth is many moth larvae look like that. A better clue is where you found them. Waxworms eat bee's honey, wax, pollen and most likely wouldnt have been found in the bedding unless some were accidentally dropped in but it seems like these were multiplying in there. I recently found similar larvae in an opened container of FF media and a bag of dog food in my basmenet ( I use it for my tortoises ). I didnt pay much attention until the moths started appearing all over the house - they are small, maybe 1/2" at most and greyish - and now I'm finding the larvae in any kind of open container containing grain or grain products ( wheat, flour, etc). They look very similar to those as well , and I have been feeding the larvae and moths to my critters, but again many moth larvae look like that so wait and see what they metamorphose into.

 

[RachelRiot]

Holy cow. That is totally them. I am ditching all of that right now before they start turning to moths. lol

 

[Eric Adrignola]

yeah - moths are bad news. cultured waxworms(filled with good gutload) are very nutrituous. Much more fat than you want, but they're great for treats.

BUT.

I will not culture them again. NOT till I need extra feeders so much I'd be willing to deal with the result.

Waxworms need just the right amount of honey in their food: Too much, they get stuck and die. Too little, and they dont' seem to thrive.

But the problem is in quantity. Give them the right food, and they thrive, they pupate, they lay eggs. And they lay a ton of eggs. And the larvae are cute tiny little maggotoids that seem pretty non-threatening. You give them the right food, and the the next thing you know - they're GONE.

Yup - gotta give them enough food to keep them busy. When moths run out (and the thousands that will hatch will run out faster than you'd expect), they, like larval mothra, will leave a wake of destruction in their search for food.

Like thousands of little itty-bitty maggotoid coccons all over you room and closet, as the tiny little starved moths decide to cut their losses and pupate prematurely.

See, content waxworms stay put. Hungry waxworms go looking for food - and if they're not full-sized, they fit through anything that air does.

I spent a few hours peeling tiny little cocoons off the walls of my closet a few years back... hundreds of them. Pest species are prone to pest-like behavior.

 

[zelink14]

Can you not ask the store/provider about it? Do you think they'd know what they are?

EDIT: Whoops! Disregard. I didn't notice there were more pages!

 

[dodolah]

if you decided to throw those away, don't just throw those away.
Assuming that the species is non native and how it is more likely an invasive one, you should freeze them to death. Then, throw those away.
Don't just dump them on the trash can. They might reproduce and your whole neighborhood get infested by moths..
not a pretty sight...