little worms in with my crickets

[tino442]

I see very small worms on the bottom of my cricket container which started with 1000 crickets. I was cleaning the the container today and saw these very small looking white worms . what are they? thanks

 

[DavidBuchan]

Could you post pics? They could be fruit fly maggots, they might be some sort of parasite.........

 

[tino442]

I looked up fruit fly larve they do look like that. how would they get there? cant post picture at this time

 

[DavidBuchan]

I looked up fruit fly larve they do look like that. how would they get there? cant post picture at this time

The usual way flies find things to lay eggs on, or maybe there were some eggs at the cricket shop......have you seen any little flies on the cricket food or are there dead crickets lying around? How long since your crickets arrived?

 

[Kate]

I don't know what they are called but I read somewhere that they eat the dead crickets and are harmless. Are they about 1cm long and have ridges on the underside. They are brown on top and pale on underside?

 

[RealIzeRecognIze]

I believe I know what you are talking about. Kind of looks like a mini centipede? I read they eat the poop and dead crix as well.

 

[tino442]

yes thats what they look like and the crickets i have for 4wks

 

[Kate]

I've also read that they are ok for chams to eat. I try to get rid of them as I found tiny ones under my leopard geckos water dish.

 

[DavidBuchan]

yes thats what they look like and the crickets i have for 4wks

4 weeks means they are not fruit flies from the shop. I think Mitch and Kate mean Dermestid larvae. If that's what they are then they are harmless and clean up mess in cricket boxes. They are not really worms but they are detritivores......

 

[lysinlight87]

Don't breeders put them in on purpose to act as house keepers? They turn into little black beetles

 

[Kate]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermestidae
I thing this is what we are talking about.

 

[RealIzeRecognIze]

Thats it the grub at least. Never seen the beetle though.

 

[Kate]

The beetle is black with quite a hard shell, quite small. I usually squish them with my nai.LOL