tiny white worms in cricket cage

[KristinaMG]

Okay, sorry for the repeat question. I noticed someone else posted about similar worms in a roach colony.

I don't breed crickets but buy enough for 2-3 weeks at a time to feed my 13 Ts. I have never had an issue before with them. This morning I noticed 2 or 3 dead crickets that had a bunch of tiny white worms, kind of like maggots, wriggling in them. The same white worms, on closer inspection, were all over the floor of the cage, especially on the cricket food.

I previously had noticed fruit fly-looking flies hovering around the cricket cage. I didn't think much of it at the time, because we get similar flies that hang out on the bathroom mirrors during the summer (always just 2 or 3 of them, not too many) and they disapear once the weather cools off. Now I'm wondering if the worms came from these flies.

I disposed of the remaining crickets, food, and egg carton because I don't want to introduce a parasite or pest to my Ts.

Should I be concerned? Is there anything I can do to prevent this in future? As I said, this has never happened before since I started with my first T over a year ago.

 

[JavaJacketOC]

They're probably just maggots for the tiny gnats/flies that tend to inhabit insect cages when there is rotting food/corpses. I'm sure they wouldn't pose an issue for your T's but an outbreak of them is annoying.

 

[dementedlullaby]

I agree with likely maggots of phorid/fruit flies. Probably nothing too worrisome. A picture would have helped.

Just keep the feeder insect containers clean. More space is always better for crickets. Cramped cricks are unhappy cricks. Remove the dead and try to keep on top of rotting food, preferably before it starts rotting hehe .

 

[advan]

Phorid flies(Phoridae) are nothing like fruit flies and should be dealt with swiftly. Keep the feeder enclosures as clean and dry as possible to prevent an infestation.

 

[KristinaMG]

Ok thanks. I did throughly wash the container. Hopefully it doesn't happen again.