# Little white worms



## FFScorpion (Dec 28, 2005)

hi,

every day very little white worms appear in the water dish of my Serrulatus, they are very small and fast, and there´s a lot of then in there. is bad?? waht can i do????


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## micjoe (Dec 28, 2005)

Can you post some pictures? , Also what kind of food do you feed your scorpion, and what substrate are you using?


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## FFScorpion (Dec 28, 2005)

I´ll try.
I feed then roachs, crickets and same time some huge ants.
I don´t know the substrates name in english, but it´s the kind of dirt used in gardens.


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## micjoe (Dec 28, 2005)

Well it is hard to say without a pic, it does not look like baby crickets that hatched? that are floating dead in your water dish, or are they little white worms? Did you get the dirt from outside, or was it purchased in a bag, at a pet store or elsewhere?


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## FFScorpion (Dec 28, 2005)

I don´t yhink they are cricket babies, they are to small, they move around alot and very fast, about the dirt a got it in a gardens suply shop and a cleanned with boiling water.


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## micjoe (Dec 28, 2005)

When you say move around , do they jump at all, try to catch one, see if it jumps, it could also be Pillbugs which are very common all over the place. They're also called sowbugs, rollypollies, potato bugs, wood lice, springtails, and lots of other things. (these I would not worry about), Just make sure you do not leave dead crickets in your tank, mites and parasites, may form, which is not good, a pic would help.

if you notice them do they crawl or jump around, it may be mites, but usually wood lice, (pill bugs) jump around. DO NOT CRAWL, mites do.

(Insecta/Family Collembola). 
Springtails are tiny soil dwelling insects and are scavengers of decaying plant matter. They are typically found in leaf litter or on/under dead wood.

In any case, springtails are harmless, and may even be bennificial. By feeding on organic debris they out-compete the mites.


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## FFScorpion (Dec 28, 2005)

I try to keep it´s tank as clean as posible, never leave dead bugs in there.
The woms stay just in the water i´ve never seen then any place else in the tank


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## micjoe (Dec 28, 2005)

If you have a digital camera, try to post a picture so all of us can see what you are describing, this would be very helpful.


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## stonemantis (Dec 28, 2005)

FFScorpion said:
			
		

> hi,
> 
> every day very little white worms appear in the water dish of my Serrulatus, they are very small and fast, and there´s a lot of then in there. is bad?? waht can i do????


I would change the waterdish immediately and boil all water in the future and chill it in the refrigerator until luke warm then place the waterdish back inside the enclosure. That should get rid of possible parasites hopefully the worms you speak of haven't made it to your Serrulatus. I know it sounds like a lot of work but that's what I would do.


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## FFScorpion (Dec 28, 2005)

Every day a change the water and clean the dish, but the next morning there are some more worms


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## stonemantis (Dec 28, 2005)

FFScorpion said:
			
		

> Every day a change the water and clean the dish, but the next morning there are some more worms


Get new dish and throw away the old one and if the problem is still there post a picture so that you can be helped properly.


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## Prymal (Dec 28, 2005)

Joe-

Actually, sow bugs and pill bugs (terrestrial members of Isopoda - slaters, wood lice, roly-polys, etc.) do not jump. Terrestrial isopods are heavy-weights and morphologically ill-equipped for jumping. The jumpers would be collembolans or spring-tails. Both are generally beneficial organisms and harmless to captive inverts. It is also possible that these minute denizens (generally around 1-2 mm) are indeed, psocids or booklice (species limited to the wild outdoors are commonly found on trees under loose bark and are termed barklice). They enjoy stable, warm and humid environs and actively feed on mold, mildews, and other fungi. They reproduce via parthenogenesis and in the proper conditions can produce armies of offspring. However, psocids are harmless to inverts but beneficial in controlling fungi in the captive environment. These worms could also be a host of other organisms from the minute larvae of small flies to actual nematodes?

Luc


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## Juliancito (Dec 28, 2005)

*...*

Joe
Could be some type of mosquito...i mean there's a period during the mosquito life-cycle that they look like worms, actually they live in the water during that time.


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## Prymal (Dec 28, 2005)

Julian,

Mosquitos - aquatic larval (and pupal) stage as "wigglers" due to their unique method of locomotion in the water. However, mosquito larvae are quite large and easy to discern. Could be 1,000 things we'll never think of so, the best thing would probably be to thoroughly clean the vivarium and all enclosure decs, water bowl, etc.

Luc


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## Nazgul (Dec 28, 2005)

Hi,

I´d bet Luc is right and it´s indeed springtails . Small, white and fast moving worms sounds unique. If so I wouldn´t clean the whole tank, they are quite useful cause they are feeding of remains from the food, the faeces, etc. They are a natural rival of certain mite species which can be parasitic.

Regards
Alex


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## Prymal (Dec 28, 2005)

Heya Alex,

Hope you had a fulfilling Christmas!
Yeah, thought they might be either collembolans or psocids. Both are great macroinverts to have (if these are indeed what FFScorpion has) in the enclosure to control mites and fungi, and they're too small to cause captive inverts any stress.

Best Regards and wishes for the coming New Year,
Luc


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## ThatGuy (Dec 29, 2005)

Juliancito said:
			
		

> Joe
> Could be some type of mosquito...i mean there's a period during the mosquito life-cycle that they look like worms, actually they live in the water during that time.


iwas thinking the same thing.:?


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## :wumpscut: (Dec 29, 2005)

those "worms" could be a type of nemitode, no? I also think adding other microfauna like lacewing and such would help but walking backward through your habitat design would help. what type of substrate, hardscape etc do you have? are they worms as in parasites from WC scorps? could they be other worms like i said earlier? have you been able to take a few to a vet that can tell under a scope what they are? hmmm...


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## Juliancito (Dec 29, 2005)

*.......*



			
				Barkscorpions said:
			
		

> Julian,
> 
> Mosquitos - aquatic larval (and pupal) stage as "wigglers" due to their unique method of locomotion in the water. However, mosquito larvae are quite large and easy to discern. Could be 1,000 things we'll never think of so, the best thing would probably be to thoroughly clean the vivarium and all enclosure decs, water bowl, etc.
> 
> Luc


I'm totally agree, that's the best solution.:razz: .. ( clean the vivarium an all ) for his problem....we're just trying to figure out ( with out a picture ) what is living on his water bowl.....and yes, it could be 1,000 things..:wall: .. we'll never think of......but i think that's the intresting part... try to figure it out.


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## final-sting (Dec 29, 2005)

Juliancito said:
			
		

> Joe
> Could be some type of mosquito...i mean there's a period during the mosquito life-cycle that they look like worms, actually they live in the water during that time.



yes i think the same, because i buy a scorp and in the soil i find some of this small worms, and see small moskitos.

i change the soil and the tank and hold it now not to wet, and never see worms now


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## :wumpscut: (Dec 29, 2005)

Are you sure Final-sting that they are mosquitos? I've never seen these in any of the vivariums that i've built. i seen nemotodes, wood lice, spring tails and that's about it. sometimes i'll add microfauna to the vivariums too but no skeeters!


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## final-sting (Dec 29, 2005)

the brachistosternus sp was a present from giorgio, and we see then so small white fat worms in the soil. 

 this was no springtails, the worms look more like this 






and we see some very small flys /moskitos (i dont no what exactly the name of this flys) in the tank, obvious thats the worms from this flys.

giorgio first think its maybe nematodes, but this worms are maybe 2-3mm long and fat sure 1mm,  when i look pictures from nematodes in the www looks different.


but i change the complete setting and the problem was quick eliminate


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## Prymal (Dec 30, 2005)

Not nematodes. Not mosquitoes. Looks more like the larva of a dipteran of some sort, possibly some sort of phorid or sphaerocerid?

Luc


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## roach dude (Jan 1, 2006)

i found them in my roaches water dish when i left it in there to long. then i found a dead roach that had been eaten by them just clean out ur cage qucikly so ur scorp dont get munched.


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## Juliancito (Jan 2, 2006)

*......*



			
				roach dude said:
			
		

> i found them in my roaches water dish when i left it in there to long. then i found a dead roach that had been eaten by them just clean out ur cage qucikly so ur scorp dont get munched.


A LIVE scorp getting munched by " them "....... ....i really doubt it.
Maybe if it was some dead scorp....it could be possible....but besides that...... ...i dont think so.


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## roach dude (Jan 2, 2006)

there small bodies and eggs could get into ur scorp through its weak spots and the larva will eat it alive..... ur scorp mate...just trust me clean out ur friggin cage.


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## Juliancito (Jan 2, 2006)

*....*



			
				roach dude said:
			
		

> there small bodies and eggs could get into ur scorp through its weak spots and the larva will eat it alive..... ur scorp mate...just trust me clean out ur friggin cage.


Thats better.....i mean....it looks more reasonable the way you just explained....i do belive that some kind of egg/larva could go trought a scorp's "weak spot"....let's say it's mouth for example.And then that egg/larva could parasite your scorp.


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## stevenhman (Jan 5, 2006)

If you're seeing flies then they're maggots. I've got them in most of my wet terrariums. Really the only to get rid of them all is to change ALL your humid species substrates.

I doubt they could/would "infect" your scorpion. If they have then it already is. If you're worried about it the best way is changing all your substrate.


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