# Nematodes



## Draiman (Mar 19, 2010)

So I received a package today, containing a WC female _S. s. dehaani_ and a few other things. Upon opening the package I found the dehaani dead, while the others (a pair of _S. morsitans_ and an _Oligoxystre_ sling) looked fine. And upon closer inspection, I noticed largeish, 5-8mm maggots crawling all over the dehaani and inside the container. Upon even closer inspection, I found tiny worms, which are almost certainly nematodes, everywhere, all over the inside surface of the container.







They sure do resemble these nematodes:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/DanRead/Microphotography/Ssubspinipesdehaaninematode3.jpg

And on the outside of the container I noticed some very strange white lumps:













Fungus? But they seem to resemble these:

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/tyrelp/photography/hadrurus_arizonensis_nematode_infection-5.jpg

I have only one question...what kind of wretched luck is this (I have had like...8 cases of possible nematodes and dyskinetic syndrome afflicting my collection within a year)?


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## gromgrom (Mar 19, 2010)

i had "nematodes" kill my flat rock scorpion. or something did; he wasnt acting himself, and had white stuff all over his mouth. he died the next day with MORE of this white stuff all over his mouthparts (fangs and all). 
i never saw worms like that, but i didnt look that close. bleached all my cages and replaced all my dirt. nothing else since.


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## Protectyaaaneck (Mar 19, 2010)

It is bad luck but I think it also has to do with maybe buying the wrong stock or from the wrong seller.  In either case your stuff was WC right.  I rarely trust WC stuff. Even with my cb stuff I still quarantine for a few weeks or a molt until I put it with the rest of my collection.  Either way Gavin I'm sorry to hear about this.


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## Draiman (Mar 19, 2010)

Protectyaaaneck said:


> It is bad luck but I think it also has to do with maybe buying the wrong stock or from the wrong seller.  In either case your stuff was WC right.  I rarely trust WC stuff. Even with my cb stuff I still quarantine for a few weeks or a molt until I put it with the rest of my collection.  Either way Gavin I'm sorry to hear about this.


Not all of the nematode/DKS incidents in my collection were associated with WC stuff, a few of them were CB. Anyway, I got these from a reputable guy in Europe, not directly from a source in Asia or something. I don't know how long he'd kept these guys for, but I'll find that out, as well as whether this dead pede even fed in his care, since nematodes cause tarantulas and scorpions to stop feeding I'd wager that they do the same to centipedes as well. All in all, a very demoralising situation for me. I have such bad fortune that I am likely to walk out of my house tomorrow and get killed by a falling lunch box...


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## gromgrom (Mar 19, 2010)

Draiman said:


> Not all of the nematode/DKS incidents in my collection were associated with WC stuff, a few of them were CB. Anyway, I got these from a reputable guy in Europe, not directly from a source in Asia or something. I don't know how long he'd kept these guys for, but I'll find that out, as well as whether this dead pede even fed in his care, since nematodes cause tarantulas and scorpions to stop feeding I'd wager that they do the same to centipedes as well. All in all, a very demoralising situation for me. I have such bad fortune that I am likely to walk out of my house tomorrow and get killed by a falling lunch box...



yeah my scorp was fine. he ate after a month in my care, but just one cricket. two months later, he died.

edit: from a pic of another topic, Draiman's tarantula died of nematodes, but that looked ALOT different from my death.mine caused mine to act erratic and hide in the open. it could have been something in my room or on my hands that killed him. i dunno. he wasnt covered in goop or anything, just "whiteout" around his mouth, similar to scorpion poop.


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## Draiman (Mar 19, 2010)

gromgrom said:


> yeah my scorp was fine. he ate after a month in my care, but just one cricket. two months later, he died.


Was it wild caught?

The thing with centipedes is, it can be difficult to find captive bred animals for sale, and with the more uncommon species you have no choice but to buy WC. I obviously am after the less common species, so I have to take that risk. It certainly is NOT paying off for me though.


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## gromgrom (Mar 19, 2010)

Draiman said:


> Was it wild caught?
> 
> The thing with centipedes is, it can be difficult to find captive bred animals for sale, and with the more uncommon species you have no choice but to buy WC. I obviously am after the less common species, so I have to take that risk. It certainly is NOT paying off for me though.


most flat rocks are WC, due to the difficulties in breeding them, and the gestation period of 18 months, or up to two years!!

That might be why.


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## Draiman (Mar 20, 2010)

Any other opinions?


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## micheldied (Mar 23, 2010)

cant help,but sorry to hear man.


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## Draiman (Mar 23, 2010)

micheldied said:


> cant help,but sorry to hear man.


Yeah, on the bright side, the one spider and two other pedes that arrived alive in that package all seem to be fine, the spider has molted and the pedes have fed. Hopefully the dehaani death was a one-off.


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## Lucas339 (Mar 23, 2010)

the white fuzz is stryofoam.  i have seen first hand the worms you posted in the picture link in some dead WC S. hardwickei and the links on the tape are not those.

the red circle is definitely a nematode.  it is hard to tell without cutting the animal open and inspecting the body cavity wiether or not they killed the animal.  it could be out looking for another host after this one died.  i have had several WC specimens sent to me for dissection, and most, if not all, had nematodes in them.

not sure what is going on in the blue circle.








*EDIT* reread your post.....maggots in the blue circle...correct?


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## Draiman (Mar 23, 2010)

Lucas339 said:


> the white fuzz is stryofoam.


It is not styrofoam. If it's not a dried-out mass of nematodes or whatever, then it's fungi of some sort. Sorry, but I can very well distinguish polystyrene from anything else.



Lucas339 said:


> *EDIT* reread your post.....maggots in the blue circle...correct?


Those are definitely maggots, yes. They were all over the centipede.


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## cacoseraph (Mar 23, 2010)

the problem with nematodes is that they can spread to other bugs in your collection. i have seen collections devastated by them, actually.  if i was in your neck of the world i would be VERY worried about them spreading out of your collection to my collection


i have done some reading and know a bit... but i know your opinion of my research and evaluative abilities, Draiman, so i guess i will just let you try this one w/o my help


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## Nomadinexile (Mar 23, 2010)

I am not an expert and I'm still having my morning coffee.  Take all this info with a grain of salt.

I think it's pretty obvious you have "nematodes" in there.  I'm no microbiologist, and I would think that there are other "worms" that look similar, so maybe they aren't technically nematodes, but they are what we call nematodes if that makes any sense. 

The "blue circle" is a fungus in my opinion.   I see a lot of jelly type fungus here locally, and I'm sure they exist elsewhere too.

I do think the white stuff is insulation.  It may not be polystyrene, but I think that it is at least man-made insulation.   That being said, I've found some white insulation type materials outside recently where I am pretty sure no people have been for years if not decades or even ever.  It could be some kind of nest, but I think the odds of figuring that out if it were would be slim to none.  I still think it's man-made though.   Could be veggie-based Stryo, or a different synthetic formula?   The fact that it is only on the outside and on the tape, lends credence to this.   Who here hasn't packed a box that got some styro on the tape?   That at least, would be easy to find out.  Cut it open under a loupe.  

I am very sorry for the loss.   Hopefully things will improve for you.   r


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## Greg Pelka (Mar 23, 2010)

Just sterilize all your equipment you're using with dead/ possibly infected animals.
Dead bodies and boxes of them you can put into freezer, or 40% alcohol, it'll kill nematodes and preserve centipede.
I think many, many WC centipedes/spiders are infectef with nematodes, but it's stable infection, parasite don't want to kill it's host, but after long trip, like from UE to Singapore, centipede's resistance was decreased and infection kills it.


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## Lucas339 (Mar 23, 2010)

Draiman said:


> Sorry, but I can very well distinguish polystyrene from anything else.


i meant not disrespect in the least by my statement.  they look near identical to styro balls that come off when you cut styro or break it.  they are in no way natural.

like cacoseraph said they can spread and i second the advice and comments give by greg although i prefer slightly stonger mix.  i use a 70% mix for everything at work as well as at home.


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## Draiman (Mar 23, 2010)

cacoseraph said:


> the problem with nematodes is that they can spread to other bugs in your collection. i have seen collections devastated by them, actually.  if i was in your neck of the world i would be VERY worried about them spreading out of your collection to my collection


I know they're contagious. The very moment I looked at those pictures on my camera, I dumped the entire package - with the dead pede and its container inside - and cleaned the floor (multiple times), as well as all my tweezers, tools and containers that were _anywhere near_ the package for the brief time that it was in my house. I also isolated the survivors from that package, but all three are feeding well. Should I keep them in isolation? And for how long?



Lucas339 said:


> like cacoseraph said they can spread and i second the advice and comments give by greg although i prefer slightly stonger mix.  i use a 70% mix for everything at work as well as at home.


Just one question - how do we know that the nematodes present in that picture actually caused the centipede's death? We all are well aware of their propensity to simply die for no apparent reason. I was also informed by the person who sent it to me that he'd kept it for half a year, and it was doing well (he's not lying, he's better than that). So *is there any chance* that the nematodes did not kill the animal, and instead were a more benign type, or were simply "hitchhikers", like some phoretic mites are; and therefore may not represent a major threat to the rest of my collection? (I am just trying to be optimistic here!)

Thanks everyone for the input thus far


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## Lucas339 (Mar 23, 2010)

as i have stated before most if not all of the centipedes sent to me for dissection had nematodes some where.  there is a chance that they did not kill the pede, however, you should still protect the rest of your collection.  there are no hitchhiker nematodes.  they are either free living or parasitic.  the free living ones are usually found in soils and i have no doubts that the one pictured is a parasitic one coming out looking for a new host.  i have been sent pedes that have lived for several years in captivity and they had only a few nematodes.  no matter who or where you got a WC animal from, there is still a very good possibility that i has some nematodes.


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## Draiman (Mar 23, 2010)

Lucas339 said:


> as i have stated before most if not all of the centipedes sent to me for dissection had nematodes some where.  there is a chance that they did not kill the pede, however, you should still protect the rest of your collection.  there are no hitchhiker nematodes.  they are either free living or parasitic.  the free living ones are usually found in soils and i have no doubts that the one pictured is a parasitic one coming out looking for a new host.  i have been sent pedes that have lived for several years in captivity and they had only a few nematodes.  no matter who or where you got a WC animal from, there is still a very good possibility that i has some nematodes.


Okay. The measures I have taken so far:



			
				Draiman said:
			
		

> The very moment I looked at those pictures on my camera, I dumped the entire package - with the dead pede and its container inside - and cleaned the floor (multiple times), as well as all my tweezers, tools and containers that were _anywhere near_ the package for the brief time that it was in my house.


Are they good enough? What else would you suggest I do?

Also:



			
				Draiman said:
			
		

> I also isolated the survivors from that package, but all three are feeding well. *Should I keep them in isolation?* *And for how long?*


One last thing - A day or two ago, after I saw them (the surviving animals) eat, I thought it might be safe to put them in the same cupboard as the rest of my collection, albeit in a separate compartment. So essentially they have been in the same place as the rest of my collection for a couple of days now...

_[Though I have moved them out of there already. Would it also be necessary to clean out the entire compartment where I kept them?]_


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## cacoseraph (Mar 23, 2010)

my understanding of how at least some of the real "vicious" nematodes might work:

http://scabies.myfreeforum.org/Nematodes_Bacteria_about3859.html


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## Draiman (Mar 23, 2010)

cacoseraph said:


> my understanding of how at least some of the real "vicious" nematodes might work:
> 
> http://scabies.myfreeforum.org/Nematodes_Bacteria_about3859.html


I'm still not sure what to do. At best I can put the *potentially* infected animals in a cabinet in a separate room. But for how long? What if the nematodes simply stay dormant within their bodies and, by some coincidence, turn active when I decide it is safe to move them back to where I normally keep my bugs? Mind you, the "separate room" I'm talking about is my bedroom, where I'm not supposed to have any live animals, so I definitely can't have them in there for more than a few weeks. Wouldn't it be better and safer to simply euthanize them, and take no chances (though that would be a massive shame, since they do not even show a single symptom of nematode infection - yet)?


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## cacoseraph (Mar 23, 2010)

there are LARGE precedents for such simple animals having all kinds of dormancy tricks, as you are suggesting. i don't recall if nematodes, in part or whole, are known to pull such shenannigans



however... if you could go a year without any new cases manifesting, i expect that would mean *something*


this has been one of a bunch of things i try to read about... but there are just too many interesting things out there :/  even if i find stuff about parasites etc. in situ or from a pest management viewpoint it still isn't easy to safely transfer that knowledge to a hobby context.  i'd love to hook up with any hobbyists that are also formally trained in this kidn of thing.  i suspect that me and my local bug group could at least help with collecting infected wild specimens if the expert could develop some kind of good early diagnostic scheme for us (which would also be VERY nice for the hobby!)


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## cacoseraph (Mar 23, 2010)

the problem with euth'ing is that we just don't know how to tell what animals NEED to be killed.  i mean, on the one hand getting rid of potential infection sources is obviously good and you do want to limit it from spreading in your collection as much as possible


but obviously killing any animals without actually needing to just sucks... especially in light of the fact you have already lost some :/


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## Lucas339 (Mar 23, 2010)

the biggest problem is detection.  there really isn't a way to tell if they have nematodes or not that i know of.  i have found them in the gut tract and in the body walls.  the only way to tell if they are there, is dissection.  some of the animals i have received were perfectly eating and normal acting.  some only had 1 or 2 nematodes in their body.  another i got, looked similar to the picture link posted by gavin.  this animal was severely infected with them both in the hind and fore gut.

i would love to see some papers, if anyone has them, on the transfer from one host to the next with this type of nematode.  they are one of the hardest animals to ID so even knowing if this is the same nematode family, genus, or otherwise as the ones that infect taranutals is out of my grasps and im not even sure if it is known.  they don't seem to act the same.  that is, you can't see them around the mouths of the infected animal.

i don't think there is anything you can do.  if you have WC in your collection, you probably have nematodes in your collection but thats the name of the game.  if and when any of mine die, i will be sure to disect them to see if they have nematodes.


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## Draiman (Mar 23, 2010)

cacoseraph said:


> the problem with euth'ing is that we just don't know how to tell what animals NEED to be killed.  i mean, on the one hand getting rid of potential infection sources is obviously good and you do want to limit it from spreading in your collection as much as possible
> 
> *but obviously killing any animals without actually needing to just sucks... especially in light of the fact you have already lost some* :/


Exactly.

Well alright, I don't want to leave these potentially infected animals just hanging around in my living room. If you were in my shoes, what would _you_ do? That's all I need to know. 



Lucas339 said:


> i don't think there is anything you can do.  if you have WC in your collection, you probably have nematodes in your collection but thats the name of the game.


Should I isolate them then?


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## Nomadinexile (Mar 23, 2010)

Draiman;1614481


Should I isolate them then?[/QUOTE said:
			
		

> This I can answer clearly.  Yes.  If one formally healthy one went down, the others are probably stressed from shipment at least.  This could weaken their defenses to all parasites.  I would absolutely.  At least for a while until they recover from their journey, and appear healthy and active.  I absolutely would.
> 
> Good luck.


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## cacoseraph (Mar 23, 2010)

nomadinexile said:


> this i can answer clearly.  Yes.  If one formally healthy one went down, the others are probably stressed from shipment at least.  This could weaken their defenses to all parasites.  I would absolutely.  At least for a while until they recover from their journey, and appear healthy and active.  I absolutely would.
> 
> Good luck.


+                            1


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## zonbonzovi (Mar 23, 2010)

Anyone here know whether or not nematodes living in an aquatic environment can be transferred to a terrestrial one WITHOUT a host?  I'm curious also as to how exactly nematodes "travel", esp. in reference to a collection.  Maybe I missed it in the scabies thread.  If so, my apologies...


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## cacoseraph (Mar 23, 2010)

vector unknown or unremembered, for me

i have some reasonable suspects, though

primarily some form of intermediate either host or just "ride".  i've read one possible method to limiting spread is to only have your cages ventilated by holes covered with microscreen stuff

of course, those nematodes are so small that i guess they could use spooky infection methods.  like maybe if one had eggs in it and died inside an enclosure they could dry out without the eggs dying... then if you broke them open maybe their eggs would be light enough to waft on a good breeze.  that depends on them being able to do a number of other things, but it is just a for instance to give you an idea


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## Draiman (Mar 23, 2010)

Nomadinexile said:


> This I can answer clearly.  Yes.  If one formally healthy one went down, the others are probably stressed from shipment at least.  This could weaken their defenses to all parasites.  I would absolutely.  At least for a while until they recover from their journey, and appear healthy and active.  I absolutely would.
> 
> Good luck.


Will do. Thanks. But again - for how long?



cacoseraph said:


> vector unknown or unremembered, for me
> 
> i have some reasonable suspects, though
> 
> ...


Can't they physically "walk" or crawl from one place to another?


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## syndicate (Mar 23, 2010)

Lucas339 said:


> the biggest problem is detection.  there really isn't a way to tell if they have nematodes or not that i know of.


Maybe examination of fecal material under a scope of suspected specimens could work?Its not uncommon for reptile breeders to have "fecals" done on there collection by sending off samples to people like vets.
It would be groundbreaking if someone could create some kind of fix or treatment you could give your spiders to avoid or kill infections!
Lucas you've dissected tarantulas and found them?Did you need a microscope to view the actual nematodes?
Also @ Draiman if you think the animals are infected best bet may be to freeze them just to play it safe!
-Chris


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## Draiman (Mar 23, 2010)

syndicate said:


> Also @ Draiman if you think the animals are infected best bet may be to freeze them just to play it safe!
> -Chris


I was definitely considering that, and still am. But these are simply animals that came in the same package, and they show absolutely no sign of infection (yet). I guess the nematodes could have spread from the dead pede's container to others in the package, but of course I don't know for sure.

I hate dilemmas like this one - to euthanize or not?


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## cacoseraph (Mar 23, 2010)

Draiman said:


> Will do. Thanks. But again - for how long?
> 
> 
> Can't they physically "walk" or crawl from one place to another?


i mean, i would be kinda surprised if they can crawl more than a few inches in any but special circumstances.  i expect they dry out pretty quickly if they are not in moisture or a moist environment

however, a package might be cool enough and juuust moist enough to let them walk, if they can



i need to do more research and fill in my little thread.  i have read a bit more than just that one article... but no where near enough, yet!


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## Draiman (Mar 23, 2010)

cacoseraph said:


> i mean, i would be kinda surprised if they can crawl more than a few inches in any but special circumstances.  i expect they dry out pretty quickly if they are not in moisture or a moist environment
> 
> however, a package might be cool enough and juuust moist enough to let them walk, if they can
> 
> ...


Sooo...let's say there are a few stray nematodes in the compartment of the cupboard I kept the surviving pedes in. So if all the surfaces are clean and dry, they should not be able to move to another compartment of the same cupboard on their own? I sure hope so. I'll clean it out anyway.

One more thing: if an infected animal is alive and seemingly healthy, would there be any stray nematodes moving _out_ of the animal? I ask because I absent-mindedly touched the container of one of my (CB) _Stromatopelma calceatum_ after touching the outside of the container of a WC _Lychas scutilus_ scorpion I collected yesterday. The scorpion shows no sign of infection or disease of any sort, this is just a hypothetical question; although since it was wild caught it's likely to have some sort of parasite in it anyway.

EDIT: Speaking of the package, there was a heat pack in it, so I think it may have been drier than usual.


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## cacoseraph (Mar 24, 2010)

well, i'm really just guessing here


but i suspect in the absence of some kind of phoresy situation i would expect nematodes to not be able to travel that far between cages in a normal house.  i really need to read more to have a better guess

as for you touching the outside of a cage of an infected specimen and then touching the outside of another cage... i would be VERY very surprised if that could infect something else even 0.00001% of the time


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## Draiman (Mar 24, 2010)

cacoseraph said:


> well, i'm really just guessing here


An educated guess is always helpful 



cacoseraph said:


> as for you touching the outside of a cage of an infected specimen and then touching the outside of another cage... i would be VERY very surprised if that could infect something else even 0.00001% of the time


Not even with microscopic nematodes? As you've said before, not many are macroscopic, so I wouldn't even know if I had them on my fingers.

Edit: Oh and it wasn't just the exterior surface, I *did* open the spider's container to remove a molt...


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## Draiman (Mar 24, 2010)

Also, I should have asked this long ago, but is ordinary soap strong enough to kill the nematodes? When cleaning my tweezers and other tools after dealing with possibly infected animals, I washed them with only ordinary hand soap. :wall:


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## Lucas339 (Mar 24, 2010)

syndicate said:


> Maybe examination of fecal material under a scope of suspected specimens could work?Its not uncommon for reptile breeders to have "fecals" done on there collection by sending off samples to people like vets.
> It would be groundbreaking if someone could create some kind of fix or treatment you could give your spiders to avoid or kill infections!
> Lucas you've dissected tarantulas and found them?Did you need a microscope to view the actual nematodes?
> Also @ Draiman if you think the animals are infected best bet may be to freeze them just to play it safe!
> -Chris


i have dissected centipedes only.  never done a tarantula.  i think the nematodes are probably different for each but that is a guess based on what i have been told about the animals i dissected.  none of the animals given to me for dissection had nematodes near the mouth.  doing fecals may work for those found in the GI tract but i have found them out side of the GI tract.  i would love to do fecals but i don't even see fecal matter from the pedes i have.  

im not sure if these animals (nematodes) would be able to climb plastic containers.  they are pretty simple animals when you get down to it.  they move in a snake like movement.   IMO this would limit them in how they could "climb".  their body is smooth and doesn't possess any glands (that i know of) to secret some sort of glue like fluid (as in other animals) for locomotion or climbing nor do they have any type of appendages for an attachment point (as in polychaetes).


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## Draiman (Mar 24, 2010)

Lucas339 said:


> im not sure if these animals (nematodes) would be able to climb plastic containers.  they are pretty simple animals when you get down to it.  they move in a snake like movement.   IMO this would limit them in how they could "climb".  their body is smooth and doesn't possess any glands (that i know of) to secret some sort of glue like fluid (as in other animals) for locomotion or climbing nor do they have any type of appendages for an attachment point (as in polychaetes).


I see. Therefore, the main method of transmission would most likely be via contaminated tools and possibly phorid flies as a vector? This brings me back to the question - is ordinary soap strong enough to kill these nematodes? Because that is the only thing I've used to clean my equipment and containers.


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## Lucas339 (Mar 24, 2010)

rubbing alcohol is best.


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## Draiman (Mar 24, 2010)

Lucas339 said:


> rubbing alcohol is best.


Well, too late for me and my collection then


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## Lucas339 (Mar 24, 2010)

did you soak them in water or just rinse?


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## Draiman (Mar 24, 2010)

Lucas339 said:


> did you soak them in water or just rinse?


Rinsed them thoroughly with water, scrubbed with soap and then rinsed again, to get the soap off.


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## cacoseraph (Mar 24, 2010)

ok, i think you can relax a tiny bit, Draiman. it sucks, but all is not without hope



though it IS true we are not 100% sure on vectors we are starting to get the picture that some intermediary is probably the vector in most cases.  so... that is really good news... it should be relatively easy for you to isolate each bug from all the others, or at least make little isolation groups.... just put them in unventilated tupperware supercontainers until this is all over

you might want to get two cups, a small one with rubbing alcohol and a large one with water. each time you are going to move from maintaining one bug to the next swirl your forceps in the alcohol and then swirl them in the water.  i would change the water every 5-6 cages though... you don't really want to be putting drops of even dilute alcohol into your other cages, if you can reasonably avoid it


i would say for the next three months you need to be REALLY careful about cross contaminating.... and in that time do some research to see if you can figure out what a good time frame for your quarantine period is.  if you see stuff that says todes can encyst or hibernate or go into stasis or anything like that... well, that is not good news. (ah crap, i am getting a very fuzzy memory that they can encyst... but my dad has a degree in soil science and it is a very old feeling memory so it could be from when i was ~7 and he was telling me about plant parasitic todes)


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## Draiman (Mar 25, 2010)

I have decided to simply euthanize the two surviving centipedes. The spiderling that came in the same package will be kept alive for now, because it's a rare, expensive species and is feeding well. It _seems_ healthy. Also, I'm not sure if the nematodes that infected the dead dehaani could infect spiders. Surely they're more specific than that? In any case, the two _S. morsitans_ are inexpensive and dispensable, especially when the safety of my entire collection is at stake. So they will have to go.

Unless anyone wants them for research purposes or something.


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## cacoseraph (Mar 25, 2010)

dang, i am seriously tempted to try to get those specimens from you!

but i am broke as a bad joke and i think any useful structures would degrade shipping it to the USA




i'm real sorry for this man.  i think if you freeze the remains and save it maybe someone can use it for some science at some point inthe future.


ACTUALLY freezing would be really bad, now that i think about it. the ice crystals would probably slash up the very microstructures that someone might be looking for.  i guess an alcohol storage solution would be the best

have you read how to preserve dead bugs in alcohol? it isn't that tough, but it is a multi-step process to get it right


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## Draiman (Mar 25, 2010)

cacoseraph said:


> dang, i am seriously tempted to try to get those specimens from you!
> 
> but i am broke as a bad joke and i think any useful structures would degrade shipping it to the USA
> 
> ...


I _could have_ done it, in fact not too long ago I sent a preserved centipede specimen to Germany, so it's doable. Buuut these guys are gone now though :/

If/when I get another animal clearly or even potentially infected with nematodes I'll drop it in alcohol and I'll keep you in mind caco (don't worry, with the kind of luck I have it won't be too far away).


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## Gel (Jan 11, 2013)

Don't mean to necro an old thread but this one already had a great discussion going.

Acquired some ispods as a clean up crew and noticed some nematodes in the soil. 

Edit: I was told that these are the type that only really affect springtail cultures by eating the eggs.

What are the chances that these are the the type that just live in the soil and wont cause much harm? Will only time tell?

Unless the enclosure is crawling with them, is there a point to clean them out, only to have them come right back again?


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## tmcv (Jan 11, 2013)

'M sorry if it already said, i didn't have time to read all the posts.
I'm a veterinary of a huge collection of arthropos in Brazil. I can tell that this maggots are NOT nematodes. This are just fly larvae or another necrofagic insect. This larvae probally appear after the pedes death, and are very common when you let the animal dead for a while. In tarantulas is very common the apperance of larvae inside the animals body wile the T is live (of course the animal die after this!) From parasitic wasps. Parasitic insects never was describle for centipedes, so for sure this are just insect maggots and your animal died for another cause, this maggots are just opportunistics.
The white secretion from T mouth said in this topics are sign of nematodes, but you only can define in the microscope. Actually the most of the nematodes infection in arthropods are only defined macroscopically, with a few exceptions.

In the first page, someone put a red circle over the photo indicating a black nematode. That was just the animal's forcipule...

I hope that i helped you, any doubt i'm open for questions

Cheers


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