# Are crickets ok with wormy and fuzzy wormlike things?



## Snipes (Nov 18, 2006)

I just got an order of crickets. They came on Thursday and they were picked up  and put in the house then, but i was at college so i just came home and opened it. I ordered 1,000 pinheads but only about 150 or so survived. There are a ton of worms and fuzzy worm things that come to a point. Are they normal or should i throw the entire thing out?


----------



## Mads (Nov 18, 2006)

Those are dermestid beetle larvae, they won't hurt your crickets. They are a "cleaner" insect, they eat dead crickets and sheds and such. Most cricket suppliers do their best to remove them before packaging. If there are quite a few , I would maybe consider a new supplier.


----------



## Stylopidae (Nov 19, 2006)

I actually raise the type of dirmested that comes with crickets and I've seen them eat entire limbs off of crickets, leaving a gaping hole in the side.


----------



## Darwinsdad (Nov 19, 2006)

If the creatures being feed the crix are of good enough size you can actualy feed them the dermistead larve as well. I only gave them to the slings that hit really fast so I did not have to worry about them burrowing in to emerge later. OBT's are a good choice for this.


----------



## thisgal (Nov 20, 2006)

I've had these bugs in my cricket batches before, and although they're supposedly not harmful to the crix, I'm skeptical. I get crix by the dozen, and every time I have a mysterious mass death with the new batch (i.e. they all die within 48 hours), I always find one of these things crawling around.


----------



## Varden (Nov 20, 2006)

I am also skeptical.  I order crickets by the 1000s and mine come with a bunch of these too.  Invariably, I only get to feed half of what I order, the other half mysteriously disappears and these fuzzy larva multiply by the hundreds.

I think I've got the problem licked now, though.  I've got a temporary set up that I'll be using when I pick up crickets tomorrow.  I'll be sifting through the crickets by hand, weeding out the beetles and larva so not a single one of those blighters gets into my cricket tub this next go round.  Time consuming as hell, but I'm raising spiders not beetles!


----------



## bugmankeith (Nov 20, 2006)

If you wanted to raise dermestid beetles what would you feed them? Isnt keeping rotting meat sitting around in your house unsanitary? Are there places you can order them?


----------



## xelda (Nov 23, 2006)

Varden said:


> I'll be sifting through the crickets by hand, weeding out the beetles and larva so not a single one of those blighters gets into my cricket tub this next go round.


Make sure you toss out the egg cartons the crickets were shipped in.  That is where the beetle eggs are.

If you breed any other feeders, get rid of the dermestids asap or else they will spread.  They like dead animal matter, and they are very good at finding it.  That means any cat/dog food, fish food, leather, preserved insect collections, etc.  I had them infiltrate some of my roach set-ups. :8o   They were a real pain to get rid of.


----------



## thisgal (Nov 23, 2006)

xelda said:


> Make sure you toss out the egg cartons the crickets were shipped in.  That is where the beetle eggs are.


That's exactly what I was about to ask. Seeing as how I only get them a dozen or two at a time, it's easy to look through the bugs for foreign ones, unless they're still eggs then. Do you know how big the eggs are? Can I spot them easily?


----------



## Stylopidae (Nov 23, 2006)

thisgal said:


> That's exactly what I was about to ask. Seeing as how I only get them a dozen or two at a time, it's easy to look through the bugs for foreign ones, unless they're still eggs then. Do you know how big the eggs are? Can I spot them easily?


They are microscopic. Just throw out the egg cartons and start eating lots of  eggs.

As for rearing them, mine are doing great with chick mash and dead crickets thrown in there.

I keep some large dog treats in there for them to burrow into and pupate.


----------



## Natco (Nov 25, 2006)

Yes I saw something like this the other day when I changed my Orange Head’s food.  They were like a combination between a grub, and a maggot, and they were living under the food bowl.  Is it something I need to take care of?


----------

