Nematode alert! Any further suggestions?

[Mr. Mordax]

So Lori and I went to our local pet store for crazy folk (i.e., people like us ) and found out they had blue-ring centipedes in -- one I'd peg at being around 4" B.L., and two babies at around 1.5" each. The little ones were in small deli cups with some damp paper towels to hold the humidity.

Lori buys me the two babies (I think I'm spoiled sometimes ) and we stop by the lab we work at on the way home -- as I look at the first one under the scope out of sheer me being me, I discover a nematode crawling around the inner surface of the deli lid.

We sterilized our hands, put germination paper dampened with DI water in two sterile petri dishes, and transferred the pedes to the dishes. After sterilizing our hands again, I disected one of the crickets we just bought at the same place to make sure those were nematode-free. I split the remains between the two babies (one of which must have been hungry).

I gave them a good look-over under the scope and didn't see any nematodes under the exoskeleton. I couldn't get a look at their mouths. They're in quarantine for a few days now to see if they're OK to bring home without cross-contaminating anything.

Any other suggestions? Or do you think I did ok? Or is there even any hope now of saving my newest babies?

Pics to follow if they survive quarantine and come home.

 

[Stylopidae]

Not all nematodes are parasitic.

I had some nematodes in one of my centipede enclosures about a month ago and he's still asymptomatic.

 

[Galapoheros]

I have thousands of nematodes with one of my pedes. I don't know what species. White, a couple of mm long.I can see them through the plastic. They clump up real heavy in spots. Also, can a young pede live for a long time, even years with a nem infestation, or do they go pretty fast?

 

[Mr. Mordax]

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. I just got a little paranoid when a colleague of my boss's does his research on entomopathogenic nematodes.

 

[cacoseraph]

are you guys sure you are seeing nematodes?

no doubt there are plenty of species that are macroscopic... but the vast majority are essentially microscopic.

not so much gala, but i<3 sounds like he has some kind of fly larva. i rather expect a nematode and a larva have dif musculature and probably move dif as a ghetto diagnostic... but that would involve someone researching =P

 

[Mr. Mordax]

It was a nematode -- I've disected insect specimens at work to see if they were infested, so I know what they look like. It wasn't visible without the scope.