Small white worms in substrate

[Eddie2Dynamite]

Hello all,

Saw some small white worms surrounding a dead superworm inside scorp burrow. I thought it might beba touch of mold but wasnt to concerned cuz i got springtails that should take care of mold. Dug out the superworms and saw the "mold" wiggling.

A little research tells me it might be nematodes. Got a few questions here, how do I get rid of them, can they harm me or my small children in the house, are they harmful to pandinus emp? Any other general info would be appreciated.

 

[Centipedism]

i would replace the substrate asap. although i've never had nematode problems there's a lot of potential for things to go wrong. considering how good nematodes are at parasitizing other inverts if you don't do a substrate replacement/tank cleaning i could very easily see your scorpion dead soon. you, however, are not in danger as long as you don't eat any.

to get rid of eggs spray the tank with hot water and then use a very light bleach solution followed by an extremely thorough washing and additional rinse with dechlorinated water.

what did you use for substrate? nematodes shouldn't have been able to get in unless eggs were introduced somehow.

also, don't feed scorpions superworms, they just burrow into the substrate and rarely induce a feeding response.

 

[DaveM]

No argument with changing the substrate.

Parasitic nematodes tend to be highly specialized toward particular hosts. One species that parasitizes whales can grow to be more than 7m / 23 ft long!
Probably, your superworm was infected, and with a nematode species that will be completely harmless to you and your other human cohabitants. There are nematodes that can get humans, but not these.
Here's an interesting paper on nematode species that can infect superworms.

Host-Specific Activation of Entomopathogenic Nematode Infective Juveniles - PMC

Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) are potent insect parasites and have been used for pest control in agriculture. Despite the complexity of the EPN infection process, hosts are typically killed within 5 days of initial infection. When free-living ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Centipedism]

No argument with changing the substrate.

Parasitic nematodes tend to be highly specialized toward particular hosts. One species that parasitizes whales can grow to be more than 7m / 23 ft long!
Probably, your superworm was infected, and with a nematode species that will be completely harmless to you and your other human cohabitants. There are nematodes that can get humans, but not these.
Here's an interesting paper on nematode species that can infect superworms.

Host-Specific Activation of Entomopathogenic Nematode Infective Juveniles - PMC

Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) are potent insect parasites and have been used for pest control in agriculture. Despite the complexity of the EPN infection process, hosts are typically killed within 5 days of initial infection. When free-living ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Crickets can get nematode infections as well but these are generally killed during predation, or so i've been told

 

[DaveM]

Crickets can get nematode infections as well but these are generally killed during predation, or so i've been told

Agreed. And I can't remember the reference off hand, but I've read a paper on nematode parasitism of Lycosids / wolf spiders, and the important finding was that the spiders were infected by different nematode species than the field crickets they routinely ate. In other words, cricket nematodes were different than wolf spider nematodes; the crickets did not give nematodes to the wolf spiders. Very species-specific, these roundworms.

I feel an oddly irrational warmth toward these worms, can't put my finger on exactly why, thinking that they evoke fond memories of a childhood favorite: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, or if the 'Nemo' meaning "no one" (or really 'nemat' meaning "thread") strikes an agreeable tone for these humble worms. Most of them are not parasitic at all, but just unsung heroes of soil diversity, terrestrial or on the ocean floor.

 

[Joey Spijkers]

More likely, this species is detritivorous and not parasitic at all. I would recommend changing the substrate just in case, but no need to be overly worried.

Nematodes are a very diverse group with different species occupying very different niches.

 

[The Snark]

Nematodes, AKA the usually invisible biosystem members within most biosystems. They vary from extremely host specific to any port in the storm. Once said, take the planet earth and remove all organisms and matter except for nematodes. You end up with a gigantic ball of countless trillions of nematodes floating in space.

 

[Eddie2Dynamite]

I just received notifications on this post! I had given up hope of getting answers. All this is good news. It was definitely from super worm. I recently rescured a T from petsmart (actual adoption, not sale) so superworms were for her. I thought i had crushed heads well enough but I guess not. I gave to scorp for a little dietary variety. Ill do a substrait change this weekend.



Thanks again!

 

[The Snark]

Around here, superworms are commonly found in markets and are regarded as a delicacy. And hand in hand with those who raise and eat bugs is the regular dose of Ivermectin a couple of times a year. My wife had her dose a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Eddie2Dynamite]

Around here, superworms are commonly found in markets and are regarded as a delicacy. And hand in hand with those who raise and eat bugs is the regular dose of Ivermectin a couple of times a year. My wife had her dose a couple of weeks ago.

Are you from india?

 

[The Snark]

Naw. Just almost exactly above the center of the earth. Give or take.

 

[The Snark]

@Eddie2Dynamite Apologies if I offended, I'm in Thailand