worms in the tank

[scorpionguy77]

are there parasitic worms that live in substrate? I haven't seen anything on these boards about any other considerable parasite outside of mites, but these are definitely worms. VERRRRRRRRY small, like smaller than pinhead crickets, but I have noticed them a couple times and now there seems to be quite a lot of them. I have no idea how they got in there, what they are, if they are harmful or not or how to get rid of them (outside of totally cleaning out the tank and boiling it, which i do about once every other month anyway). Anyone else have this problem or know what i should do?

 

[Sir Aculeus]

Take some pics so we can take a look see. What kind of substrate and what kind of scorpion?

 

[voldemort]

i once had small worms in one of my enclosures and they turn out to be larva of a small and slender fly (approx 1/8 of the common house fly), so slender they were able to squeeze themselves in the ventilation holes the size of this period .

they feed on left overs but had to change the substrate and all just to be sure to get rid of all of them

 

[scorpionguy77]

Take some pics so we can take a look see. What kind of substrate and what kind of scorpion?

eco earth coconut fiber substrate, moist but not wet (just wet enough to pack) and two emperors. def was going to post pics but my phone was dead when I posted this. I will try to provide those this afternoon.

i once had small worms in one of my enclosures and they turn out to be larva of a small and slender fly (approx 1/8 of the common house fly), so slender they were able to squeeze themselves in the ventilation holes the size of this period .

they feed on left overs but had to change the substrate and all just to be sure to get rid of all of them

I thought perhaps it was some kind of fly larva as well, but I have seen absolutely no flies in my house, let alone in the tank. As far as them eating leftovers, they move quick because my female emp had spit out her cricket pellet (if that makes sense) and within about five minutes they were completely covering the pellet. In fact the congregation on the pellet is what really helped me notice them quite well. So, outside of a fly outbreak in my tank, and possibly my house, is there any possible danger to my scorps? I will remove them both today and boil the tank and provide new substrate. Thanks guys. I have put small spiders in the tank recently, at the suggestion of another poster in another thread, to help control pinhead cricket outbreaks, so that may help control any other pests as well.

 

[scorpionmom]

Whatever they are, I would get rid of them. Fly larvae does not sound very good.

 

[scorpionguy77]

It had to be some sort of fly larva, or another larva that preys on dead tissue because I dropped a freshly killed cricket into the tank last night just to see if there was still any activity. This morning, the cricket corpse looked as if someone had climbed inside it and sucked it dry from the inside, because all the soft tissue parts, like the abdomen, was completely sunk in, and there was a tremendous amount of these worms ALL over the exoskeleton. The general area around the corpse was also more wet than the rest of the substrate, but I am not sure if this was perhaps the body fluids of the cricket leaking out, some sort of discharge released by the worms or both. In any case, it was enough to trigger me to do my bi-monthly tank boiling early. I boil all the fixtures in the tank (water dishes, logs used for hides, plants, etc) as well as I remove all substrate and pour a pot of boiling water into the empty enclosure and scrub it well. Hopefully this rids all the worms and any other parasitic stuff that may have been in the tank. I also clean my cricket tank and fixtures the same way to keep them clean and fresh, as well as cutting down the possibility of things living on their dead and filth. Still not sure what the worms were but I am not risking it any further.

 

[Matthew Criss]

Yeah, that's what happens when you don't pick up left-over crickets.