Tiny white worms found in Dubia bin... Help?

[Radioflyr]

I found tiny white worms the length of Dubia hatchings in my Dubia bin. And I have a few questions....

What are they?
Are they any risk to my colony?
How do I get rid of them?
Where could they have come from?

 

[DragonMomSandy]

Send a PM to Ihaggerty1313 (Ian), from the Roach Ranch (theroachranch.com) He breeds them and is the best person to ask this type of question. He also seems very good about answering all ?s. I wonder if it could be maggots from small flies that have gotten into your roach bins? I think you should take the bin outside, move the egg crates and roaches into a temporary container and clean out the bin. I would use good hot soapy water and rinse thoroughly and dry the bin then return the roaches to the bin. I think it might be wise to replace the egg crates as well to make sure none of the small white worms are hiding in there so that they don't get put back into a cleaned bin. Not really positive so ask Ian for help. I would think that the worms could be a bad thing especially if they are maggots (could be carrying disease or parasites that could be transferred to the roaches then to your dragons when you feed the roaches). Plus, I don't now what brand new baby roaches look like yet as I am just starting into the dubia colony thing.

 

[Radioflyr]

Thanks for the reply I will send him a PM right away.

Maggots was the first thing I guessed also. I have 2 bins; A breeding bin and a bin I keep all my nymphs and extra males in to grow and eventually feed or become adults. And I found the worms(maggots) in the second bin with all my nymphs. I got alot of these roaches from a lady who gave them to me for free for doing her a favor and some of the males are pretty old and die from time to time. So thats the only thing I could really see the maggots being attracted too. And yes I have began to notice flys but my roaches always have at least one source of fresh fruits or veggies in their bins so i just figured they were fruit flys.

O well I cleaned both the bins with bleach soap and tried to get as many of the roaches out from the bottom of the bin without getting any worms. then just threw the rest outside. I dont have new egg crates so Ill make a few calls to local restaurants and see if I can get some more free ones. But Ill keep an eye on the bins and hope I did a good enough cleaning to stop the infestation.

 

[hammerhead]

It might be these: http://www.petsnails.co.uk/images/problems/fly_phorid.jpg , the larvae of phorid flies. These are the flies that run around fast more than fly.
I found this while looking for my recent intruders, tiny red worms. David

 

[hammerhead]

Here's some more info for prevention. It's says chiffon is the answer to all our pest problems. http://www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/flies.html#start