Strange bugs/things in my cricket keeper

D

Darc777

New Member
Today I noticed some weird bugs at the end of the feeder tubes in my cricket keeper. We bought a batch of 100 big crickets from Petsmart last night and moved them into the clean cricket keeper. I fed my two veileds and panther chameleon crickets this morning from the keeper where these weird bugs are before I noticed.

The bugs are super tiny worms/paramecium looking things and I have no idea what they are or where they came from. They aren't the typical black hairy worms that sometimes end up in cricket batches due to that invasive beetle species. Should I be concerned that my chams got fed crickets from this batch? Anyone have a clue what they are and if I should throw out this batch of crickets? Not feeding from that batch until I get a good consensus.
 

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you cannot tell anything from your pictures. edit: you mean those tiny little yellow things? Those could be baby fly maggots.
 
I thought of this today...anyone ever feed their cham a stinkbug??? I gave my beardies them in the past, not often at all, but when I had one in my room and could get it in the cage I would sometimes.
 
Could they be carpet beatles? They start off as a small hairy caterpillar and then turn into a black beatle. Can't remember the name. They eat dead crickets.:D
 
Sorry for the crumby pictures: they are the little yellow things on the edges of the tube (inside the plastic cap). That was as good as my phone would do, any closer was too blurry. Can I feed from this batch? They just look parasity to me, no idea if they're just meal worm larvae or something. Petsmart does carry mealworms though.
 
Those are carpet beetle larvae. I have 2 Veils, and a couple of them showed up in the batch of crickets I bought from Petsmart. My veils have not touched them and at first I was worried. As larvae, the only problem they would pose is if they get out of your closure and into your home. They, at this stage, will eat fibers such as clothing and things. I have live plants and substrate in all of my tanks, and I have found that they are actually good for my setup. They eat the poop from my chameleons, and help keep my tanks clean. I have found that my veils for some reason do not eat the larvae, but will eat the adult beetles. So, I don't think you need to worry. Happy herping!
 
Brandonmh said:
I thought of this today...anyone ever feed their cham a stinkbug??? I gave my beardies them in the past, not often at all, but when I had one in my room and could get it in the cage I would sometimes.
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I honestly wouldnt feed them stink bugs. I mean the produce a juice that stinks lol
 
jamest0o0 said:
I feed stink bugs all the time


Old thread, but doesn't look like dermestid. Either lesser mealworms of some sort or phorid fly maggot(picture is too blurry to be sure)
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Oh okay sorry. I am not educated in this area at all. Do you catch them in the wild and just feed your chams or you make a colony? Im asking because there are so much stink bugs around here in the spring.
 
Serbianchameleon said:
Oh okay sorry. I am not educated in this area at all. Do you catch them in the wild and just feed your chams or you make a colony? Im asking because there are so much stink bugs around here in the spring.
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No need to apologize, I can see how someone would be hesitant to feed them off lol. Yeah I catch mine, but I've thought about trying to start a colony if I had space since they seem to hatch all year rather than only during spring like katydids.
 
jamest0o0 said:
No need to apologize, I can see how someone would be hesitant to feed them off lol. Yeah I catch mine, but I've thought about trying to start a colony if I had space since they seem to hatch all year rather than only during spring like katydids.
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They cant have any parasites or something like that? Probably stupid question I just don have a clue 😂
 
Serbianchameleon said:
They cant have any parasites or something like that? Probably stupid question I just don have a clue 😂
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I doubt it, parasites are more rare than people make them out to be and they're usually from captive bred insects that are contaminated from infected reptiles at the store. Every summer my cham lives outside and eats wild insects constantly.
 
jamest0o0 said:
I doubt it, parasites are more rare than people make them out to be and they're usually from captive bred insects that are contaminated from infected reptiles at the store. Every summer my cham lives outside and eats wild insects constantly.
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What type of outside setup do you have? Have you had any issues with weather?
 
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