White worms on egg
- Thread starter SerpeRoma
- Start date
Exactly what I expected. That's what has happened in the very few cases of these worms being in the egg containers that I've heard about or seen myself. I still don't know where they come from.
jamest0o0
Chameleon Enthusiast
Sorry to hear that. There’s definitely predatory nematodes/worms out there, but my guess would be it’s one of two things(Don’t take my word for it, I’d like to see what others say, but just from what I know about these kinds of things):
1)overly ambitious detrivores, especially in an egg tub with no soil or other food available. These types of worms are probably in all or most of our soil, but we don’t see them usually.
2) which I tend to think could be the case, the eggs weren’t viable or went bad at some point. Are the worms on all of the eggs? In many cases worms are blamed for killing something weather it’s SW aquariums, plants, etc, but it’s usually that whatever it was died and the worms noticed the decay and moved in. I was just reading a thread on dendroboards(not sure if I’m allowed to link?) about similar situations, but on frog eggs. The members there were saying that it only happened with the eggs that weren’t fertile.
I’d definitely like to hear what everyone else has to say and I’m not like trying to advocate for worms here lol… just what I think might be happening.
With all that said, to be on the safe side, I’d try to get rid of them.
1)overly ambitious detrivores, especially in an egg tub with no soil or other food available. These types of worms are probably in all or most of our soil, but we don’t see them usually.
2) which I tend to think could be the case, the eggs weren’t viable or went bad at some point. Are the worms on all of the eggs? In many cases worms are blamed for killing something weather it’s SW aquariums, plants, etc, but it’s usually that whatever it was died and the worms noticed the decay and moved in. I was just reading a thread on dendroboards(not sure if I’m allowed to link?) about similar situations, but on frog eggs. The members there were saying that it only happened with the eggs that weren’t fertile.
I’d definitely like to hear what everyone else has to say and I’m not like trying to advocate for worms here lol… just what I think might be happening.
With all that said, to be on the safe side, I’d try to get rid of them.
javadi
Chameleon Enthusiast
Darn. That's unfortunate. I haven't seen this exact presentation of worms before, but I would just be on the safe side and transfer the eggs to another container. You need to be very careful to not disturb the embryos but if done carefully it shouldn't cause much of a problem. The problem is that it's unclear whether there's a reservoir of these worms somewhere in the substrate. There might be a bunch at the bottom and they just come up to nibble on the egg opportunistically. I agree with james' interpretation above. I am partial to the first option he suggests.
Transovarial parasite passage is quite rare, especially for worms. So it's very unlikely these worms were inside the egg originally. Thus, they came from the soil the eggs were laid in or the perlite. Hopefully transferring them to a new container will, if nothing else, buy you enough time so even if there are worm eggs on the chameleon eggs, in the time it takes for a new generation to emerge, one can hope the chameleon eggs will have hatched and therefore the problem of possible egg destruction by worms will no longer be an issue. Thanks for sharing though, this is an interesting case. Best of luck and I hope it works out!
Transovarial parasite passage is quite rare, especially for worms. So it's very unlikely these worms were inside the egg originally. Thus, they came from the soil the eggs were laid in or the perlite. Hopefully transferring them to a new container will, if nothing else, buy you enough time so even if there are worm eggs on the chameleon eggs, in the time it takes for a new generation to emerge, one can hope the chameleon eggs will have hatched and therefore the problem of possible egg destruction by worms will no longer be an issue. Thanks for sharing though, this is an interesting case. Best of luck and I hope it works out!
SerpeRoma
Avid Member
I inspected and moved almost all the eggs in a different container and I've used vermiculite instead, just to see if the worms happen to survive in it as well. I left 4 eggs in the previous container because I saw a worm on them. I hope I haven't transferred any worm in the new one.
I'll keep an eye on both containers and monitor any changes.
I opened the egg that sunken to see if there was an embryo forming, but I'm not sure of what I'm looking at. The eggs have been incubating fot 6 months and 1 week.
You can still see some worms feeding on it in the second picture.
I'll keep an eye on both containers and monitor any changes.
I opened the egg that sunken to see if there was an embryo forming, but I'm not sure of what I'm looking at. The eggs have been incubating fot 6 months and 1 week.
You can still see some worms feeding on it in the second picture.
jamest0o0
Chameleon Enthusiast
Here’s a very old thread on dendroboards that might lead to some insight. If it’s breaking the rules for some reason, please delete!
https://www.dendroboard.com/threads/white-worms-eating-my-pum-eggs.16875/
https://www.dendroboard.com/threads/white-worms-eating-my-pum-eggs.16875/
nightanole
Chameleon Enthusiast
Morbid curiosity, but are there chams in the worm infested eggs? Or are the worms eating the slugs/failed/rotten eggs?
I'm not sure if they attack only eggs that are not good or if they attacked good eggs as well. Last I time I saw it was so many years ago. I thought at the time they were phorid fly larva because the phorid flies would be in the egg container as well. I never looked it up to see that they weren't phorid fly larva, as @james0o0 mentioned. I think the phorid flies were there once the larva had eaten into the eggs to take advantage of the "meal".
jamest0o0
Chameleon Enthusiast
Wondering the same. I still tend to lean that they’re eating failed eggs. I feel like it would be pretty rare for worms to be feeding on the eggs, otherwise we’d see it here very often. Of course I can’t say for sure, and I think we all agree either way that it’s a good idea to be safe and remove them.
jamest0o0
Chameleon Enthusiast
Phorids can be pretty voracious themselves, I wouldn’t put it past them to go after eggs.
SerpeRoma
Avid Member
Nothing to report so far, both containers look ok. I'll post if anything happens!
SerpeRoma
Avid Member
Today I found some more worms on the isolated eggs. Looks like one of them is not going to make it, the other ones look fine for now.
The eggs in the other container all look fine, no signs of worms so far. I don't know if it's thanks to the vermiculite or if I just saved them in time before the worms spread.
jamest0o0
Chameleon Enthusiast
Are you sure the eggs aren’t dead or weren’t already? If those tiny worms are able to reproduce enough to damage eggs, you’d think all the eggs would be affected.
Not doubting you or giving you a hard time by any means, I’m sorry this is frustrating. I’m just genuinely curious as to what’s going on as well. I’ve never seen anyone on here have this problem. If they are attacking the eggs, they must be a fairly rare species of worm/nematode.
Not doubting you or giving you a hard time by any means, I’m sorry this is frustrating. I’m just genuinely curious as to what’s going on as well. I’ve never seen anyone on here have this problem. If they are attacking the eggs, they must be a fairly rare species of worm/nematode.
SerpeRoma
Avid Member
I have never candled them as I never wanted to disturb them, but most of them (if not all) have been growing in size and haven't grown mold.
Again, they're about 7 months old right now, so I guess if they were dead it would have been visible a while ago.. at least that's what happened with the ones that were visibly not viable (those started molding in a couple of weeks)
I'm curious to see if there's an embryo in these four, if they don't survive I'll have a look.
Anyone able to tell me if the pictures of the opened egg look like a developing embryo?
Again, they're about 7 months old right now, so I guess if they were dead it would have been visible a while ago.. at least that's what happened with the ones that were visibly not viable (those started molding in a couple of weeks)
I'm curious to see if there's an embryo in these four, if they don't survive I'll have a look.
Anyone able to tell me if the pictures of the opened egg look like a developing embryo?
