help, what are these?!

Immortal_sin

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we dug them out of the compost heap in the garden today. My ts seem to love them, but I have no idea what they turn into. They start as the white worms, which are quite active, and can climb glass...then they are immobile as they start to turn orange, then they turn a deep red. The question is: are they safe T food?
 

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thedreadedone

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they are some sort of fly larvae - when they turn red, they are starting to pupate
 

Immortal_sin

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oh, good, so you think they are ok in with the Ts? What if they don't get eaten, and turn into flies....still harmless?
thanks!
 

8 leg wonder

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thedreadedone said:
they are some sort of fly larvae - when they turn red, they are starting to pupate
I'll second that, they are definitely a maggot of some type, feeding them to you inverts might not be a great idea as flies are full of disease and nasty bacteria, as well as any pesticides the parents of those maggots might have picked up and passed on to the youngens
 

thedreadedone

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yep, may be toxic to the T's
but also, may lay eggs on the T's (depends on what species of fly it is)
 

Immortal_sin

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well, they came out of the neighbor's organic garden...so, no pesticides. In larvae form, I'm assuming they do not lay eggs, correct?
I have removed all the larvae that were not eaten immediately, so as to not endanger the spiders...
 

Joe1968

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Grubs maybe, I tried culturing grubs at one time but no success.
 

thedreadedone

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Immortal_sin said:
well, they came out of the neighbor's organic garden...so, no pesticides. In larvae form, I'm assuming they do not lay eggs, correct?
I have removed all the larvae that were not eaten immediately, so as to not endanger the spiders...
yep, no eggs as larvae
if they are organic, i guess it should be ok to feed, but keep removing them if they arent eaten
 

thedreadedone

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they do look very similar, but fly larvae can only be identified by the spiracles on their rear-end.
i believe that "standard" blue-bottle larvae look extremely similar to various less harmless species such as bott-fly larvae etc
 

DR zuum

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thedreadedone said:
they do look very similar, but fly larvae can only be identified by the spiracles on their rear-end.
i believe that "standard" blue-bottle larvae look extremely similar to various less harmless species such as bott-fly larvae etc
And? As far as i know bott flies arent very common in the u.s. And since they usually require a living host i think is safe to rule them out.Ive heard there are exceptions to this,but dont know if thats accurate. Its one of our common fly species,hatch one out and you'll know for sure.Im calling Musca domestica Linnaeus,common house fly or Fannia canicularis,lesser house fly i doubt if its anything more exotic than that.If the heap is mainly vegetable matter,lesser is probably the better bet. Versicolors go nuts over flying prey.
 

Immortal_sin

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the compost is veggies from last year's garden, some bark chips, some horse poop, etc lol. It's a very dark mulch. I tried looking up predator flies on the net, didn't really see anything in Oregon that looks dangerous. My other half suggested they may be crane flies too...which would be fine. I think my arboreals would go for them too.
I'm hatching out the ones that didn't get eaten, to see what we've got.
 

Immortal_sin

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just to give an update, they turned into BIG flies. The big, slow kind that get in your house and buzz by you like a 747. The grubs all got eaten, except for two of them, and I found them flying around the room. I'm 99% sure they are harmless flies. I couldn't find anything about any predator or parasitic flies in Oregon. I killed a couple with the fly shocker, but my camera really isn't up to showing the detail most likely needed for an ID
 

Wade

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I think they'd be a fine food to feed to T's. Any parasitic fly would lay it's eggs right on, or at least near, the host, and the only way non-biting flies carry disease is by landing on something infected (like feces) and then landing on your food.

Pesticides are a non issue as well, since the compost is organic. There is to way for the adults to pass on pesticides to the offspring.

Wade
 

Immortal_sin

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Thanks Wade....I'll keep giving them to the slings every so often then. They were eaten enthusiastically by almost all of them, and any free food is good food!
 

Scythemantis

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flies are full of disease and nasty bacteria
Why would this affect a tarantula? Flies only pick up germs from walking around on dung/carrion. There's no way this could harm a spider slurping out the fly's insides. Flies are common prey for ALL insectivores, esspecially spiders :)
 
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