Sling Dead, larva and pupa found in enclosures.

Nerri1029 · Sep 5, 2007

I recieved a shipment of some T's and a freebie.
I dumped the soil/substrate that came with them in the new enclosures.

I found one of my longterm T's dead ( 1" B. vagans sling ), well just the legs as it had been eaten by the larvae. I looked in other containers and only found the larvae in the containers where the T's came from this one person.
Coincidence? I'll keep watching to make sure.

here are some pics:

larvae are about 2-3mm

resembling very small maggots

Nerri1029 · Sep 5, 2007

more pics

and some pupae

elephantspider · Sep 5, 2007

I am so sorry for your loss. That sounds terrible!! You only found the legs of your long tern T? Wow...I don't know what to say. Thats just insane!

Nerri1029 · Sep 5, 2007

Any advice??

Anyone know what they are?

I have the pupa and will allow them to mature to see.

but I've frozen the substrate of the others, and removed my roach colony just in case.

Cirith Ungol · Sep 5, 2007

Woa that's bad! I usually feed my T's maggots, but that's in such cases when I know they are hungry anyway. Please update when you know more, though I guess "it" will hardly replace your T.

cheetah13mo · Sep 5, 2007

Haven't seen that one before. I've seen wasp pupa and they are white but that doesn't look like what I've seen. Sorry for your loss and keep the pics coming. This is very interesting and with so little info about this, Thanks for posting.

ChrisNCT · Sep 5, 2007

That looks allot like a fruit fly larvae...I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

Nerri1029 · Sep 5, 2007

ChrisNCT said:
That looks allot like a fruit fly larvae...I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

I'm really hoping the pupa mature.
that will help tremendously.

We do have fruitflies upstairs.. will they eat other insects as larva?

Schlyne · Sep 5, 2007

how big are the larvae and the pupa?

Never mind, I caught the size after a reread through.

DrAce · Sep 5, 2007

Maybe flick it onto the insect section. Whatever it is, it ain't a tarantula. Maybe one of the bug people there will have a better clue.

harrypei · Sep 5, 2007

looks like fly larva to me...i don think you guys have phorid flies up there in NY though.

Nitibus · Sep 5, 2007

harrypei said:
looks like fly larva to me...i don think you guys have phorid flies up there in NY though.

We have them in Canada. Humans like it warm, where ever humans take shelter you'll have the right conditions for phorid flys.

From what I know, phorid fly larva are white/cream coloured. I would bet my left one that those are not phorid fly larva.

lucanidae · Sep 5, 2007

Those are absolutely Phorid flies. They probably found the spider near death or already dead. We sometime have a bad problem with them in our crickets colonies and spider cages.....here in NY there are lots of Phorids.

Nerri1029 · Sep 5, 2007

Nitibus said:
We have them in Canada. Humans like it warm, where ever humans take shelter you'll have the right conditions for phorid flys.

From what I know, phorid fly larva are white/cream coloured. I would bet my left one that those are not phorid fly larva.

careful what you put on the chopping block..

to the naked eye these are indeed white/cream colored.. but under the microscope they end up more transparent.

They found the spider right after a molt.

I'd like to thank those who've helped so far. :clap: :clap:

Especially Varden with the advice on the traps for these.:worship: :worship:

Taceas · Sep 5, 2007

I don't think its a parasite, as it looks definitely like a fly maggot to me, and more than likely ate your beloved T while molting or it could have died after molting.

I've had phorid flies to infest recently dead roaches and crickets before, so it wouldn't surprise me they took advantage of a freshly molted tarantula. They're horrid creatures and hard to get rid of, I still haven't managed.

Right now we have a ton of fruit flies around, courtesy of our tomatoes upstairs, but they're kept in check with cider vinegar traps. Down stairs seems to be the realm of phorid flies where they thrive in my roach containers and in my snake tubs on anything they can eat.

So if you would like to share Varden's advice on getting rid of them, I'd love to hear.

Moltar · Sep 6, 2007

Yes, i would also very much like to see that advice. I keep thinking i'm almost rid of them and then a new brood pops up. Where are they coming from?!?!?!

ChainsawMonkey · Sep 6, 2007

Seems like if you let a dragonfly loose in your house that it would take out mommy and daddy before or after they could do the dirty deed!

Sling Dead, larva and pupa found in enclosures.

Nerri1029

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