Please help!!! Catapillary things!!!!

[Dani]

Oh My!!! I've just come to look at my snailsies and noticed there's some little creepy-crawly things in their tommy!!! They seem ok in themselves but i'm really worried and don't know what they are! They look as if they have little spikes or hairs on them and i put a few on a slide at work and had a look under the microscope but couldn't see anything cos they kept crawling away. They're about 2-3mm long and move like a catapillar would. One of the vets i work with did a zoology degree before her vet. med. degree but she said she'd never seen these before. None of the other vets know what they are either. I don't know what to do!! ARGH!!! I can't get any pictures either, sorry

[copigeon]

Ive noticed a few of these recently. They dont seem parasitic to the snails, more to the substrate/waste food.
I wouldnt panic. Probably on the same level as trips/fruit mites.

[Dani]

sorry, i must sound really clueless but what are trips?? I'm worried incase they've gone into the snails' airholes although there doesn't seem to be any on the snails themselves. Is there anything i can do, e.g. put them in a bare tank? I'm sorry, i'm really flapping!! I'm worried that's all because i've only had them a few months and not had anything like this!
(SORRY IF THERE'S ANY MISTAKES OR ANYTHING, TYPING WITH ONE HAND WHILST THEY'RE IN THE OTHER!! )

Thank, by the way, Copigeon!

[copigeon]

Ooop, sorry I meant "thrips" little flies and thier subsequent mini maggots.

Clean the tank?

No need to quarenteen as these sorts of things arnt related to the snails. Purely the substrate.
Theyve moved in and set up home with the snails.
Just give the tank a clean, swill the snails off so they dont carry over on thier shells, give everything (like bowls and cuttle) a good wash under the tap and refil with fresh substrate.

I really wouldnt worry
Pests like this are part and parcel with any invert which requires a damp/humid environment. Breeding ground for all sorts of feeloaders.

[Dani]

I've just had a look on the internet and the bugs in my tommy don't look anything like thrips or fruit mites. They don't have legs or wings. They just crawl around - their body movement resembles that of a catapillar. Wish I could get pictures then someone might have been able to give me a +ve ID

[Dani]

Just managed to get one under the microscope and they have a segmented body (10 segments) with 10 pairs of legs (1 pair per segment) down the body. Ewwwwww!!

[copigeon]

No I meant... are the same sort of pest as.
Really I wouldnt worry.

[Dani]

Sorry Copegion! I don't mean to sound rude and like i'm having a go I didn't mean it to sound like that. They look like tiny catapillars. Don't know where they've come from cos i use coir for my substrate (I was under the impression that coir was sterile and that it can't intoduce pests into the environment). They could have come from my veg although i do ensure i thoroughly clean it before i put it in but i understand that this doesn't get rid of everything. Sorry, i'm wittering on now!! I think i'm just going to leave them in a bare tank until friday when i get holes drilled into their new house (a nice big storage tub ;D) then i'll move them and see how they get on in there. Thanks for all your advice Copegion, I really appreciate it ;D

[copigeon]

lol I didnt mean to sound narky

I just think theres alot of panic around the obligatory "wildlife" that comes of keeping animals like these. And there really shouldnt be.

You do whatever you thinks best

Will try and find out what they are for you in the mean time

[Val]

Probably wrong, but they sound like ordinary tiny maggots to me, look horrid but are harmless enough

Val

[Paul]

Look at the larvae on this page:

www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/flies.html#start

There is a particularly common one that looks more like a caterpillar than a maggot:




or could they be these:



Sawfly larvae. There's a key here:

www.entomology.umn.edu/cues/4015/key/

but if you are convinced they are caterpillars, check here:

www.javajane.co.uk/Hairy/index.html

[Dani]

Thanks very much Paul, that's fantastic!! Think they've gone now though. I pulled about 7 or 8 out of the tommy and haven't seen anymore since??

[ness]

Please look up Sciarid Fly, otherwise known as fungus gnats. Approx 2mm long, white/clear with a faint grey line down the middle. Does this fit your pests? They live in peat based soil and the flies soon develop, and are often seen crawling as they don't fly well (though they do of-course fly). These are harmless to all animals but may attack fungi or certain seedlings (they destroyed my Lythops and Astrophytums cacti seedlings). They don't tend to attack older plants. Sciarid don't like John Innes soil but I've never used it with my snails, so I don't know if snails like the soil either! All the best xx