I bought some crickets from a very trusted breeder in these parts. There were some 'fruit flies' in the container, though they looked a bit big (but not much) when I bought it, but it's not beyond the nature of these containers to have fruit flies in them; I've seen it before. I went in today to observe a freshly killed cricket in the container. I observed, as I usually do, the dead animal. It is then that I notice some tiny maggots crawling on the body. They are yellowish in color with a brown head capsule that is very tiny, which is why I suspect they are dipterans (and therefore maggots). There is enough to have filled up the body cavity...this is a clear case of parasitism. The maggots are happily feeding on the fresh death and some of them look quite large compared to others.

Some of my animals were fed the parasitized crickets before I knew they were parasitized. I am concerned that this could become a problem within my animals. Are there any fly larvae (diptera) or eggs that can move from crickets to lizards as hosts?

I plan on calling the pet store tomorrow and alerting them to the fact that aside from their apparent bird epidemic they now have a cricket problem. The real issue is that they act as a middleman for these crickets and in no way feed, handle or do anything with the crickets other than shelve them. I think, since there were adult flies, that the crickets were infested before they arrived. This is dire news indeed for Alberta, as they are the backbone of crickets in the entire province.

Innovation Alberta: Article Details

I've found something that sounds about right. Tachinidae flies...Furry, feel free to jump in here and help

Edit: just found me what the adults look like. Small head, big bum. Brown. About 2-3 times the size of a fruit fly that is commonly found here, only a smidge bigger than some of the more common frog hoppers (which are rampant wherever there's moisture it seems).

2nd Edit: I've exhausted all my research abilities. The pet store has been emailed and told to talk to the supplier. The way these maggots are acting, I'm sure they are tachinidae. They are sitting with their heads and most of the body up, waving around, waiting for a host. Since these are tachinidae, I think they parasitize insects exclusively. More good news is that they only way they can hurt an animal is by being layed, as eggs or live larvae, directly on the skin or picked up as the animal walks by. The container is stored in a drawer away from the animals, so I think it's safe to say no flies really got out. Not to mention these are likely endemic to alberta...the company who breeds them is based in Alberta (I found out) and that would mean there is little chance they can parasitize species from the other side of the world. Since the pet store insisted they are fruit flies, I think that would make them 'on the hook' for any vet bills...I'm hoping.

Why do these little things always occur at 1AM when I have to get up early to work the next day?

If I saw little worms come out of any of my feeders that I had fed already, the animals would be getting a round of dewormer "just in case".

__________________

Yeah, the thing is, they aren't worms. Nor are they ingested parasites of any kind. I'm worrying more about if a cricket died somewhere in the cage and the maggots were picked up by the lizards exterior- the only way in which these guys can successfully be contracted.

I'll be calling a vet clinic after work to see what they can tell me and I'm also contacting the entomology AND parasitology departments of UofA (one of them in parasitology contributed to the big herp vet tome). I don't want to buy de-wormer if all it will do is cause stress; I want to be sure before I make a move.

I got a message back from the pet store:

"Hi There,
I appreciate your comments regarding this matter, I assure you we will look into it as soon as possible. Thank you for your continnued support of *********. We will be in touch shortly!
Have a great day.
Fish and Reptile Supervisor "

Wow. Not that I expected more from these dolts, but this is a brand new, newly renovated store that claims to be working to improve their reputation. Obviously, they faltered.

I've never had this problem, so I don't actually have any good advice. I am, however, very interested in the outcome. To me it seems like the cricket's parasites would die in the reptile, but if they can be transfered over, that's something to really be concerned about.

I think the vet's visit is a really good idea.

Please keep us informed. I'd really like to know what happens with this.

__________________
"Let's eat, Grandpa!"
"Let's eat Grandpa!"

Punctuation. It saves lives.

I bet I can guess which store you are talking about...though I won't state it here . Hopefully the stomach acids of the reptiles will finish off those pesky cricket parasites. I'm very interested in what the UofA has to say.

__________________
Grammostola rosea 0.1.0
Pandinus imperator 2.0.0
Lampropeltis getula nigrita 0.1.0
Uromastyx maliensis 0.1.0
Rhacodactylus ciliatus 2.2.2
Uroplatus henkeli 0.0.1
Eublepharis macularius 1.0.0

Luckily for me I have some nice friends in the enotmology department at that university. The one I know best happens to have done a masters (I think) in diptera (flies). He confirmed that yes, it could infact be the one I think it is.

If it is Tachonidae, which I can only confirm by seeing how hairy the adults are (yeah, right, they are SMALL), they are INSECT specific and furthermore, REGION and HOST specific. Meaning that they will only eat brown crickets, as per some studies done by a fellow at UofL here in Alberta. It can also be one of two other families, which would be a bit worse but still harmless to reptiles:

Sarcophoridae and Caliphonidae. Since these lizards are highly keratinzied animals, there is ZERO chance they can get through...not to mention the injested it, so the larvae and eggs wouldn't make it.

Also on the positive side, my animals are all from the other side of the world, so the host and region specific thing is covered. I asked if there was a chance for my mealworms and roaches to be infiltrated by an escaped fly and he said that it is basically not going to happen. I'm in the clear.

He said though, interestingly, that if anything I have dies from these worms I should get the work published cause it would be shocking to the entomology world.

Thanks for the advice, Rich.

That's good news that the parasites won't transfer to any of the reptiles. I checked my stock of crickets that I got from the same place and none of the dead ones seemed to have any maggots. If there was, there would be some fist-shaking at the store in question.

__________________
Grammostola rosea 0.1.0
Pandinus imperator 2.0.0
Lampropeltis getula nigrita 0.1.0
Uromastyx maliensis 0.1.0
Rhacodactylus ciliatus 2.2.2
Uroplatus henkeli 0.0.1
Eublepharis macularius 1.0.0

Don't worry, I'm all over the store. I will be contacting the suppliers, which I have no beef with, to politely inform them that this is a very real threat to their stocks.

I found that older containers with crickets, from this store/supplier, were completely infested with these little nasties. Ugh.

I just heard back from the store after slamming them with another fact filled email about the parasites. Both the reptile supervisor and the district manager emailed me back; apparently they both emailed the supplier. Even the head (I think) of the chain store is involved, as I saw his email thrown into the cc line. It's nice to know that this pet store, despite its savage reputation, has decided it is time to clean up its act. A vast majority of pet stores would ignore me, especially since the parasites don't actually harm herps. This, in my opinion, serves as a dry run for any potential emergency involving parasites from this store. They were a bit slowish on the draw but at least they got it done.