Yuck. The other night, just as I returned to my house from the pet shop, a friend of mine spotted a rat right outside of my house. When I got out of my truck the critter was still there looking right at us. So, I took my newly purchased Horny toads out of the box and passed them to my friend to hold. I then chased the rat until I caught it by the tail and quickly tossed it into the empty box and smacked it shut. I didn't know what to do with the little guy afterward. I was stuck with this wild rat. I didn't want to let it go back outside and have it make a nest somewhere. I couldn't kill it and from the looks of it, I wouldn't dare let any of my snakes near it. The rat was horrible looking. I put in a 20 gal., that wasn't in use, and provided it with food and water. It drank the water like crazy and had some food too. The next day the rat looked worse and I knew that it was going to die. By evening, the rat was dead. Eyes open, on its side-dead yet still moving. I noticed in particular something moving in the rats genital area. The little guy appeared to be giving birth, but he was clearly a male rat. I know that male rats can't have babies, but this was the only explanation my mind could come up with to describe what I was seeing. The first worm came out of the rats belly just above his genital region. The second and third escaped through its behind. I will forever be grossed out by the experience. Now that I've witnessed what I would have rather not seen, I need to know what these nasty parasites are. Yes, they are still living.

Here is a picture.

Wow,,,strange thing to experience. I'm at a loss on this one. My initial thought was maggots while reading the thread but the picture indicates something else entirely, I've never seen black maggots before. Anybody else ?????

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Ken
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem." -- Ronald Reagan

It's not anything that I am familiar with. Actually looks more like pupae than larvae. Like it is the stage of transforming into the adult phase.

Just a point: It is not a good idea to pick up wild rats! They are very high strung and aggressive. They carry a lot of nasty diseases including, but not limited to, bubonic plague! A little bite can land you in the hospital!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I have seen those parasites before...we had a dwarf bunny some years back and it had one of those in its belly...we thought it was an infection and squeezed it out and when the "pupae" hit the table it started crawling...ewwwwwwww ...it was nasty...I am not sure what it was, but maybe a botfly type of parasite where the adult "fly" lays the egg in an open wound and the larva feeds on the host and then pupates .......really gross...but yes it happens....Lyn

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Warmest Regards from Lyn

ewwwwww....ewww.ewwww....ewwwwwwww.

You picked up a wild rat???????

LOL

Perhaps you should keep your new 'pets" in the tank and see what they turn into.

Definitely a parasite of some kind, but so big!

Now I have the willies!

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Regards,
Dominick
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"Do you watch too much television? Did you do so as a toddler? Evidence tonight that it could be the cause of learning disorders, like attention deficit and hyperact-Ooooh, a kitty!" - Keith Olbermann

Good point Merlin. But this rat wasn't high strung; He was more like half dead which is probably the only reason why I was able to catch him. Trust me, I wish I hadn't even noticed him. From now on I walk around with my eyes closed like all my neighbors do.

Second thought, if I did that then I would miss out on all the cool critters too.

Things like flesh eating pupae exist in my world and I'll just have to cope. Maybe I'll learn something, although I kinda hope I don't!

Did the bunny live?

That is about the grossest story I've ever heard!!! THANKS for sharing it!

Now find a local entomologist and figure out what those bugs are!

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~~Steph

"This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world." John Steinbeck

I think I'm gonna throw up! EWWWWWWWWW!!!

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Some think they can. Some wish they could. Some do.

I'm like Ken on this one.. at first thought while reading the post maggots came to mind, but they do look like some sort of pupae, as Lyn said, some flies lay their eggs in open wounds and this is the most likely explanation.

Shame about the rat. I was worried at one point in the story you were going to say you fed it to your snakes, but we all know why we shouldn't do that.

If they are pupae chances are they will change soon, why not keep hold of them and see what they turn in to? (Although you don't want a hoard of flies around your house!!)

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004