Critters in mealworms - what are they?

[natamambo]

Got a shipment of mealies from ARCade 3 weeks ago and a couple of these beasties were in them. Today's shipment has at least 2 dozen in them. What are they, do I care, are they edible by softbills, will they harm the mealies?


They would seem to be insects, 6 legs and big head, but I've never seen anything like it and several attempts to classify using keys on the internet led to totally wrong answers. They are about 15mm long.

[VR1Ton]

They are like the small species of mealworm, they eat meat, but the birds love them

[Tintola]

I get them too and enquired with Pisces, who also didn't know what they were. I am in the process of letting some pupate to see what they turnout to be. I suspect that they are some species of moth or maybe beetle larvae.

[Misso]

when i worked at my old pet supplies shop, i would see these things in some of the dog treats( pigs ears, dried bones etc) we would receive, i cant remember for sure which state they came from, but qld is ringing a bell.

misso

[Mortisha]

Look like Warehouse beetle larvae.(hopefully not Khapra beetle larvae)

Thought they might be too hairy for the birds but the beetle form would be OK

[Craig52]

I got them in my maggot medium once,turned out to be some sort of wasp/fly thingy.They are viscious little bugs

[AMCA26]

I have these on the floors of a couple of my aviaries and pick them up and bin them but noticed today some small ones around. Seem to like the dark or under things.

[Mortisha]

in my maggot medium once,turned out to be some sort of wasp/fly thingy

crocnshas that sounds more like soldier fly larvae

[Gerry Marantelli]

They are a beetle larvae and there is no reason they would be harmful. It seems this thread is talking about several different species of carion beetle, fly and possibly soldier fly that invade from the wild and get into ruined stock. the original post is however of a larder beetle larvae that commonly invades all manner of dry stock. They are one of half a dozen species that invade mealworm colonies all over australia (you will find them from time to time in ALL mealworms supplies). we try to control them but some boxes of mealworms have a few when harvested. We do not worry as long as there are only a few as they seem to do no real harm - except compete with the mealworms for food. You can never really eliminate them as their eggs most likely come in on the grain feeds used for mealworms - so even if we completely eliminate them they will come back. Most of the time our mealworms do not have any in them, sometimes one or two, lately some boxes have a few more - the problem will reduce shortly.

they are related to but not the same as kharpa beetles and carpet or hide beetles discussed above.

[natamambo]

Thanks Gerry, as you can imagine our birds are precious things and unknown bugs turning up in their food is a bit scary. When it was just one or two last time I simply squashed but there were so many this time I thought I'd better follow it up before I fed the birds with the new batch of mealies. Can I feed them to the birds to reduce the cycle? Or am I best to terminate them?