A couple of CWD questions...

[froggsong]

Okay, first, for the past couple of days my CWD's poops (I feel so silly typing that) have been a different color than they normally are. They are normally brown, and now they are MUCH lighter in color, almost white. Am I dusting his crickets too often? Could he be getting too much calcium and it is changing the color of his waste? I know that happens if dogs eat too many bones.

Second, I had a dish of cricket feed in the tank under his pond where the baby crickets hang out (and the bigger ones that escape his mouth) and the filter fell over and poured some water underneath the pond and wet the feed. When I found it last night, there were tiny white worms in it. I immediately took it out and threw it away, but I am worried about what the worms were and how they got in the cage. Should I worry that they may be some type of parasite? Or can a parasitic worm live outside of a host? Are they a normal thing that gets into a vive? I've never seen them before, and they were just in the dish, as far as I could tell, but I am worried that they could potentially harm my dragon. Something in the cricket feed smelled like it was fermenting, and that's the area they were in in the dish. I bought everything I need to redo the cage yesterday before I found the worms, but I was planning to construct it outside of the tank and then drop it in so I don't have to find something else to keep him in for a week or so. I want to be able to have him out of the cage for as little time as possible. Should I remove him from the tank and change the substrate?
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I did a bit of research just now before I posted the thread, and these look very much like white worms (also called pot worms, I think?) that people generally feed to fish. I got the dish out of the yard (where I threw it last night when I was freaking out about it a little) and took a picture of the few that were left inside of it:


The toothpick is in the picture for a size reference and was the only thing I had on hand.

The worms seem to die quickly if they get dry. I hope that they are just those worms that people culture for fish and small herps. What do you guys think?

[froggsong]

This is a website that has pictures of the worms that are fed to fish:

Caudata Culture Articles - Food Items for Captive Caudates

Scroll down til you get to the picture of white worms. As far as I can tell, this is exactly what they looked like lsat night. The ones in the picture I posted were getting dry and soon died after I put them on the paper.

[jen698]

I would disinfect and gut the viv to be sure, and keep an eye out and repeat every few days untill u r sure they are gone. Sounds like they could be from the yard though (remember to disinfect everything you put in a viv, but remember to wash the bleach off thouroughly too).
The main thing to look out for with CWD is tiny white mites which LOVE the warm humid environment.
Also crickets can be nasty buggers and bite ur lizard if they get hungry, in future pull the leggs off them so they cant escape, and remember they will lay eggs and breed in the viv leading to infestation so be careful!
Jen

[froggsong]

It's been a while since I posted this one... Turns out they WERE white worms, and nothing to worry about! Thank goodness. I bake everything from the yard, especially wood, rather than bleaching because I have had lots of problems with wood absorbing the bleach to the point that I can't get it all out, and then I can't use it ... A good 15-20 mins in the oven at 400 degrees kills anything that might be on/in the wood and rocks. As for the mites, you aren't talking about springtails are you? Those are good for the vive, and there are some in there, but that's ok, they eat tank waste and help keep the substrate from spoiling. As for the crickets breeding in the tank, IMO, that's ok. Rarely do enough survive to get big enough to hurt him, and he eats the ones that DO get big enough. I do, however make sure there is cricket feed in the tank, that way they are always gut loaded, even if he doesn't eat them all right away, and they will eat the cricket food before they will try to snack on Riku. He actually LOVES cricket legs, so I don't think I will remove them... (If one falls off while he is eating the cricket, he goes for it and chomps it down! I even feed him stray legs that sometimes break off when i am hand feeding him, and he actually goes for the legs quicker than the rest of the cricket!) They can't get out anyway, the screen is too small for them to fit through the openings. I rarely have an escapee, and it is always because they got out when I was trying to get them into the duster... The cats take care of them though! I do take out the extra crickets every two or three days when I change his water, so there aren't usually too many in there for too long. He hand feeds half the time anyway, I just like to make sure he has a couple in there in case he is hungry before feeding time. I know alot of people disagree with letting the crickets stay in the vive, and also with allowing them to breed in there, but I have done quite a bit of research, and I really think the benefits outweigh the cons, especially since I keep a close eye on it.