Leopard gecko Biondi: Unusual pupae in moist hide... parasite???

[Saskia]

My female tremper albino has receintly started pooping inside her moist hide, a week ago I was doing the cleaning and noticed that the paper towel inside the hide was brown... I opened it and discovered 2 large poops there, and some small light brown pupae...... I started beating myself "I should check inside this hides more often :-x " , "Some sort of insect must have gotten inside here and laid eggs or something" (Not feeder insects but house insects), etc etc, I cleaned the whole thing, changed the paper towel inside the moist hide, changed the moist hide from one corner to another (trying to prevent my gecko from pooping in there again), fed her, and moved on to the next gecko.

Today I was doing the cleaning again and since I didn´t see poop outside in the previously usual corner I opened the lid of the moist hide to check and surprise! There was one poop there and another light brown pupae (about 3mm long)!!

This time I took pictures, because I am so concerned now, it there any chance that this could have someting to do with my girl having parasites???? Are there any tipes of parasites that come out in the poop and (giving the right environment of high humidity and warmth in the moist hide) could be reproducing outside the gecko????

She seems perfect, she is housed alone, paper towels as substrate, eats great, has a nice healthy weight, plumpy tail, nice solid poop, I can give all sorts of husbandry detailes if needed, she sheds fine, no issue what so ever, she is a great apparently healthy gecko!

I will attach some of the pictures for you to see what it is:

 

[coastinona.dream]

Crypto - Leopard Gecko Wiki This could be the problem but only a vet could tell u for sure

 

[Embrace Calamity]

Crypto - Leopard Gecko Wiki This could be the problem but only a vet could tell u for sure

How would this point to crypto at all? That link points out that they are microorganisms, so I seriously doubt one would be visible like this.

~Maggot

 

[Saskia]

Cryptosporidia are single-celled protozoan parasites, single cells are never visible to the naked eye, this pupae is about 3 mms long, I am pretty sure it is not crypto, and I am not even sure it came from the gecko, it could also be the pupae of a ceirtain type of insect that got into my gecko´s enclosure

 

[Saskia]

My gecko does NOT appear sick, and has no symptoms of illness, that´s why I haven´t considered a vet appointment (that and the fact that there are not reptile veterinarians in my country, so, a general question to a regular pet vet would cost me some money and will most likely get to a dead end, veterinarians are NOt all-animals-experts, they are doctors who are trained to heal illness and injuries in specific animals), I am just curious about this pupae...

 

[Thin Lizzy]

What do you use as feeders? It almost looks like a small pheonix worm.

 

[avsfreak13]

After being on here for the past months and floating around I have come to know you as one of the most respected members most everyone trusts Saskia! I trust you're doing everything right. If it were my gecko I would move her to a different enclosure that you know is clean to figure out whether or not the pupae is coming from your geckos poop. Also I would clean every nook and cranny of that enclosure!

Jesse

 

[Hilde]

My guess is Phorid Fly pupa.
Do you see something that resembles a fruit fly, but runs zig-zag fashion, rather than immediately flying away when you get near?

Some info:

Scroll down a bit on this one for a Phorid Fly and larva picture (no pupa pictures here, sorry).
Flies / Snail Problems

If Phorid doesn't sound right, check some of the others on that page, maybe it can help narrow down the ID.

Lots of pictures to help ID
Super-Mutant Fruit Flies on Steroids!

More info, lousy pictures
Phorid Fly Elimination, Phorid flies, Hump Back Fly Control

 

[Saskia]

Lizzy:
I use regularly: Crickets (Achetus domesticus and Gryllodes sigillatus), Roaches (Blaptica dubia and Pycnoscelus surinamensis), Grasshoppers and Mealworms, those are my regular feeders.
And ocassionally I also use Superworms (Like once every 2-3 months).
And seldom I use: Locusts, Pinky Mice and Wax Worms (I understand that theese are fatty feeders, I use them about 1-2x a year each, the same way I like to have Ice Cream every once in a while! :lol: )

I do not use Phoenix worms because they are not available here, so there is not a chance that is a Phoenix Worm, I whish it was...

Jesse:

Thanks for your comment, I keep my tanks very simple, all my leos are kept on paper towels and I put a square of toilette paper in the corner they use as a WC, so that I only have to change that when it is used, my vivs are simplistic, plastic, exo terra caves or carton caves, tupperware plastic deli cups as humid hides with moist paper towels inside, no decor, receintly I improved some of my geckos tanks (bought a few larger ones) and I am implementing a new double humid hide policy, so all of my geckos have 4-5 caves, but simple caves, everything is actually easy to clean.

Las week when I found the first pupae I freaked out and cleaned everything deeply (I even brushed everything with a toothbrush and boiling water :lol: ), my doubt is that if it could come from an insect that is getting inside my gecko´s enclusore to lay, because even as I do use lids, they have ventilation holes and a small insect could get in... But I don´t know, maybe I should take out the moist hides for a few days and re-check the stool?? Is there any known reason why a leopard gecko would start defecating inside her moist hide?? Because another of my girls is doing the same thing, but the other one has been doing it for a while and I have never seen anything like this

 

[Saskia]

My guess is Phorid Fly pupa.
Do you see something that resembles a fruit fly, but runs zig-zag fashion, rather than immediately flying away when you get near?

Some info:

Scroll down a bit on this one for a Phorid Fly and larva picture (no pupa pictures here, sorry).
Flies / Snail Problems

If Phorid doesn't sound right, check some of the others on that page, maybe it can help narrow down the ID.

Lots of pictures to help ID
Super-Mutant Fruit Flies on Steroids!

More info, lousy pictures
Phorid Fly Elimination, Phorid flies, Hump Back Fly Control

OMG!! I believe that´s it!! The last pictures of the second link look EXACTLY like the ones I found!! And now that I think about it I receintly started a Blaptica dubia colony and I am using a lot of fruits and vegetables to feed them, and also I got a new Phelsuma madagascariensis who also eats fruit and everything is in the same room! So, my gecko room (which is more like a gecko balcony :lol has now many more vegetable matter laying around, I clean and dispose all the fruits every 2-3 days, but fruit flies could actually be around and they are small enough to enter through the ventilation holes on my gecko´s lid

 

[Hilde]

Phorid flies are not fruit flies, they look similar, but that's about all. They eat rotting organic matter, including gecko poop. Just keep removing the poop and any plant or animal matter in the enclosure, eventually they'll give up.

 

[Saskia]

I don´t understand then, there has always been some poop there, I clean it a couple times a week but it´s virtually impossible to kep it poop-clean at all times, I have had geckos for around 10 years and had never seen this, I believe that the fact that she is just now (after 3 years with me) starting tu poop in her warm moist hide has had something to do with this, right?? maybe it has made the poop smell? and the flies get to it? (Because it usually doesn´t smell)...

 

[Hilde]

Pooping in the hide could be what attracted them - it stays moist, soft and 'juicy', attractive to a phorid fly.
Some of my geckos poop in the hide for a few weeks or months, then go somewhere else. Others never did that, and one always does. I think it all depends on the gecko.

If the hide has peat, coco-fibre or some other soil type substrate, try changing it to moist paper towel or something that's not loose substrate. I managed to get rid of one infestation by changing the hide to moist paper towel for a while.

There's possibly another reason for the flies getting in now. It's fall in your part of the world, quite possibly flies are looking for a warm place indoors to escape the cold. Phorids apparently can't fly when the temperture goes below 12°C, so they might be anxious to get inside around this time to be safe. If that's at least part of the problem, then it might be short-lived and you just have to deal with whatever flies get inside for the next while, and their offspring.

 

[Saskia]

Well, the inside of the humid hide I have always used moist paper towels, if there is any other better substrate I would change it, and about the season, I live in tropical south america, there are no seasons here it is always warm, it is wat we call the "hot" season (we call them "hot season" and "rainy season" , that´s all we have), it rarely ever goes below 23C on the rainy season, and now, in the hot season it hardly ever goes below 30C

 

[Hilde]

I don't know what my brain was doing, but I read "Argentina" instead of Venezuela, that's why I thought it might be a seasonal thing. Don't ask how I could get it so wrong, I have no explanation for that. Sorry. I need to learn to read better.

 

[Saskia]

I don't know what my brain was doing, but I read "Argentina" instead of Venezuela, that's why I thought it might be a seasonal thing. Don't ask how I could get it so wrong, I have no explanation for that. Sorry. I need to learn to read better.

;-) Yeah, Argentina does have seasons... is there anything else I could do to prevent this flies from laying in my gecko´s hide??

 

[jakehinds]

What about taking out the humid hide for a week or so? Then put it back in

 

[XoVictoryXo]

I immediately thought maggot. glad you figured out what it was!