I found a maggot! Pls advice

dsgncore

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Hello

Just a couple hours ago a found one maggot on my star hatchling. That thing is on his head, i freaked out and killed that maggot right away. I have checked my star for any open wounds or more maggots, and i couldnt find any..so i took him for a bath, remove all his substrate ( i'm using coco husk ). Basically i wanted to make sure that his enclosure is clean. Anyone ever had this happened?
 

Yvonne G

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Flies lay eggs on open wounds. The eggs hatch quite quickly. And there wasn't just one egg, there were hundreds. So when the eggs hatch, you see hundreds of maggots. If you found no injury on the tortoise, this was just a fluke. Who knows where this maggot came from. Rotting food? An over abundance of old poop? It's good that you've cleaned out the enclosure and are starting fresh.

Is the enclosure outside? Maybe a bird dropped his breakfast as he was flying over.
 

Kapidolo Farms

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Was it a fruit fly maggot? No worries, just a part of the normal diet for a tortoise.

Some 'regular' flies hold their eggs and 'lay' maggots, not eggs, and then there are those flies that lay eggs.

An image would be helpful, if you find another one.
 

dsgncore

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Flies lay eggs on open wounds. The eggs hatch quite quickly. And there wasn't just one egg, there were hundreds. So when the eggs hatch, you see hundreds of maggots. If you found no injury on the tortoise, this was just a fluke. Who knows where this maggot came from. Rotting food? An over abundance of old poop? It's good that you've cleaned out the enclosure and are starting fresh.

Is the enclosure outside? Maybe a bird dropped his breakfast as he was flying over.
I hope it was just a fluke, the enclosure is indoor, but i did bring the enclosure and my torts outside lately. Maybe that was it. It's just whenever i see wiggling maggots i want to throw the whole planet to trash bin.
 

dsgncore

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Was it a fruit fly maggot? No worries, just a part of the normal diet for a tortoise.

Some 'regular' flies hold their eggs and 'lay' maggots, not eggs, and then there are those flies that lay eggs.

An image would be helpful, if you find another one.
Yeah this is another possibility, unfortunately i didn't take a picture of it. I freaked out and did terrible things to that maggot. But i hope louie is okay, i checked and i checked and found nothing after that [emoji21]
 

ZEROPILOT

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If you see another, place it on a paper towel and snap some photos with the highest resolution you can.
It might be helpful.
You're positive it wasnt a worm from any poop?
(They would look more like tiny thread or hair shaped worms than an actual maggot)
Please don't let this scare you.
Worms are not that unusual and they are easy to cure if found early.....And it probably is NOT your issue.
 

dsgncore

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I'm very positive because there wasn't any poop inside his enclosure and i'm pretty sure it was not a worm, it looks like a tiny grain of rice. I have checked his condition just now and he is clean. So just for a prevention, should i start deworming on hatchling?
 

ZEROPILOT

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I'm very positive because there wasn't any poop inside his enclosure and i'm pretty sure it was not a worm, it looks like a tiny grain of rice. I have checked his condition just now and he is clean. So just for a prevention, should i start deworming on hatchling?
No
Never, ever treat for worms as a prevention.
 
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