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  Discussion on Meal Worms
Author Message
Member:
cinder

Posted on Monday, Apr 7, 2008 - 9:45 pm:

I was not sure under what thread to start this, but anyway here goes. Yesterday, I have found what I think are meal worms (what I could find on the internet) in the water buckets and stall feed troughs. We have never had these before and do not know why or what the reason is that I now have them. Does anyone have any idea? Are they harmful to the horses and what, if any, can I do to get rid of them. Are they seasonal? Grain is kept in trash can with the cover tight. Water buckets are rinsed out every day and on weekends scrubbed out. Stalls are cleaned 1 to 2x a day. No sign of these buggers in the hay, bedding but I did find them on a winter horse blanket in the tack room. Any suggestions? Thanks bunch.
Member:
ekaufman

Posted on Monday, Apr 7, 2008 - 10:40 pm:

Hi Lydia,

Are you sure these aren't larva? I thought mealworms liked dry stuff. We feed them to our box turtle, and they "come" packaged in dry, umm, mealie stuff.

If you have a local ag extension, stick one in a baggie or an empty spice bottle and take it over for an ID and advice...
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Apr 8, 2008 - 6:26 am:

Hello All,
Mealworms are bug larvae too. If you do not feed them all up they eventually molt to a brown or black bug. But otherwise Elizabeth is right, mealworms would not be normally found on clean blankets and water buckets, so I do think the first step to determining what can be done to control these "bugs" will depend on first identifying them. How about a couple of good (well lit and in focus) close up pictures of a live one?
DrO
Member:
heidih

Posted on Tuesday, Apr 8, 2008 - 10:38 am:

If you found "red squiggley worm-like" larvae in water buckets and troughs, I suspect what you found are Mosquito Larvae. We get lots of them here in WI. We combat them by dumping and cleaning troughs and buckets frequently and overfilling troughs to flush them out (between dumps). We give our buckets and troughs a bleach treatment every month or so (rinsing out the bleach before filling) to help keep down the algae and the larvae. There are mosquito dunk products that are safe for domestic animals that friend of mine put in standing water areas too large to bleach, but still accessible to horses.

Good luck.

Heidi
Member:
zarr

Posted on Tuesday, Apr 8, 2008 - 11:47 am:

There is also the infamous "pantry moth" which can come in bird feed of any kind and also household flour ,cerals,noodles etc! I've found them in chicken feed also the larval form does bear a resembalence to meal worms. When they change to moth form they crawl into any undisturbed cervices including blanket folds. If this is what you have pest strips work well, Good Luck! Cindy
Member:
cinder

Posted on Tuesday, Apr 8, 2008 - 9:47 pm:

Thanks all. Dr. O, I will try to get a picture, this weekend. They're brown kind of look like a centipede. We do give the horses black oil sunflower seeds. Cindy, this might be it possibly what you said the "pantry moth". I do rinse the water buckets out everyday and scrub them out every weekend and bleach them once a month. I will try the pest strip and give the Ag Center a call too. Thanks again everyone
Member:
zarr

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 9, 2008 - 1:01 am:

Lydia, sunflower seeds can be the source. We were invaded both in the house and at the barn. House they came in cereal, at the barn it was sunflower seeds. These guys build small web like structures when they change to moths they can get everywhere! There are pantry moth traps for homes don't know if they would work in barn. Happy hunting ! :-) Cindy
Member:
dsibley

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 9, 2008 - 7:34 am:

My grandmother used to swear by a stick of the green (spearmint??) Wrigley's gum laid on a shelf in the pantry. It supposedly drives them away. Change it about once a month; she never had the 'flour bugs' as she called them.
Member:
cinder

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 9, 2008 - 9:40 pm:

Cindy and dieliz, I didn't see any in the barn today. These little buggers are hiding out and sure hope they aren't working on building webs, kind of reminds me of metamorphosis like "the gremlins". I'm going to definitely get the pest strip and gum and give it whirl. Thanks again!
New Member:
jjrichar

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 24, 2009 - 4:05 pm:

I am finding the same type of worms described and are positive they are meal worms. They are all over by where I store my feed and in the feed buckets and water buckets. I assuming this is the case because the horses are eating them and then washing their mouths out over their water buckets. I am using Purina Horsemen's edge sweet and pelleted feed as well as the strategy pellets. I am curious if anyone else is using the same feed?
Lydia, did you ever get rid of them?
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