My mom found these… things in a puddle of water that had collected on top of a garbage bin. They’re brown, segmented, legless, and have little white hairs. They look like something out of Revenge of the Worm People.
Need answer fast! They’re climbing up the walls of the container!
Looks like a kind of woodlouse. Are you sure there’s no legs? I think I see legs.
No legs. No legs whatsoever. Oh, and they have these reddish-brown proboscises.
They are scaring me.
ETA: What you’re seeing are the hairs.
That my friend is a soldier fly larva.
That’s right, they’re giant carnivorous maggots, and you’ve brought them into your house. I don’t expect we’ll hear fro you again except as a headline.
Yup, was just about to chime in with “soldier fly larvae”, but it appears I was beaten to it.
This guy looks way too happy about soldier fly larvae.
It’s gross. That’s all I need to know!
Okay, so a little web-searching says they eat compost. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
If you want compost it’s fantastic. I encourage soldier flies in my compost bin because they break down “edible” organic matter really, really fast. Like, I can put a whole loaf of bread into my compost bin and it’s completely gone within four hours. That means I can safely add anything I like to the bin without having to worry about houseflies, cockroaches, mice and the other vermin that would normally start feeding on edibles.
It’s probably not a good sign of these things are living elsewhere, since it indicates that you’ve got organic matter building up for prolonged periods.
BTW, while soldier flies are most commonly seen in compost the various species live in all sorts of places, from soil to fresh water and they eat absolutely anything that moves too slow. I wasn’t kidding when I said that these are giant carnivorous maggots.
Turns out the garbage bin they were found on was really a compost bin. So yeah, I guess that makes sense.
I’ve put them back in the compost (after my cat was done playing, that is. Note to self: maggots aren’t good for getting her to exercise either).
Their young enter through the ear and wrap themselves around the cerebral cortex. This has the effect of rendering the victim extremely susceptible to suggestion. Later, as they…grow…follows madness. Death.
Kill it with fire!
Ah, they must be…pets.
Not quite domesticated.
THIS is Ceti Alpha 5!
I see dead people.
