What the 'ell are they?
 

In a bucket with a bit of rain water in it, in my garden, there are some wriggling thingies. They are about half an inch long, thin and semi transparent but with white stripes down their sides. They also have a long, thin "tail", as long as they are or even longer.

I'm assuming they are the larvae of some insect but I've never seen anything like them before. Can anyone tell me what they are?

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

can you not take a piccie of them?

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

No, my daughter's borrowed my camera - she's on holiday. Someone told me they could be mosquito larvae. :eek:

Whatever they are, they're revolting. :(

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

do they look like shrimps/or prawns?

dont think i have tasted out like them things you are on about...lol

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

Eeewww!

They look a bit like tiny caterpillars (I think they've got sort of rudimentary legs - lots of them) but it's the long tails, like needles. Definitely look like fly larvae but obviously like water! They are a sort of mud colour but a bit transparent but there's this wiggly white stripe down their sides (intestines? Oh god!). It's the way they're wriggling that makes them so horrible. What they will turn into doesn't bear thinking about. :s_sick:

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

Put them down the drain.......who knows what they will turn into....?

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

I thought I might cover the bucket with clingfilm as I'm really curious about what they are. If they hatch into something horrific they can, and will, be well sprayed with insecticide. I don't think I'll put them down the drain - they might like it down there. :D

Whatever laid them in the first place is obviously around, or has been. We've had the usual flies, bluebottles and midges, a few bees and the odd wasp but I haven't noticed anything unusual.

I will keep you posted.

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

They are probably midge larvae, similar to mosquitos in that they need stagnant water to breed (hence life in your bucket).

click here

for a picture.

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

They don't look like that, Less. Long, thin (needle-like) tails and only the suggestion of legs. Ugly little buggers! :p

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

I think I've cracked it!

After more searching on the net, I think they are drone-fly larvae. They are also known as rat-tailed larvae - allegedly! ;)

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

How about these little buggers West Ender. Sleep well hun........lol

http://www.ksfandpunkin.com/aquaticinsects.htm

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

Oooh, experimentation, I like it...:D I once had some tiny larvae type things dossing around in my old watering can, which I had left out in the garden for a few weeks. Despite checking on them every day I never got to see what they became. I never covered the can and assume that the creatures they turned into flew away. I am watching my new watering can with interest, but so far....nothing.

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

They are still there. Most of them have got down into a bit of sludge in the bottom of the bucket and their tails are sticking up to the surface. They breathe through their bums! They're not wriggling as much now (thank goodness, it was 'orrible). Reading the thing on the net again I'm pretty sure they are drone-flies (hover flies that look like bees) and I don't mind them.

Thanks to everyone for your help. :)

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

This is what i found


Drone Flies
Drone flies are also called rat-tailed maggots due to their long breathing tubes. They are also called hover flies. I discovered drone flies in my tiny pond in the Fall of 1997. This pond can be seen here. Drone flies are readily identified by their long breathing tubes which look like a long string (1-2 inches) attached to their rear. They keep the tubes sticking out of the water to breath. Their bodies look like land maggots (the kind that make many female humans scream). They are only found in shallow water without predators (fishless ponds). Drone fly larvae are thus usually in polluted (nutrient rich) waters. They writhe from plants to pond bottom and back in my pond. Unlike other flies, these flies do not sting, bite, or otherwise cause problems for humans. In fact, adults look like honeybees and pollinate flowers. My batch was in the pond from about late September to mid-November. They were hardy, surviving a number of shallow freezes. One species of drone fly is Eristalis tenax whose adult is 0.5 inches and larvae 1.5 inches.


(Rat-tailed Maggot)

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

NOW! you give us a reasonable description! Straight away I can tell you what

they are, they are HONEYMOONERS! It is a breed of creature that because they

hardly ever see the light of day after a short week-end with friends and

relatives with what is known as a WEDDING and RECEPTION often, (but not

always) fly to foreign shores to consumate their new found relationship.

Both the male and female learn within a short period of time to breathe through

their bums because their mouth parts are occupied in getting used to the

sexual orientation of their new found partner!

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

How interesting all i got is those tiny red mites that stain everything if you squish them. How do you get rid of these little blighters

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

You threaten them with what is called the BESTMAN and his friend making their way into the Honeymoon suite and unfastenening the bed with a spanner!
http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/1/1_4_101.gif

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

Sorry, Less, I should have known. I hope this doesn't mean there will be a few hundred of them tomorrow. ;)

Fireman, get a spray from the garden centre. The little sods breed like - er - flies.

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

No i reckon they are baby Martians that came down off that comet they crashed in to

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

I've left the bucket alone, to see what develops, and I'm afraid most of them seem to be - deceased. There are still a few tails sticking up from the sludge in the bottom but the wriggly ones near the surface aren't wriggling. :(

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

dont worry about it ! its nice and sunny tomorrow so get out the B.b.Q.ITS easy really

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

Had the barbie out this afternoon but the bl***y things are too small to fit on the grid. :( Son-in-law fascinated by the little buggers, eldest daughter had to be revived by fanning with a marinated sausage and plying with copious amounts of wine. I don't know, the young people of today..............:rolleyes:

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

I am a murderer!

I had to clean out the gutter round the kitchen roof (it was becoming a candidate for Southport Flower Show) and I needed the bucket. As most of them looked dead anyway, I tipped them down the drain. I argued with myself for an hour before I did the dirty deed but, sadly, my rat-tailed maggots are now defunct - unless they surface in the river Mersey, or somewhere.

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

Shame on you after all this time and expectation ,you throw life down the drain. A true Accy webber would have bought a new bucket.

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

you could have waited a while then left them on a dug up broadway. the slimey little gets would be next door to their relatives then.

Re: What the 'ell are they?
 

Well at least you're unlikely to get malaria from them. I don't want any, though. (Not even chocolate-coated - don't knock it, the Chinese probably eat them that way ..... David once tried sugar-coated tadpoles, although to be fair he didn't know what they were when they were offered to him).