The Hive continues to expand beyond our wildest expectations. Worlds are assimilated. Weaklings burn. And here I am, an elite war-breed, born to lead The Hive's armies in glorious conquest, a warrior whose victorious spoils are counted in entire worlds, sitting in the bloody wake of the most disappointing battle I have ever fought.
I had received orders from The Queen that I was to lead my personal squadron to annihilate a potential hive cluster from an altogether foreign species that had strayed into our territory. Naturally, I accepted with the utmost loyalty and glee, joyous in the prospect of wetting my blades on the blood of worthy enemies. I set out immediately with my squadron to the coordinates listed in the report. Soon after arrival in the sector, my lookout spied the foreign object, and we sped headlong into combat. The exterior of the hive cluster in question was smooth, rounded, subtly reflective, and marred with colours whose shapes we could discern no purpose from; it was a substance we soon conjectured to be a form of polished chitin not too dissimilar to that which shielded our own transport-breed. Regardless of its shell, I knew we had a glorious duty to perform, and I commanded the mind-driver to bring us in for a headlong assault.
The mind-driver commanded our transport-breed to envelop the hive cluster with its forelimbs and take it into its jaws. Once inside its oral chamber, the transport-breed's proboscis was put to work, slowly dissolving the chitin of the hive cluster with an acidic solution; the substance and its method of delivery had only been recently added to the sequence of its breed, and they were something I was all too willing to use. I assembled my squadron and waited, ready and eager to show these upstart weaklings the glory of The Hive. It took some time, and the smell was noxious, but before long, the cluster's armor gave way, and the path was clear for battle. We charged into the wound, hoping for the kind of battle that would circulate the All-Mind back at our native hive for countless generations to come.
Instead, we found an empty cavity. It was smooth, and made of the same shell that coated its exterior. White bioluminescent light spilled into every corner from rigid sacs embedded into the ceiling of the hall we entered. More illegible markings were visible on every surface; it was in this moment that I realized that said marking may in fact have a purpose, but what, I could not discern. My squadron followed m
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So, in my house I found carpet beetle larvae and shedded larva skin (some adults too, but they were all dead).
BACKGROUND
- Have been living in this 2-story ~3000 sq ft home with carpet for 5 years
- House has items belonging to my family of 4
- Due to various reasons including COVID, I am temporarily here by myself
- Have a dog since the beginning
- Have 60+ houseplants (not sure if it matters - think they were here before my plants)
- Pretty sure there is larvae in all rooms. Bedrooms, bathrooms, stairs, kitchen(hardwood) etc
- See both black colored ones and lighter (varied)
SITUATION
Last week, by chance, I discovered my bedroom was infested with larvae (under bed/desk, closet). So I put my belongings in containers, laundered clothes, removed furniture and wiped everything down, put down food grade DE and vacuumed, even threw out my mattress :(.
Then I found out the rest of my house is infested - at a quick glance of carpet, at least several larvae per room, even upstairs in the rooms farthest away from my room. I think they've been here for at least a few months.
MY QUESTIONS...
- How will I realistically be able to get rid of these guys, given that there are rooms full of my family's belongings?!... I can't even imagine how long it would take for me to l go through every single thing. Not that I won't do it, but it will take me literally months to clean everything up.
- Is it l possible to call an exterminator to help, without needing to move furniture/items? Or does the problem persist because I haven't found the source of infestation?
- What should I expect if I called pest control? I have a dog, so I dont know how I can do professional extermination in a pet/ human safe way.
- Any other advice obviously welcome
Would love input, THANK YOU for your help. This has been driving me absolutely crazy.
Just bought some soldier fly larvae and would love some more information on them as feeders. Also what are good ways to gutload them as well as super worms
I've seen loads of info online about BSF being a great nutritional source for people, but haven't seen any recipes or how to information for actually preparing them to eat. I've heard of people drying + grinding them into flour. I don't know if people collect and process them everyday or what the logistics are. I'd love to hear of your experiences, advice, and thoughts.
I have a few antlion larvae that I collected in Oregon last summer (unfortunately, I don't know their ID below family). I was hoping that they would metamorphose into adults before winter, but they're still in their larval state and because it's now quite cold where I live, I don't have a reliable supply of ants or other inverts to feed to them. Is it possible to induce diapause by putting their container in the cold? Does anyone know how long I might expect them to survive without food? The area where I found them is now about 20 Fahrenheit warmer than where I live and stays around 40-50 in the winter, whereas my area gets below 0 occasionally.
