On Wednesday, May 14, 2003, at 02:00  AM, Kate Underwood wrote:
>I just got home from a 2 week vacation to find my babies litter box
>full of worms or maggots or something...
 
Don't panic!
 
They are probably just maggots.  Maggots are young flies; the eggs can
hatch in as little as 8 hours so I wouldn't necessarily get too upset
at the sitter.  When the weather gets hot and humid, cleaning once a
day may not be not enough to prevent flies from laying eggs, which hatch
into maggots.
 
Since you describe "tiny tiny bugs", these might be fruit flies, which
despite the name will hang around compost heaps as well as around old
fruit.  If you ever took biology, these are the tiny flies that were
used in genetic experiments.  The maggots are also tinier than house
fly maggots.
 
It's also possible that they are springtails, which look more like fleas
(but do not infest animals).  In any case, there is no cause for alarm.
It sounds like you have already done the cleaning required to get rid of
them.
 
-Claire
[Posted in FML issue 4148]