Sick Superworms?

[Kristina]

Hi everybody,

I bought a 50ct container of large superworms from +++++ for my leopard gecko. In past 3 days I've been taking out 3-4 dead worms each day. They all are intact so doesn't look like cannibalism. All of them have some wheat brans stuck to their jaws. Today I also found one worm that was still alive but was really slow and kind of stiff and it also had brans glued to its jaws. When I tried to unstuck the brans a part of worm's jaw stayed on the brans.

Does anybody know what this might be? Can the Superworms have some disease? Is it safe to feed my gecko with the ones that look fine or should I just throw them all away and buy new ones?

Thanks

 

[acpart]

Are you sure more were alive when you bought them? Whenever I get superworms from the big pet stores I open the container and make sure there is approx. the correct number and they're alive. Some of these big pet stores don't pay attention to how long the superworm containers have been on the shelf. This has happened to me a couple of times (and I get superworms by the thousand). Once it was because I gave them some cantaloup and I think the moisture combined with the gutload just suffocated them. It's fine to feed the ones that are still alive to the geckos as far as I know.

Aliza

 

[Kristina]

Thanks Aliza!

The store I bought superworms from has dates on top of the containers. I'm not sure if it's the date the store got them or the date they were packed in this container but I try to buy the "freshest" ones on the shelf.
I'm sure more of the worms were alive cause on Friday I separated 4 of them that were alive but very slow to another container and next day they were dead..
I gave 4 ones that looked normal to my gecko. She seems to be fine.

Thanks again!

 

[telliott4]

When you get any worms you should remove them from their container and put fresh food, like a good gutload for the worms to eat. Super worms require moisture to survive, sure they can go awhile without it but when you bring them home they should be offered potato, carrot or apple. The stuff in the cup is no good.

 

[Kristina]

When you get any worms you should remove them from their container and put fresh food, like a good gutload for the worms to eat. Super worms require moisture to survive, sure they can go awhile without it but when you bring them home they should be offered potato, carrot or apple. The stuff in the cup is no good.

Thanks telliott4.

I put the worms in different container (more spacious) and gave them fresh brans and carrot, so the food wasn't the problem.