Superworms alive after death?

[Neville]

Seriously. I kill a super worm for my Leo and if he doesnt eat it right away, it continue to live through out the night.
Thing is, I crushed its head. Like, Im talkin like pretty much right off its body.
Please tell me they have nerves that make them move for hours and not that theyre just laying there suffering with no head or a crushed head.
Cause if so, I will feel like the worlds worst human being. lol Anybody else have this experience?
Zombie worms maybe? :main_laugh:

 

[acpart]

I don't particularly believe in life after death for superworms and also don't think these worms and insects really "suffer". Sometimes, if you think you've killed a superworm, but the head/body connection is still there, it may live for quite awhile because it's a pretty simple organism compared to mammals or reptiles.

Aliza

 

[M_surinamensis]

Insects don't really have a brain in the sense that vertebrates do. They do have centralized masses of nerves which control various functions- but there are more than one of these and they are not all located in the head. The ganglia in the head mostly controls sensory systems and connects them to the rest of the body. So an insect without a head is* capable of living for some time without it and the thoracic and abdominal ganglia (nerve clusters in other parts of the body) will still send out signals and respond to stimulus.

Insects do not breathe through their head,** so if it is done with precision (or blind luck) they can live until they die of dehydration or starvation. Headless bees can still sting, headless cockroaches will hide from light, headless superworms can wiggle around as they do. Some insects will even reproduce while headless.

Although I have to wonder why you're bothering to crush the heads to begin with.

*potentially, depending on the way it is damaged or removed and what kind of trauma is done in the process

**respiration is done through spiracles on the sides of the body

Edit: All of which means- they do not need a "head body connection" because they have multiple not-quite-a-brain nerve centers which control the functions necessary to maintain life, located in areas other than the head. They still breathe, their cells continue to grow in the parts that are left, nutrients are utilized and distributed, they move and respond to those stimulus they are still capable of sensing. They aren't always dead just because they head is removed or damaged, they are potentially just injured. Although death is a pretty common response, since the damage or removal of the head usually does enough physical trauma to kill them anyway, most of the time.

 

[Neville]

Very interesting.
I crush the heads because I dont want the worm biting my leo. They have nasty mouths from what I can tell and Ive heard stories. Some I dont believe but theyre enough to make me want to crush their heads before feeding.