What happened to my mealworms?

[frogged]

I fed some mealworms a mixture of a calcium rich vegetable known as kailan and endives, and a few hours later the chomping mealworms curled up into little 'C' shapes and aren't quite moving about. What happened to them?

Bad batch of vegetables? Oxalate? Goitrogens? Too much calcium for the mealworms?

Enlighten me. So much for gutloading.

[NatureLady]

Are you feeding these to the treefrogs you posted about being skinny?

[frogged]

Are you feeding these to the treefrogs you posted about being skinny?

No. This thread was more of a sudden experiment I tried yesterday.

[NatureLady]

LOL. I have no idea. I usually gut load mine with random veggies and then just dust them with vitamins before I feed mine.

[toxxxickitten]

When mealworms curl up into a 'C' and don't move much they are about to pupate and then turn into beetles.

[frogged]

When mealworms curl up into a 'C' and don't move much they are about to pupate and then turn into beetles.

They were all of variable sizes, small and large. So I think this is unlikely.

[Reptilegal]

Do u wash the food beforehand? It could have some pesticides on it... Or remains of fertilizer in the vegetable...

[frogged]

Yes, I did. But this is a possibility nonetheless. Just tested it on a bunch of lobster roaches. Will go up to see.

[JeffreH]

I feed endive on occasion to all of my feeders and have never had an issue, but have never tried the chinese broccoli.

I'd wager it may be something residual on the leaves like Reptilegal suggested. Oxalic acid has never seemed to interfere with my feeders nor has a high amount of goitrogens (I feed leftover masses of broccoli kale from time to time, both of which are relatively high in goitrogens). Calcium as a source from darky leafy greens shouldn't be a threat, although excessive supplementation of calcium in gutload can cause molting issues and sometimes death. Most insects have a craving for phosphorus rich food items.

How long have you had the mealworms? And what is their dry gutload/substrate composed of? It could potentially be a result of disease or grain mites that are known to be problematic in mealworm cultures. Apparently there is also a fungus going around that has afflicted some mealworm stock in the states as well...

[frogged]

Strangely, majority of these mealworms have not turned black; which indicates that they are probably still alive. Some of them are in fact, also subject to changing mobility throughout the past four days. I think a few pictures are in order maybe.

[xStatic]

Are they turning into beetles? Mine use to do that quite often when I kept them for a long time

[frogged]

Nope. Like I said, they are of significantly different sizes.
Some of the smaller ones are in fact, turning black. The roaches I tested refused to eat the vegetables. Not sure what to make of this.