cream filled, not crunchy?

lately i've been having problems with my mealworms. (still a mealworm noob after years of using them)

First, they come in perfectly healthy, eating like idiots. red wheat bran and potatoes gets em up to size quickly, and within about a week, they start to get increasingly squishy. the chitin layer that makes their exoskeleton seems to become really flexible and they squish when i try to pick them up with tweezers, and they don't tend to move much. its happened about the last two orders, but nothings changed from the ones before that! i ruled out humidity because i have tried keeping them drier and more moist, neither worked. anyone else notice their worms getting squishy after a few weeks out of the fridge?

It's the fridge part that's (literally) killing them. It could be from two different reasons. First, your fridge may be too cold. I **think** 40 is the lowest you want to go, and many fridges are colder then that. Also, they could have been kept in the fridge for too long. You need to take them out for a 24 hour period every week or two to allow them to eat and drink (they don't do that in the fridge).

They should be plump and active when you buy them. If not, it means they have been in the fridge for too long as it is. A pretty common problem. That's why I have a colony going, and I don't put them in the fridge unless they are growing faster than I can feed them off (not much of a problem there!).

theres just one problem to that hypothesis, i don't keep them in the fridge. i just meant that its a few weeks at room temp that it happens, but i personally don't use a fridge for them

sorry i realize that it does sound like i keep them in the fridge when in fact i shouldn't have mentioned them at all. I buy from reptile food, which doesn't use refridgerators to my knowledge, and they are healthy when they come, its the following weeks that they begin to lose their satisfying crunch

Hummm...

I would be sure they aren't exposed to any sort of extream temps. The only time I ever had that problem was when I got some that had been refridgerated too long. Are they being shipped to you? If it was the last two orders, it could easily be from the outdoor temps being too low. I couldn't say for sure, as I haven't ordered them through the mail before.

I have had one or two *POP* when picking up because they had gorged themselves on apples. But, the exoskeleton was still normal.

when i used to order from reptile food they would get squishy and die out in less than a week, i started using the superworm farm and the mealworms seem to last forever...or for the amount of time i actually have them..lol

What size mealies do you get? Is it possible their in shed when you try to pic kthem up?

Sounds to me like they are getting ready to pupate. Thats when they dont move much, I doubt they are still eating at that point and may be why they are 'squishy' after a few weeks. Just my two cents, not worth much really.

I take half of mine and refrigerate them so when im done with the first half, they still have awhile before they will pupate.

i get medium sized meallies so that they don't pupate right away. temps during shipping seem to be fine because they come with a heat pack. temps are all good here, so i guess maybe my next step will be to try a new company. after all these are the first mealworms i have had do this...

I get medium too, but after 2-3 weeks alot are full grown and ready to pupate. Just sounded familiar since you said they dont move, they do that before they pupate.

If it is something that youve never seen before, I would switch too.

Maybe try and see if those ones pupate shortly after this happens(?)