Warning- Timberline Supers and Mealworms going bad

[randommonks]

I was just at my local Petco to pick up some Superworms for Darwin (Happy Birthday Darwin!) until the weather warms up so that I could get them shipped to me. When I got there, a manager was labeling all the supers and mealworms from Timberline with discounted stickers. I opened one of the large supers containers (marked arrival date 2/8) and it stunk to high heaven and the supers were dead and already black on top. I didn't even bother to see if there were any live ones left on the bottom.

The manager told me that they had gotten an email from Timberline saying that they were having issues with their crickets, mealworms, and superworms. Apparently, the supers and mealies will sit on the shelf for about a week before everything in the container will die off. The container I opened was 4 days old (possibly up to a week depending on how they were shipped) and it almost seemed as if Timberline sent dead and rotting bugs out to the stores. Petco apparently were also having issues with keeping their adult crickets alive from Timberline (I presume from the cricket virus).

I'd warn other people to stay away from Timberline products for the time being, especially with the 3 feeders above. The manager wasn't too sure what the cause of the mass die-offs was, but I'd rather risk winter-esque shipping rather than feed contaminated bugs.

 

[jezwolf175]

Hmm so that's why my supers from timberline all died within two days. I hope that it didn't hurt my beardie. I fed him three when I first got them...

 

[randommonks]

If your beardie hasn't shown signs of an upset stomach or anything like that, he'll probably be fine. I honestly was surprised that Petco was still trying to sell those rotting supers and mealies, even at a 50% discount.

 

[randommonks]

I emailed Timberline asking about this issue and this is the response I received:

I am very sorry for the issue you are having. We have not had any other complaints about any of our products in Petco stores so I am thinking this may be an issue related to your area. We would suggest that you speak with the store that you got the worms from and ask them to do some diagnostics for their store.

 

[jezwolf175]

Tch I better email them as well...and talk to my petco. I was wondering why most of mine,were dead and dying. It could be something in the substrate...i moved them and they seem to be doing ok now...

 

[randommonks]

That would actually make a lot of sense if they were having substrate problems. I emailed back asking them about the email that they had sent Petco to see how they'd respond to that.

 

[jezwolf175]

Keep on them sometimes companies can be dodgie about their products. Especially if it is contaminated. I emailed them on how their like 15 live superworms in a cup of 50. I did take pictures and they are time stamped because I asked my petco about it. I mean i'm paying $5 for 15 worms that are alive...that doesn't make sense to me...

 

[randommonks]

Nope. If you still have your receipt or you purchased it with your Petco Pals card, you can probably still return them for a full refund. Then Petco can pursue Timberline themselves.