Serena's Bug Journal: The Infirmary

My worms are eating like crazy, and getting really big.

I still have fatalities in all Colonies, but they are mostly in Colony A. They seem to be bugs that haven't been through the final molt and are not showing signs of ever getting there. They are small and don't evacuate their bowels or vomit before they die. They just get stiff and die. It's nice that they don't spew bodily fluids or liquefy, because that tells me that it's probably not a nasty virus or bacterium. However, since I'm getting mostly deaths in Colony A and that's the colony that had the illness, I'm assuming the worms that survived were affected in some way. Most of them are doing just fine, so all I can do at this point is feed them well and keep them clean.

The deaths that I've had in the other two colonies seem to be worms that haven't molted completely, or are having issues molting. You can see on both of these guys the flaky skin and yellowish color. The looked bad enough that I pulled them out into The Infirmary to get them away from the other bugs in case they died.

Compare them to this nice healthy worm, whose skin is smooth and a nice green color.

The Infirmary is just another container that I have set up to put the sick looking bugs in. I put the sick worms on a paper towel just in case they evacuate their bowels or vomit before they die. Most of them seem to die, but at least they do it away from everyone else. I've had five or six that seem to recover and I've been able to put them back with the others when I'm sure they are doing well.

Right now I've got some interesting worms in The Infirmary. This one seems to have a rectal prolapse. I had one other worm do this and the next day it was just fine, so we'll see what happens to this little guy.

This one has a black foot. He seems to be eating and getting around okay, but I want to keep him segregated. I need to take some time and look up what this illness might be.