HELP!! Hornworm blood was immediately black when sliced!!!

[ArachnoDancer]

I am trying to feed my tarantula because he went to his food bowl and when i cut the hornworm the first slice was black! There was some normal clear blue blood as normal but the cut was instant gush of black. Is that safe for him to eat? Please anybody who can respond quick because the hornworm is still in there. I want my sling to be safe!

i took out the first one. Is this second one safe? What is this!

Dont worry I am changing his enclosure this weekend into a much nicer one and different bowls!

 

[Pedipalpable]

I have no idea what that might be. The photos are too blurry and out of focus. I would say that if you are worried, just take it out if you have not already. Hemolymph is definitely not supposed to be black. It should be colourless.

 

[Wolfram1]

could it be faeces?

all they do is eat, eat, eat after all

 

[ArachnoDancer]

I have no idea what that might be. The photos are too blurry and out of focus. I would say that if you are worried, just take it out if you have not already. Hemolymph is definitely not supposed to be black. It should be colourless.

What about the second hornworm it was yellow? Some colorless liquid came out

 

[jennywallace]

I had this once with a cricket. I just discarded that one and fed a different one to the T. No idea what it might be though apart from faeces which has already been suggested.

 

[vancwa]

When in doubt...Throw it out. Use cut-up meal worms or crickets for slings.

 

[Johnn]

I am trying to feed my tarantula because he went to his food bowl and when i cut the hornworm the first slice was black! There was some normal clear blue blood as normal but the cut was instant gush of black. Is that safe for him to eat? Please anybody who can respond quick because the hornworm is still in there. I want my sling to be safe!

i took out the first one. Is this second one safe? What is this!

maybe its the inside juice of an organ that ruptured. whatever it is im sure its fine

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

When in doubt...Throw it out.

This is my motto. While wasteful, is it worth the chance of poisoning your T?

 

[NMTs]

First of all, the black or brown stuff coming out of the horn worm is likely feces.

I am trying to feed my tarantula because he went to his food bowl

Second, just to clarify, your sling is not going to it's food bowl because it's hungry - they don't work like that, it's not like a dog or cat.
Honestly, there's really no need to have a food bowl. The most natural way to feed it is to drop appropriately sized prey items into the enclosure and let it hunt.

 

[Stylopidae]

None of these pictures show hemolymph. I'm not exactly sure what they're showing, but I can give you 100% certainty that none of the 3 pictures show hemolymph.

If anything, I think we're looking at intestinal contents but the two pictures on the left are far too dark to be showing any of the standard hornworm diets I've worked with. The third is more in line with what I'd expect to see with a ruptured intestine.

Hemolymph shouldn't be black-it should be a pale blue to green. Black is a sign that the melanization pathway's gone haywire in response to a viral or bacterial pathogen. Somewhat rare, but definitely not something you'd want to feed a predator.

So your instincts to not feed insects with black hemolymph is correct, but that's not what you've captured up there.