unhealthy mealworms?

[depressor86]

my dad brought home some meal worms i told him to pick up at the local super pet, 300 in 3 small containers, and im pretty concerned about feeding them to my leo..
half were dead or dieing, there was a black sticky gunk on a lot of them and they didnt smell normal. any idea what this is?

[Linds]

I've never encountered this before, so I can't offer any sort of educated advice on the subject, but in my opinion I would suggest returning them to the store. Feeder insects shouldn't have a foul smell, nor should they be dirty appearance-wise.