# Do You Need To Decapitate Mealworms? Answered!



## GothGirl (Apr 9, 2008)

*Thought I'd post this cos a lot of people seem to be debate the subject.*​ 
If you feed your lizard mealworms you may have heard that you need to decapitate them before you do so, this is true but only for Large Adult Mealworms.

Smaller or young mealworms pose no problems but, though it is unlikely, the larger ones potentially could chew through the stomach or if caught from the tail end spin round and bite your lizard resulting in the loss of an eye.

If you have problems with your lizard not taking dead mealworms try:

1.Squeezing hard around the area where the head has been removed, with tweezers, will often cause them to spasmodically jerk even without their head attatched

2. If you're not opposed to hand feeding, roll it in your fingers, the movement mimics the twitching of a mealworm and is often enough to get your lizard to notice that it is food

3. If all else fails exo-terra sell a food dish called the vivicator, its a remote controlled vibrating food dish that, when you place dead food on it, vibrates at the touch of a button giving the effect that the food is ion fact moving.
Exo Terra - Products: Vivicator

Hope This Eases Some Minds
xxx​


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

could have sworn that's a myth about mealies eating through a lizards stomach. Lizards have teeth and chew their food (unless somebody cuts up vegetation into bite size pieces in the wild). If the chewing doesn't kill them then the stomach acid might.. 
The only plausible way an adult mealie could eat its way out would be if it was swallowed whole and the temperatures weren't hot enough to aid digestion..


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## GothGirl (Apr 9, 2008)

Its not a myth but you're right its not common in a lot of lizards, normally geckos as they sometimes have a tendency to swallow their food almost whole.

the bigger problem generally is reps grabbing them by the tail end and the mealies turning round and biting them.
I've seen reps that have lost eyes that way.
xx


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## inkyjoe (Mar 31, 2008)

Its certainly not a myth, my friends fat tail gecko died due to a meal;worm chewing its way to freedom. I dont know why people even bother feeding them to their pets-theyre rubbish! Theres a much better selection of livefood available to even consider feeding something which is mostly chitin and thus very un-nutritious and potentially fatal to your pet, such as mealworms... roaches all the way!


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## GothGirl (Apr 9, 2008)

Providing they're raised the right way they can be fairly nutritious but you're right there's lots of better things, personally I feed a mixture of wasworms, grasshoppers and crickets.

they're also not very good as a staple food as they're really fatty.

_case in point my lady leos love handles:blush:_

_xxx_


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## Athravan (Dec 28, 2006)

All the large breeders in the states feed on mealworms and produce large framed (but not overweight or fatty) leos that seem to have just as good a lifespan and breeder capacity. I personally feed all my lizards some mealworms, the leos exclusively on mealworms.

A baby bearded dragon will actually circle around to the head of a meaworm, and pick it up deliberately by the head. This should be instinct to them. I had a beardie who tried mealworms for the first time today. He picked it up - bit once, and spit it out! Hated the taste... but the mealworms was totally dead after one jaw crush.

Mealworms will eat anything that is already dead, they are attracted to the smell of corpses and will quickly eat into a corpse and root around in the insides for the juicy bits. I personally believe that the majority - if not all - of "meal worm ate it's way out" stories, are a result of a mealworm finding an animal that is dead for another reason, and enjoying a feast. I wonder how many PMs have actually been done to ascertain which came first - the death or the mealworm!


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## GothGirl (Apr 9, 2008)

For the majority of cases you're probably right, though it is a rare occurance and it does happen.
I know someone who is a specialist reptile veterinarian and he has seen geckos that are still alive that have had a mealworm "make a bid for freedom"
Unfortunately they have to be euthanased.
I personally don't see what all the fuus is, why not be safer than sorry? all it is is one quick snip with the scissors really isn't it?

x


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## Issa (Oct 13, 2006)

Meko said:


> could have sworn that's a myth about mealies eating through a lizards stomach. Lizards have teeth and chew their food (unless somebody cuts up vegetation into bite size pieces in the wild). If the chewing doesn't kill them then the stomach acid might..
> The only plausible way an adult mealie could eat its way out would be if it was swallowed whole and the temperatures weren't hot enough to aid digestion..


 
Didn't someone on here claim it happened to them. Kicked off a "£$%-storm at the time as no-one believed them?


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