Fishguy2727
02-07-2008, 10:19 PM
There is some debate over whether or not mealworms/superworms pose a threat to the animals that eat them by eating up their insides or even their way out of those animals. Most will flat out tell you it is a myth, urban legend, lie, etc. However, there is a lot of information out there to the contrary.
The usual opposition is supported by the fact that they themselves nor anyone they know has had this happen to them. They cite how many they feed and how many someone they know feeds and if they have not had it happen to them then it is an urban legend and never happens to anyone.
When cases arise that do support this, those who disagree with it state that it was simply that the animal died and that loose mealworms in the enclosure chewed their way into the dead or dying animal. For me to say that this is never the case would be using the same blinded logic I find wrong in their argument. Many of the cases involving mealworms 'chewing their way in' are cases where the hole happens to go straight to the stomach. If they chewed their way in they would in most cases chew up a lot as they go, not go straight from the outside (very tough skin to chew through from the outside by the way) straight to the stomach. Chewing from within would first remove the supportive tissue that helps make the skin so tough. This would make it much easier to get through the skin from the inside than from the outside where the mealworm is simply faced with tough skin support by all of its intact suppportive tissue. It does not make sense that in these cases it would always be a mealworm chewing its way through reptile skin and then going straight to the stomach. Much more logical is them chewing their way from the stomach, straight out.
I was fortunate enough to talk to a veterinarian about this who happened to have first hand experience with a significant case involving this. He described the case where someone brought in a suddenly lethargic bearded dragon that had stopped eating and had a lump on its belly. Thinking it was an abscess, the vet started to cut it open, only to find the head of an intact mealworm. The mealworm was still alive and was no longer contained within the stomach, but had chewed through it. The mealworm ha dmade its way to just below the surface of the skin when the vet cut it open. This was not a case where a worm had chewed its way completely out, but was in the process of coming out.
One problem is that if they do not make their way out and the animal dies, almost never does the keeper get a necropsy done. There was no external evidence that a mealworm was to blame, but if it didn't make it out there wouldn't be and yet it could still kill them. In larger animals like bearded dragons this would be more likely to happen than for the mealworm to make its way completely out.
People have done home experiments showing that mealworms can last surprisingly long submerged in water. Others have shown how even the severed head can still function for some period of time. These show that the immediate lack of oxygen and even crunching of the animal may not in all cases kill the mealworm and that is can still be alive long enough to do harm inside the animal.
In addition these are not always cases that are observed after it has happened. I have talked to a number of people who have FIRST-HAND watched with their own eyes as the animal ate a mealworm, then started to act sick, and within ten to twenty seconds the mealworm is chewing out of the animal's stomach. They did not come home to find it dead with a hole in its stomach and make an assumption, they WATCHED IT AS IT HAPPENED. This seems to be the case with smaller animals like anoles. But if a small mealworm can do that to an anole, isn't it reasonable that in some cases of 'mystery deaths' in things like beardies where it stops eating and dies shortly after, that actually a mealworm/superworm made its way out of the stomach but not out of the body? This would leave no external evidence of it being the mealworm, but could still kill the animal.
In science you cannot truly prove that something does not happen. You can fail to support it, but you cannot prove that it does not happen. In situations like this, just because 1,000 people have not had it happen to them does not mean it is impossible to happen. It only takes one incident to prove that it can happen. Yet even when these cases come up, others who already believe the contrary TELL THAT PERSON WHAT THEY SAW. This blinded, all-knowing attitude could be leading to more deaths.
There is no doubt that this can happen. The only debate really lies in whether it is risky enough to warrant not feeding mealworms.
Can it happen? Absolutely. Is it likely? Not at all. Is it too risky to feed mealworms? That is the keeper's decision.
The usual opposition is supported by the fact that they themselves nor anyone they know has had this happen to them. They cite how many they feed and how many someone they know feeds and if they have not had it happen to them then it is an urban legend and never happens to anyone.
When cases arise that do support this, those who disagree with it state that it was simply that the animal died and that loose mealworms in the enclosure chewed their way into the dead or dying animal. For me to say that this is never the case would be using the same blinded logic I find wrong in their argument. Many of the cases involving mealworms 'chewing their way in' are cases where the hole happens to go straight to the stomach. If they chewed their way in they would in most cases chew up a lot as they go, not go straight from the outside (very tough skin to chew through from the outside by the way) straight to the stomach. Chewing from within would first remove the supportive tissue that helps make the skin so tough. This would make it much easier to get through the skin from the inside than from the outside where the mealworm is simply faced with tough skin support by all of its intact suppportive tissue. It does not make sense that in these cases it would always be a mealworm chewing its way through reptile skin and then going straight to the stomach. Much more logical is them chewing their way from the stomach, straight out.
I was fortunate enough to talk to a veterinarian about this who happened to have first hand experience with a significant case involving this. He described the case where someone brought in a suddenly lethargic bearded dragon that had stopped eating and had a lump on its belly. Thinking it was an abscess, the vet started to cut it open, only to find the head of an intact mealworm. The mealworm was still alive and was no longer contained within the stomach, but had chewed through it. The mealworm ha dmade its way to just below the surface of the skin when the vet cut it open. This was not a case where a worm had chewed its way completely out, but was in the process of coming out.
One problem is that if they do not make their way out and the animal dies, almost never does the keeper get a necropsy done. There was no external evidence that a mealworm was to blame, but if it didn't make it out there wouldn't be and yet it could still kill them. In larger animals like bearded dragons this would be more likely to happen than for the mealworm to make its way completely out.
People have done home experiments showing that mealworms can last surprisingly long submerged in water. Others have shown how even the severed head can still function for some period of time. These show that the immediate lack of oxygen and even crunching of the animal may not in all cases kill the mealworm and that is can still be alive long enough to do harm inside the animal.
In addition these are not always cases that are observed after it has happened. I have talked to a number of people who have FIRST-HAND watched with their own eyes as the animal ate a mealworm, then started to act sick, and within ten to twenty seconds the mealworm is chewing out of the animal's stomach. They did not come home to find it dead with a hole in its stomach and make an assumption, they WATCHED IT AS IT HAPPENED. This seems to be the case with smaller animals like anoles. But if a small mealworm can do that to an anole, isn't it reasonable that in some cases of 'mystery deaths' in things like beardies where it stops eating and dies shortly after, that actually a mealworm/superworm made its way out of the stomach but not out of the body? This would leave no external evidence of it being the mealworm, but could still kill the animal.
In science you cannot truly prove that something does not happen. You can fail to support it, but you cannot prove that it does not happen. In situations like this, just because 1,000 people have not had it happen to them does not mean it is impossible to happen. It only takes one incident to prove that it can happen. Yet even when these cases come up, others who already believe the contrary TELL THAT PERSON WHAT THEY SAW. This blinded, all-knowing attitude could be leading to more deaths.
There is no doubt that this can happen. The only debate really lies in whether it is risky enough to warrant not feeding mealworms.
Can it happen? Absolutely. Is it likely? Not at all. Is it too risky to feed mealworms? That is the keeper's decision.