Mealworms are commonly fed to birds, reptiles, and fish. They make for great food, because of their high protein content, and can be bought in large jars from most pet stores. They’ve even been approved in the EU for human consumption, and while I personally am disgusted by the thought of eating them, I can’t deny that they are very nutritious.
If you’ve ever fed mealworms to your pets, you might at some point have thought: Do mealworms bite? As pet owners, we would never want to feed our pets something that could harm them, and even a small bite can hurt certain tiny pet animals. In this article, I will cover the topic, and answer the question. Read on to find out!
Contents
Do Mealworms Bite?
Yes, mealworms might attempt to bite you or your pet, but their teeth are far too small to do any damage. I’ve fed mealworms to my pets regularly and cannot recall me or my pets ever getting bitten. While they might squirm and wiggle while you hold them, do not worry about getting bitten.
As I mentioned above, mealworms do have teeth and when held, they might attempt to bite you. Luckily, their teeth are tiny, and can not pierce through human skin. I’ve never heard of any pet owner or their pets getting bitten by a mealworm, so I would not worry about this happening. I would be more afraid of them escaping and nesting in my pantries!
I do understand why people might worry about mealworm bites, though. Live ones tend to twitch and squiggle in your hand. This can be a little scary for newbies. If you do feel like this, I recommend you just power through it, since the feeling quickly goes away when you get used to handling mealworms.
I am glad I learned to handle them since they really do make for great food for some pets. They contain a lot of protein and many important micronutrients. Just remember that they shouldn’t make up a too-large part of your pet’s diet. Feeding them as a part of a varied diet is completely fine though!
Do Superworms Bite?
Yes, superworms do bite, and since they are bigger than mealworms, you might feel a slight sting if bitten. Still, they will have a hard time chewing through your skin, so if you do feel it, it will hardly hurt much. I’ve never gotten bitten by a superworm myself, even though I’ve handled hundreds through the years.
While I’ve never experienced this myself, I have heard some stories from friends about this. According to them (and I have no reason not to believe them) they have gotten bitten by superworms, but it hardly hurt at all. They describe the feeling as a tiny sting on their fingers or hands. They were not discouraged though, and kept feeding superworms to their pets after these small incidents!
Like mealworms, superworms are highly nutritious, and can be a good part of a healthy pet diet. They have become popular food for many pets, partly due to their larger size compared to most other feeder insects. A superworm just contains more nutrients than most other insects.
Does a mealworm bite hurt?
No, it does not. Their teeth are too small to cut through human skin, and you will likely feel nothing if bitten. Even smaller animals can take a mealworm bite without being hurt. I’ve fed hundreds of mealworms to my pets over the years, and my pets have never been hurt by them.
I remember a friend once purposefully let a mealworm bite him. He told me it took a while, as the mealworm was seemingly occupied doing other things, but finally, it bit him. He told me he hardly felt anything and could see no trace or bitemark after.
How long does it take for mealworms to turn into beetles?
Mealworms typically turn from worm to beetle about 120 days after hatching from egg to larvae. The beetle stage is the adult life of a mealworm, and it typically lives in this final form for 30-60 days.
This means that the mealworms we feed our pets are in one of the first stages of the insect’s life cycle. It begins life as an egg, before hatching as a larva after a 4-11 day incubation period. The larva stage is when the insect is considered a mealworm, and lasts the longest out of all life stages: 90-114 days. It then turns into a pupa, an inactive stage during which the mealworm transforms into a beetle. The beetle doesn’t live very long though. Only 1-2 months on average.
Conclusion
Mealworms do bite, but they are far too small and weak to damage humans and most small pet animals. Their teeth are microscopically small, and can not cause damage other than to similarly-sized animals or plants. Mealworms have long been used as food for pets such as mice and rats, and understandably so: they are packed with protein and other nutrients.
If you feed your small pets mealworms or superworms, you can safely continue to do so. Are you still worried? Some people opt to kill the worms before feeding them to their rodents. Doing so, you completely eliminate the chance that you or your beloved pets will be hurt.
Source: Wikipedia.org/wiki/mealworm
Hey, I’m Peter. During the last 25 years, I have owned and raised over 20 pet animals. On this blog, I do my best to share my learnings during this time, to hopefully help others.