morio worms

barbgil on November 28th 2011, 7:11 pm

hi gas anyone got any advice on morio worms [giant mealworms i believe]....i got some as the petshop never had normal mealies but was wondering if they are ok for hedgehogs

Jayport on November 28th 2011, 7:19 pm

Are they the ones you have to chop the heads off?!

barbgil on November 28th 2011, 7:20 pm

i hope not...

Kiania on November 28th 2011, 7:52 pm

Giant (or super) mealworms and morios are different species entirely.

Giant mealworms or superworms (Tenebrio molitor) are generally recommended against as they have been fed hormones. They are normal mealworms that have been suped up.

Morio worms (Zophobas morio), which are a different species, are okay to feed, but most people recommend you remove their heads before feeding as they are well known for their powerful jaws and appetite. At least in the reptile world, there is a concern with morios eating the reptile (small reps, obviously!) either as the reptile sleeps, or from the inside-out. Fairly sure I've heard of a hog getting a leg-bite from a morio, but don't quote me on that as I might be thinking of a reptile (memory is hazy). Either way, the best way to remove their heads (that I've read) is using a coin. Bit grizzly though!

barbgil on November 28th 2011, 7:59 pm

thanks for that.....i will bear that in mind cheers what!!

happyhogs on November 28th 2011, 8:08 pm

we feed morios to the hogs using tongs and offering the morios head first...they don't stand a chance againsta hoggie appetite, never had a problem! x

Jamiioo on November 28th 2011, 8:29 pm

I feed these, although im not sure if they are actually giant mealies or morios, forgotten how to check. Sure i read that if they are giant morios then they will only cocoon if alone eh?!

Anyway, have fed these to Munchie & Kiwi before with no issues, i recently bought these and gave them to both hogs (as Kiwi was on baytril recently and not eating as many biccies so i bought some different bugs to encourage her to eat more as i know she will eat them), Munchie had no problems eating them however this time round Kiwi seemed to have issues with them....have a video of her on youtube having trouble with them, not entirely sure what went on with her...i should probably have tweezer fed them or beheaded them first unsure

Since that vid i have not let her have any on her own, have gave her a few but held onto the ends of them with tweezers to make sure that they are fully chewed and she had no real issues then. I noticed whilst doing this through she didn't seem to be chewing them properly, it was like she was crunching a few times to begin with then leaving the long hollow skin behind, thinking when eating them herself she was maybe choking a little on the skin due to that maybe...?

Here is a link to the video anyway, unsure:

barbgil on November 29th 2011, 4:17 am

thanks for the help people...very usefull. thank goodness for this site eh?!

and i love the video jamiioo lau

your little hoggie was loving them but did have a few probs big smile

Jamiioo on November 29th 2011, 11:51 am

Is it just me or is the link/video gone? eh?!

Wont be giving them to Kiwi now anyway as i dont like the idea of beheading them and dont want to risk her choking lol

**emdools** on November 29th 2011, 12:23 pm

Jamiioo wrote:Is it just me or is the link/video gone? Wont be giving them to Kiwi now anyway as i dont like the idea of beheading them and dont want to risk her choking lol

I can see the video link Jamiioo! Morios are icky in my eyes, I'll stick to mealworms!

RobynP on December 7th 2011, 11:10 am

Sometimes I feed Morio Worms to my reptiles, but I don't cut their heads off (it's quite gruesome with some icky white fluid that spills out)

What I do is, using some feeding tongs, crush their jaws so they can no longer bite. It's pretty easy to spot their jaws, they look pretty nasty.