If you swallow a live maggot will it really eat your insides?

Question

My friend thinks if you swallow a maggot it will survive and be able to eat your insides. I however think your stomach acids and digestive system would kill it right away. What's the truth? Where did you get your information? I will need the proof to show my friend who disagrees with me. Thanks!

Answer 1

yes, a maggot, or pretty much any other live animal save some very specialised bacteria, and prions (the ones causing mad cow disease and its human equivalent), will definitely be killed by the very acid milieu in the stomach.

even if a maggot survived, it would not eat your insides. Maggots are wired to eat dead, or decaying, flesh.

Maybe this will gross you out but maggots are actually used to help heal large wounds that respond poorly to medical treatment, and there there is a risk that the dead tissue will start to rot and potentially cause very serious problems to the whole body. They are installed on top of the would, which is then covered by suitable materials so they do not escape.

Typically within a few days they will have eaten all the dead or decaying tissue (but none of the living, healthy tissue), and the maggots are then removed.

read below for fun:
http://www.ucihs.uci.edu/som/pathology/sherman/home_pg.htm

Hope this helps

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Answer 2

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Ive heard of people feeding geckos maggots but i wouldn't personally.This is due to what i saw happen to a beardie that got fed more maggots and meal worms than it should have.The beardie was found dead one morning and the still live meal worms had eaten their way back out through the stomach.(not a nice sight).But if you do, the same rule applies to feeding mealworms or maggots.You must make sure they are dead before the gecko swallows them ie they must not be alive in the geckos stomach or they will cause seriouse damage to your geckos inside.You can never be sure that the head has been crushed while being eaten by the lizard so its always best to do this before feeding.As mentioned this applies to meal worms aswell.

Answer 3

Maggots can't eat your insides unless you are dead. They can normally eat only dead flesh. In fact, doctors sometimes use surgical maggots to clean wounds because they carefully eat the bad flesh and ignore healthy tissue.

It seems gross (it is gross!) but it is true. Soldiers wounded in the Civil war had a better chance of survival if their wounds were magotted!

If you ate a maggot, the stomach acid would quickly kill the maggot if you didn't barf it up, that is!

Answer 4

I seriously doubt it; your stomach acids would… well… digest it before it could digest you. Why would you want to swallow a live maggot anyway? I wouldn’t know how to prove that though. Maybe swallow one and then induce vomiting after a few minutes to show that it’s dead. Ew, nasty! You’ve got a nutcase of a friend.

Answer 5

yes if you know what the maggot has been eating (ie home cultured). Take in mind they can be too big for some geckos and they bite geckos ard so squish the heads first - my uncle fed his gecko maggots a while back and they're still alive and it had no side effects :)

Answer 6

Only if youre dead!!! we have bacteria inside us which actually consume all living matter(even tho its decoposing)but if you ate a live maggot whilst still alive all you get is a good dose of PROTEIN.I wouldnt make it a habit tho LOL LOL. Cheers

Answer 7

your stomach acids would digest it,just as normally as any other food.Maggots only eat rotting,infected or spoiled flesh they do not eat healthy tissue,maggots have been routinely used to clear out infections in humans for thousands of years.They are our friends not enemies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggot
http://www.ucihs.uci.edu/com/pathology/sherman/home_pg.htm
http://www.maggottherapy.com

Answer 8

depends on the kind but I think no

Answer 9

yeah... what he said above me