# Would you eat live maggots? What if I offered you $1,000? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 22, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195 "2008-05-22T02:26:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/41 "2008-05-22T15:11:43Z")
I’d do it for $1,000 too. But these better be prime, grade A choice maggots. Fed with nothing but delicious Spanish custards and brandy. Not things bred in the corpse of snuffy, your pet hamster that died from the huge tumor in his leg. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/42 "2008-05-22T15:19:22Z")
The easiest way to get maggots is to get them from a bait shop, who purchases such things from a wholesaler who either farms them himself or knows someone who has a maggot farm. They buy downer cattle and the like that can’t be processed into human food. Yes, there are such things as maggot farms. [This is one of them](http://www.lethepault.com/), which is in France, but there are others. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/43 "2008-05-22T15:55:36Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] Yes, there are such things as maggot farms. [/QUOTE] Great… Now I’ve got a tune stuck in my head. Yes, it’s an earworm. Fans of \*WKRP \* will recognize: Red Wrigglers! The Cadillac of worms! We’re the! Cadillac of worms We’re the! Cadillac of worms ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/44 "2008-05-22T16:14:50Z")
I’d go up to about, eh, a teaspoon maybe of maggots for $1000 cash. They’d have to be clean. I’m not going to pick them off rotting flesh or anything. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/45 "2008-05-22T17:23:42Z")
Clean medical grade maggots? I’d eat them for free if there was any reason to believe they were tasty. So, as a purely theoretical exercise - tasty maggots AND $1,000 - sure, I’d do it. Would I give some smug jerk with a spare $1,000 the satisfaction of seeing me eat maggots? No thanks. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/46 "2008-05-22T17:39:29Z")
Oops, double post. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/47 "2008-05-22T17:57:19Z")
It would depend on how many and if there was a time limit. If I could much on them over a couple hours I’d eat up to a bowl full or so. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/48 "2008-05-22T20:13:16Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] Yes, there are such things as maggot farms. [/QUOTE] Of course. Bob Dylan sang about one even. ---
**Author:** ![Creaky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@Creaky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creaky)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/49 "2008-05-22T20:34:21Z")
I wouldn’t eat them for a thousand dollars, but maybe I would for like ten thousand. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/50 "2008-05-22T21:38:38Z")
Can I get them on a bun? Or do I have to look at then while I eat? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/51 "2008-05-23T11:51:14Z")
[QUOTE=Skara\_Brae] Can I get them on a bun? [/QUOTE] Would you, could you on a bun? Would you eat them just for fun? ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/52 "2008-05-23T12:27:01Z")
[QUOTE=Skara\_Brae] Can I get them on a bun? Or do I have to look at then while I eat? [/QUOTE] “Can I pick the bug?” “It’s way more motivational if **I** pick the bug.” “Do I get a bun?” Man, I love Dilbert. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/53 "2008-05-23T12:34:40Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] The easiest way to get maggots is to get them from a bait shop, who purchases such things from a wholesaler who either farms them himself or knows someone who has a maggot farm. **They buy downer cattle and the like that can’t be processed into human food.** [/QUOTE] (bolding mine) Wait, so you might be eating maggots that have fed on a mad cow disease-riddled carcass? Man, I think I’d have to go with “they must be medical-grade maggots” in that case. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/54 "2008-05-23T13:18:40Z")
[QUOTE=chorpler] (bolding mine) Wait, so you might be eating maggots that have fed on a mad cow disease-riddled carcass? Man, I think I’d have to go with “they must be medical-grade maggots” in that case. [/QUOTE] Well not all of the farms do that, the medical ones use milk and bran I believe, as so several of the maggot farms here in the US, because really there’s scant differance between a maggot farm and having a barn full of dead cows at a point. ---
**Author:** ![beanpod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9adbd/32.png) [@beanpod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beanpod)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/55 "2008-05-23T14:35:07Z")
Maggot farm is a phrase I could have lived my entire life without reading. I just had to come in here, didn’t I? Right now, I wouldn’t do it. I can see being so desperate for the money that I would. I’d have to be reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally desperate, though. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/56 "2008-05-23T14:42:43Z")
[QUOTE=beanpod] Maggot farm is a phrase I could have lived my entire life without reading. I just had to come in here, didn’t I? Right now, I wouldn’t do it. I can see being so desperate for the money that I would. I’d have to be reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally desperate, though. [/QUOTE] Or you could just love the sound of a billion small worm like creatures writhing amongst each other and then the feel of them squirting through your fingers when you reach down and grab two overflowing handfuls of them. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/57 "2008-05-23T14:51:55Z")
You need a very small lasso. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/58 "2008-05-23T14:56:17Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] You need a very small lasso. [/QUOTE] Get along little diptera, Yah! Yah! ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195/59 "2008-05-23T15:53:10Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] Or you could just love the sound of a billion small worm like creatures writhing amongst each other and then the feel of them squirting through your fingers when you reach down and grab two overflowing handfuls of them. [/QUOTE] AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! (I hate you.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-eat-live-maggots-what-if-i-offered-you-1-000/450195.md?page=2)