# Zombie Make-Up...with LIVE maggots!!!



## the dogman (Jul 8, 2007)

The thought has passed by me and I don't think its the greatest idea to have a meal worm attached to your face. 
For one you can't be sure how the spirit gum, or latex as I was thinking, will affect them. It could very well kill them.
Second, you would have to keep them still enough, without squishing them, to make sure the spirit gum adhered properly. 
Third, you may have a moment of forgetfulness and squish the worms right on your face, which isn't going to be a pleasant feeling.

I'm not saying you shouldn't have the worms in your haunt, but perhaps not on your face.
Maybe you could put fake maggots that look good enough to be real on the face and carry a handful of meal worms to offer to guests passing through the haunt?
Or have the meal worms writhing in a zombie corpse's belly by having an actor lay down with a rotting belly full of meal worms?


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## The Pod (May 19, 2008)

Love the idea, but have to agree with the Dog..... If you end up harming the meal worms, you could create an issue with an animal rights group. I had to deal with them once when I used live roaches crawling under the guest feet (actually under the plexi-glass floor). I had to show them that the bugs were not gettng harmed and that I was actually taking them home at night and feeding them.


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## DeepSix (Jun 20, 2009)

I don't know so much about animal rights considering they're used to feed reptiles, if anyone gives you sass for using them I seriously recommend telling them where to "shove it"; but I have to be completely honest with you, this idea sounds like it's going to bomb. I don't see how you're going to adhere the meal worms to your face without making a huge mess, mostly because they will be moving around a great deal, and in order for something to adhere properly it has to stay in place, right? It just seems unlikely that you'll be able to use them in the way you desire. I agree with dogman in the idea of keeping them in your haunt, just not a part of your costume.


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## The Pod (May 19, 2008)

DeepSix said:


> I don't know so much about animal rights considering they're used to feed reptiles, if anyone gives you sass for using them I seriously recommend telling them where to "shove it".


Wish it was that easy. If you were feeding the worms (as their intended use) to reptiles, you wouldn't have any issues. Putting an animal in stress or killing them inhumanely (or what they seem to think is inhumane) is where these people get off. Trust me you don't want to insult or tell these people off. Get them mad at you and they will find a way and shut your haunt down.

But like you said Deepsix with the worms moving they would eventually pull themselves free. Or if they couldn't they'd be scratching and biting at your face trying to free themselves.


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## Wolfman (Apr 15, 2004)

Here's some info on Mealworms - 

Darkling Beetle/Mealworm Information

I intend to use the "Giant" Mealworms, about 1" long as opposed to the regular ones that rarely exceed 3/4". These little guys are not, by any means, "lively", in that they crawl slowly, and cannot scratch or bite with any vigor. Spirit Gum may not set fast enough though, I might need some advice on how to keep them in place.

As for some over-zealous Evangelical Christian having the Haunt shut down, well, we're only running for 4-5 hours on Halloween Night, and who they gonna call; the Cops? Somehow I think the Cops will have enough on their plates that night that they won't want to deal with a complaint about a guy with worms on his face.


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## The Pod (May 19, 2008)

Wolfman said:


> These little guys are not, by any means, "lively", in that they crawl slowly, and cannot scratch or bite with any vigor. Spirit Gum may not set fast enough though, I might need some advice on how to keep them in place.


Its a really cool idea, but 4-5 hrs of them rubbing against the actors face and you may have second thoughts about it. 

I don't have any meal worms currently available at home (daughter's toads cleaned me out), have to wait until the next reptile show this coming weekend to pick some more so not sure what type of glue might work to hold them and not kill them. I've seen people glue a long piece of hair to a fly with superglue and watch it fly in circles around a pencil, so superglue might work just not on your face. I think if you could make like a latex scare first, then use some sort of quick setting glue (like superglue) to attach the worms to it first, then spirit gum the whole thing to the actor's face might be the best route to go vs. trying to attach one worm at a time to the actor's face. The best bet would be if you could glue on the back of the worm's head then it's tail would really be squirming about and his legs and mouth would be pointing upward and less likely reach or bother the actor's face.


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## pdcollins6092 (Aug 8, 2009)

My sister tried that a couple of years back and the spirit gum wouldn't hold them straight to her face without them wiggleing off. What she did though was put the mill worms under a peice of toilet paper an used latex over it. You were able to see the worms and see them moving under what looked like her skin and it did look pretty grose.


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## Sychoclown (Sep 1, 2005)

I'm still trying to figure out if those people that were concerned about the worms were serious. I suppose I should catch and release any flies in my house. I would go with a thin layer of latex.


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## Lot27 (Apr 15, 2009)

I used to feed these to my reptiles. The part about squishing the heads to avoid the possibility of them chewing their way into the stomach lining of a reptile is all I have to remember. Thses things can bite. 
To me it's too much for myself to try. Good luck with that


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## The Pod (May 19, 2008)

Sychoclown said:


> I'm still trying to figure out if those people that were concerned about the worms were serious. I suppose I should catch and release any flies in my house.


Yes and don't you ever think of swatting a mosquito again!


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## the dogman (Jul 8, 2007)

I still think it's a bad idea to be attaching them to a person, especially on the soft tissues of the face. I don't have any concern for the worms, but I do have concern for the people.

If you are adamant about this, then at least see how latex, spirit gum and super glue affect the worms. I'm guessing your effect wont be as impressive if the worms are dead or cant move at all.

I do hope you consider an alternative to attaching biting grubs to an actors face.


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## GDfreak (Jul 11, 2006)

If their meal worms animal right activist shouldn't have a problem. At six flags we used have this event where gust could eat live hissing roaches and win stuff. Well PETA had a fit about it so we had to change the roaches to feeding crickets. Apparently as long as their "feeding" bugs PETA finds it ok.


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## The Pod (May 19, 2008)

GDfreak said:


> If their meal worms animal right activist shouldn't have a problem. At six flags we used have this event where gust could eat live hissing roaches and win stuff. Well PETA had a fit about it so we had to change the roaches to feeding crickets. Apparently as long as their "feeding" bugs PETA finds it ok.


Interesting..... As people breed and sell roaches as a food source for lizards and such. Just call everything "Lunch Bugs" and we'll be safe from PETA.  LMAO Actually I don't think they have any set guide lines..... If one of them has a bug up their behind that day you'll hear about it.


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## netsirk (Oct 6, 2004)

Ok, I'll just come right out and say it (must be the only one), but.....YUCK!


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## kprimm (Apr 3, 2009)

I have used live earthworms in a zombie makeup job before, they looked great squirming out of my face. Creeped alot of people out.


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## Wolfman (Apr 15, 2004)

Live Earthworms is definitely another option. There's a really good bait shop not too far from us. I've decided to make a few prosthetic scars, pustules and wounds, and attach the mealworms directly to them rather than to my skin. I've got some incredibly realistic Cockroaches (courtesy of ebay) that will also be used. My daughters have also volunteered to be Zombie hostesses (sans the live worms) and we'll all be wearing "Grateful Dead" Tee Shirts for the event.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Wolfman said:


> Here's some info on Mealworms -
> 
> Darkling Beetle/Mealworm Information
> 
> ...


As I was once an avid bug collector (wife didn't want the collection in the house, so it's at the museum now), My best 2 reccomendations are thus:

The best means of mounting larvae is with rubber cement on a paper cutout. Now, extrapolating that to Halloween, you COULD mount the thing onto a latex prosthetic with the rubber cement. I'm not entirely sure how long it would remain ALIVE in such a manner, however. 

Problems would include covering too much of their body with the cement will suffocate them. As, potentially, the fumes may. 

The second means, the one I would try first, would actually be to PIN them in place on a prosthetic or appliance. This could be done via an actual pin (just behind the legs), or by fishing line to tie them in place. This should result in a nice squirmy bug alive and kicking for a while. However, it's possible it could squirm free of the fishing line...


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## madmimi (Jul 11, 2009)

You are insane....and I love the idea! Please, if you get it to work, post a pic!


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## Pat-f (Oct 15, 2006)

I like your idea, I've always thought of doing similar with the Power Bait grubs at Walmart. I have to agree with the adhering them to a prosthetic though. You might try using a dab of super glue. Another idea would be to use the fake ones, but put pager motors in them to get them to move. That was what I was going to do.


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## ruggerz (Nov 3, 2008)

Sounds cool, I've always used the fake rubber maggots that are about an inch long, so they can wiggle around like alive real ones......

Im going to use live maggots in my haunt this year for my butchers area.....

Hopefully you can find a way to attach them humanely, but i prefer my meal worms fried and lightly seasoned, YUM!!

Ruggerz


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## Pat-f (Oct 15, 2006)

Or for a truly gruesome effect, you could build pouches into the prosthetic, disguised into the wounds, then pack them with the live maggots. That way the maggots would be squirming around and falling out as they would be in real life. The only drawback is that you would have to repack the pouches periodically.


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## Muffy (Sep 25, 2006)

HI everybody ...what an interesting conversation this is.......so I called upon Jerry to ask his advice on this subject. Jerry was in the bait business for 15 years & handled all kinds of live baits. He had a bait shop & also a wholesale business of 800 accts. in 5 states that he delivered bait to.

So here is what Jerry says: Meal worms & Maggots are not the same. Mealworms will eat flesh so he said you should know that. Taxidemist use them to eat the flesh off of bones & with being on 4-5 hours they might bite you Altho the mealworm used for cleaning carcuses are much larger than the small ones. We use to dip1000's of them up at a time & cup them up. We also handled maggots>>>>oh GOD they stink. He had some accounts that did taxidermy & he said they would put the head in a big box of sawdust & put the mealworms in there & they would eat it clean.



After handling as many of those as we did >>>>>I could not imagine putting them on my FACE!!!lol

Good Luck

Muf


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## Pat-f (Oct 15, 2006)

Sounds like animating the fake ones would be the way to go. You could use it/them again, ant they won't eat your face. If you need some ideas on how to make them wiggle, let me know.


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## dustin2dust (Aug 19, 2008)

I would suggest wax worms over meal worms. They have a softer body, look more maggoty and from what I have encountered, don't bite. They have softer bodies, so I do wonder if adhesive of any type would soak through their skin and kill them. 

I love the idea of latex pouches filled with worms attached to the face. I bet you could easily make them out of disposable latex gloves. Cut the palms of the gloves and glue the edges together with a super thin application of rubber cement. You have to let the cement dry on each half before you stick them together. If you could make some holes on the outside of the pouch large enough to encourage the worms to stick their heads out, but not large enough to get out, I bet it would make a really cool effect. The one thing you would want to test before hand is if latex like that will adhere to skin via spirit gum. I'm assuming it would...
Waxworms


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## dustin2dust (Aug 19, 2008)

And can I add one more thing? Screw you PETA for ruining carnivorous fun! All kinds of insects are eaten as part of a regular diet by people of many countries, including roaches. It's not cruelty, it's the food chain. What are they going to do next? Go after people hiring exterminators for insect infestation in their houses?


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## Baron Samedi (Jan 15, 2009)

I think there is more danger of you having some minor skin irritation from the adhesive than from bites from Mealworms as their jaws are not normally large enough or powerful enough to break human skin (Maggots only eat dead flesh, so there is no fear of them biting you as their mouthparts are not designed to bite).

And yes..Insects and larvae are a common part of the diet for many people in the world.
They are very high in protein and low in fat..an ideal food source.


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## Wolfman (Apr 15, 2004)

I would suggest wax worms over meal worms. 
Waxworms[/QUOTE]

Wow! I just checked these out, you are SO right. Only available by mail order, as far as I can tell. It looks like we'll be going with the bigger (Giant)meal worms, and I will give the pouches a go too. Further research has shown that the Giant worms have been genetically altered so that they can not breed. Thanks for the input, this should be a lot of fun!


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Muffy said:


> HI everybody ...what an interesting conversation this is.......so I called upon Jerry to ask his advice on this subject. Jerry was in the bait business for 15 years & handled all kinds of live baits. He had a bait shop & also a wholesale business of 800 accts. in 5 states that he delivered bait to.
> 
> So here is what Jerry says: Meal worms & Maggots are not the same. Mealworms will eat flesh so he said you should know that. Taxidemist use them to eat the flesh off of bones & with being on 4-5 hours they might bite you Altho the mealworm used for cleaning carcuses are much larger than the small ones. We use to dip1000's of them up at a time & cup them up. We also handled maggots>>>>oh GOD they stink. He had some accounts that did taxidermy & he said they would put the head in a big box of sawdust & put the mealworms in there & they would eat it clean.
> 
> ...


Typically the flesh eaters are specific to dermestid beetle larvae. 

They are hungry buggers though.

YouTube - Flesh Eating Beetles Help Clean Bones

It's kind of a misnomer that all beetle larvae are called meal worms. 

If you were to go purchase live meal worms from a pet store, they are not flesh eaters.


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## Wolfman (Apr 15, 2004)

OK, so we learned here that the worms are more active when they're hungry. Sounds good to me. Did you see the squirming when they panned across the egg tray? *THAT'S* the effect we want!!!

Thanks for that, Ox.


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## kittyvibe (Oct 27, 2008)

I think it would be a really kool look if you can pull it off somehow, though I keep imagining them getting free and falling into your mouth


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## walkingcorpse (Aug 29, 2008)

If you decide to glue some of them directly to your latexed face you can slow them down by leaving in your fridge for a couple hours before a gluing. Your body heat alone should have them wriggling again just as the glue dries. Given any thought to low-temp glue gun?


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## shannonoff (Aug 28, 2009)

what do you mean a real human skeleton?


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## Wolfman (Apr 15, 2004)

The Skeleton is a story unto itself.

This was in 1990. We had been running a walk-thru at our house for a few years, getting bigger crowds and getting more advanced and in-depth each year. In those days, you could only rent a fog machine. Black lights were hard to come by. Not one to trifle with imitation, I arranged with the local University to borrow an authentic Skeleton for the haunt. In Canada, one needed a Permit To Transport Human Remains in order to move stuff like that around. We did everything by the numbers, and when I collected the skeleton, I used my pick-up truck, propping the thing in the passenger seat. You shoulkd have seen the looks I got in rush-hour traffic, Oh, Man! Returning it I used our car, with the thing lying down in the back seat.

Apparently these things are imported from India. The one we used was 5'-5" tall. It was used standing up tight behind a cage full of rats. The Rat Cage was 1/2" Hardware Cloth, 3' wide, 6' high, and only 6" deep. We didn't feed the rats (50 of 'em!) for two days, then placed peanut butter on the rear side of the cage. The guests were exposed to the skeleton cage for only 6-7 seconds and it looked for all the world that the rats were climbing all over the skelly, eating with a vengeance. It was a huge hit.


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## shannonoff (Aug 28, 2009)

That's awesome! Your house must be amazing on Halloween.


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## dubbax3 (Jun 25, 2008)

You could try this Pros-Aide - Special Effects Makeup - Prosthetic Adhesive - Water-Based Skin Adhesive Its pretty strong stuff.

Good luck


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## Wolfman (Apr 15, 2004)

Oh, wow, the things you can learn by being a Hallowe'en Freak!

For example, I have just learned that maggots have inspired Scientists to attempt to create "nano-bots" that would "eat" cancer cells. This idea stems from an old Medieval method of removing rancid dead flesh from injury sites by placing maggots in the wound. Is that cool or what?


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## Wolfman (Apr 15, 2004)

Another thread from years ago.

I wound up using oatmeal for the "decaying flesh" and it was really effective. The maggots (mealworms) clung on for dear life, no need for adhesive. Plus, I learned that if you placard maggots near your eyes, it REALLY freaked out the guests, especially little kids and adolescent girls! The shrieks were well worth the discomfort. Oh, yeah, I noticed that people were so grossed out, some of them couldn't even look at me!


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