Rattus Giganticus has a very good nose for dead meat: it can smell even a dead meatbug from far away. (And, by the way, it doesn't mind a spot of cannibalism). There may be other carrion eaters that are similarly gifted.

There is at least one cave, I think it's the bandit one near Akil's farm, where the entrance chamber has a few meatbugs running around. Then there is a room with bandits, and beyond that lurks at least one Giant Rat. If you kill the meatbugs, the rat will come rushing into the bandits' part of the cave and get itself killed, depriving you of a little bit of xp.

So for those of you who, like me, want all the xp you can get, leave the meatbugs alive until you have cleared the rest of the cave.

There is one place where it is sometimes possible to use dead meatbugs to lure a Rat away from its companion, and into your clutches - quite useful in the very early game when taking on two Rats at once can be a serious matter. This place is in the valley to the left of the East Gate (the one behind Mika): if you keep beside the city wall to the far end of the valley and round the end of it, and then keep beside the cliff you should avoid all or most of the monsters in the area and find the bugs on a sandy ledge, on the side of the cave nearest the city.