I have tons of these things in my garden and was thinking about feeding a few to the chameleons. Does anyone know if they're a safe food source?
Reptile & Amphibian Forums
Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.
ladybugs are they safe
ta2smitty
Aug 13, 2006 09:02 PM
Replies (5)
kinyonga
Aug 13, 2006 10:16 PM
There colors are warning colors, but I know some birds can eat them with no ill affects. I still wouldn't risk it.
Fireflies are toxic for sure though.
timbo08
Aug 14, 2006 12:06 AM
Ladybugs are toxic and should not be fed to chameleons.
ta2smitty
Aug 14, 2006 12:36 PM
I kinda figured that out after I posted it. I thought they where but still thought I would ask.
PHEve
Aug 15, 2006 08:50 AM
Lady bugs are awesome for your garden and flowers, they eat all kinds of lil pesty bugs, I think thye eat aphids also, I watch them on my rose bushes in the summer, very neat lil buggies
I say Let the lady bugs live, LOL 
-----
PHEve / Eve
lele
Aug 15, 2006 11:44 AM
Eve - did you know that the ones which we in the north find in our homes in the winter in great numbers are actually extremely invasive.
These are Asian lady beetles that have been imported as bio-controls and have not only gotten out of hand and are at high densities, but they can EAT up to 2nd instar monarch larvae! I think I posted a link once before, but will have to look up later. There is some data that has linked them to the demise of the 9-spotted lady beetle in NY. They can even bite people and give off their yucky defensive odor.
Btw, the reason they cluster in our homes is b/c in their homeland they hibernate in southern cliff faces and the southern side of our home is the next best thing and then they find their way in to old homes and barns with many entry sites. If you get them vacuum them up then discard. I know, I know, it seems to go against all we know about lady beetles, but this is our current global market. Many 4, 6 and 8 legged critters are being relocated and some have devastating impact on native species 
check out this site - it has pic of one feeding on monarch
MALB
-----
Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
1.1.1 Side-blotched lizards - Ana and Stan and Stan Jr.! 
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skippy
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh, Died 4/21/06
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha, donated to science 4/4/06
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet
