Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can dragons eat Jalepeno peppers? We grew way too many of them this year.

I deffinitely would have to say no. I don't actually recall reading anywhere bearded dragons can't eat hot peppers but since I don't know if any animal can eat that stuff, I would recommend not feeding it to reptiles. I seem to remember a dog that loved to eat Jalepeno peppers but I am not sure if I am remembering it correctly. However, giving the burning sensation hot peppers cause in the lining of the mouth, tongue and out the other end...probably be best not to introduce this into your dragon's diet.

Instead make some Jalepeno pepper jelly. Great stuff to spread over some cream cheeze, either on crackers or bagels. Remember the holidays are coming up so great to offer as appetizers (thanksgiven, christmas etc)
-----
PHLdyPayne

I know that birds can eat hot peppers due to them not having the receptors that register the "heat" from the peppers. ( Learned this on an old PBS show involving an aviary, and what they had to do to keep the squirrels out of the bird food. It seems ground red pepper mixed in with the birdseed was enough to keep most everything else out of it. The birds didn't notice it at all. )

I don't know if the same is true of Bearded Dragons or other reptiles though.

Any reptile biologist lurking around here to comment?

D.A.

haha we already gave a huge bag of them to our friends to make jelly.

In the wild there are very few animals that are able to eat jalapeno or chile peppers. I only know of 1 type of bird that feeds on chile peppers and this is the sole way of survival for wild chiles. So no nothing will eat them. They can also be toxic for some animals.
-----
Vince Martino

0.1 Amel Cornsnake "Sunny"
1.0 Snow Cornsnake "Heaton" (any cs players?)
1.0 Spider Ball Python "Ceasar"
0.1 Colombian Red-tailed Boa "Sammy"
1.1 Albino Striped California Kings "mean" and "meaner"
1.0 Pastel Bearded Dragon "Norbert"