Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What if any wild insects are we feeding our beardeds? I have been eyeing the buffet outside and trying to decide on what if any to snatch up.

none. no way to be sure they dont have pesticides and other icky stuff in em
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proud mama to:
1.0.0 ball python (mr snake),0.0.1 albino florida kingsnake (CK),1.0.0 leopard gecko (sebastian),0.1.0 colombian rainbow boa (luce),1.1.0 bearded dragon (kaipo and dulce), 1.1.0 colombian redtailed boas (adam and eve)

i though somebody earlier said if you can catch a bee-to freeze it and give it as a treat-i tried it a week ago and they loved it

personally ive never heard of that, but im by no means an expert. i guess freezing can kill a lot of parasites, and i guess bees arent exposed to as much pesticide, but i think as a general rule its still better to feed insects specifically bred for that purpose
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proud mama to:
1.0.0 ball python (mr snake),0.0.1 albino florida kingsnake (CK),1.0.0 leopard gecko (sebastian),0.1.0 colombian rainbow boa (luce),1.1.0 bearded dragon (kaipo and dulce), 1.1.0 colombian redtailed boas (adam and eve)

We have at least two different types of grasshopper here that we catch and feed to our dragons. We also have several kinds of large green leaf hopper, and lots of cicadas. So far, nobody here is large enough to handle the cicadas. They're huge!

Our smallest dragon actually prefers the green leafhopper/grasshoppers to her crickets.
We live out in the middle of nowhere, so there's no pesticides or chemicals sprayed, unless I do it myself. And I don't.
So far the only insects I've heard of that are unsafe to feed bearded dragons are fireflys/lightning bugs, spiders, centepedes ( They're as poisionous as spiders ), and box elder beetles. ( I have no idea what a boxelder beetle looks like, so I just don't feed them beetles at all. )

Anyway, that's what's on the "outdoor menu" for our lizards.

D.A.

>>What if any wild insects are we feeding our beardeds? I have been eyeing the buffet outside and trying to decide on what if any to snatch up.

Dont know if its true but I heard you have to freeze for 30 days to kill the icky stuff.

if you want to feed wild (thinking of doing snails again for my BTS), try catching some and then breeding them. quality food in means they will be a quality food. it's simply not worth the risk to me of catching a few wild bugs to give them to my beardie as a treat.

if you want variety try buying roaches!
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

It's pretty safe to feed them anything but lightning-bugs, aka fireflys, those are toxic I've heard. And I'd stay away from ladybugs, that bright shell is a warning of some sort, though I don't know how potent of one. Other than that, anything you get in your backyard is fair game. All the paranoia about pesticides is really only true if you live on or near a farm, or if you use pesticides on your lawn.