Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So I was reading about what type of food i could feed my leos, im looking for something that i can buy bulk and not to expensive either any ideas? also i was reading on here and someone suggested earthworms, is that safe to feed my leos?

Start in your own backyard, if it has not been treated with pesticides.

The mealworms, waxworms, silkworms and crickets diet is pretty much standard but for no reason. My reptilian specialist recommended I offered my animals wild bugs, earthworms, and wild grubs. They love them! I have an organic veggie garden in my backyard and actually welcome critters that often end up feeding my reptiles.
My dragon cleans out flies like a dream!

So, if your yard is clean and free of pesticides, go out for a treasure hunt and see what else your animals like! If in doubt about "spreading parasites" like the common misconception states, just call your local Department of Agriculture and ask to talk to your State Entomologist who is the top authority in local bugs and will tell you for certain. Go to the source to educate yourself abotu using local fauna to feed your lizxards.

Wanda

How can you guarantee that the bugs in your back yard haven't been exposed to something somewhere else, even if you know your yard to be clean? You don't think insects stay in one place their whole lives, do you?
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0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - Tigger
0.1 Crested Gecko - Pooh-Bear

If my reptilian specialist who went to vet school and took advanced courses says so, and if the State's entomologist says so, chances are they're far more right than anyone else arguing otherwise on Internet boards.

And by own experience, I have been feeding them to my animals with no negative results, contradicting what many who do not even have their animals checked by a specialist can claim.

Don't forget, the chatter on crickets carrying pinworms started on Internet boards. Ask any specialist to confirm that bugs are not a hist for pinworms to transmit to lizards. It is the owner's unsannitary practices what contributes to the infection and spread of it. Don't take it from me, ask your local specialist and state entomologist instead of the most popular breeders on a board.

It is safe to feed wild critters as long as they aren't collected in treated areas

Sorry, typo above should have read "bugs are not a host for pinworms"

It is just not how the infection is contacted.

I never mentioned parasites, though obviously anything is possible. I was referring to chemicals.

Is there absolutely no chance that bugs in your yard have ingested fertilizers, pesticides, and/or other chemicals which could be detrimental to your animals' health in the long term? Individually, sure, they probably don't have much, but some chemicals can build up in an animal over a long period of time.

Mercury in predatory fish is a good example - you're really only supposed to eat small to medium sized fish because they haven't had as much time to build up mercury in their system as the larger ones. Each fish gets exposed to some amount of mercury in the water; bigger fish eat the smaller fish, retaining the mercury from said smaller fish and thus building up more of it.

Why would that not be similar in predatory reptiles eating yard bugs? Even if parasites can be absolutely proven not to be an issue, you have no way of knowing what chemicals are on/in those insects. You might not see detrimental effects now, but you could be causing long-term problems and/or shortening their lives.
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0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - Tigger
0.1 Crested Gecko - Pooh-Bear

You're stretching it into a ridiculous shape, amigo. The final word is best spoken and proven by educated authorities.

Call your local Department of Agriculture and ask to speak to your State Entomologist! Call your reptilian specialist. I am SURE you have one.

If more people did that rather than stretch illiterate assumptions on Internet boards, there would be far less need for mythbusting.

Illiterate assumptions? The example I gave to illustrate my point is well-documented fact. Are you claiming that that does not happen in fish? Would you claim that it's impossible for it to happen with reptiles?

The point I'm trying to get you to see is not that there's impending doom for your pets from your choice, but rather that it's not the zero risk scenario that you seem to think it is.

Given that crickets are safely produced in mass quantities and that leopard geckos thrive with them as a staple of their diet, I don't see a need to vary their diet with prey items I can't be sure of the quality of. Obviously what you do with your animals is your choice, but to advise others that there's no risk in it is irresponsible of you.
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0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - Tigger
0.1 Crested Gecko - Pooh-Bear

You haven't been in boards long, have you? Years ago (about 6 or so) it was common belief that crickets were evil about spreading pinworms. Until someone was challenged to confirm her theory with a specialist, and she had to eat her words. It was all it took: talk to an educated person to speak the last word.

Your comment shows your level of illiteracy, and how quick you are to spread it. Grubs and bugs do NOT carry and spread pesticides like fish, for gawd's sake!
TAKE THE CHALLENGE: Call your local Department of Agriculture and ask your State Entomologist to confirm, before you keep making a fool of yourself!

Until then, this is arguing in a loop with a fool. I withdraw from the thread standing firmly on my previous posts. IT IS SAFE to offer local bugs and grubs to your animals as long as the area has not been treated with pesticides. It is OK to offer them fresh collected earthworms, grubs, snails, etc. They are NOT typical infection hosts for your reptiles. If in doubt, call your local university's Department of Entomology to confimrm infestation routes.

Challenge EVERYTHING you read on message boards, and confirm with educated authorities by yourself! I will continue doing what I have been for years, offering my animals fresh critters from my garden.

I've been reading and posting on these boards for several years now. Calling me an illiterate fool is not helping you - it's purely a personal attack, rather than any sort of logical argument.

Please prove your statement that an insect cannot carry chemicals around. Don't just tell me to consult an expert - cite a VERIFIABLE FACT. Show me a legitimate study done on common insects that shows it's impossible for them to carry chemicals around. I think you'll find it very difficult to do so. Your statement that it's safe "as long as the area has not been treated with pesticides" argues against you on that one. The point is that insects do not spend their entire life in *your* yard. Your neighbor, or someone 3 blocks away, could be heavily spreading pesticides and/or fertilizers on their property, and insects could travel from their property to yours carrying said chemicals along with them.
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0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - Tigger
0.1 Crested Gecko - Pooh-Bear

Posted by: WTorres at Mon Aug 18 04:42:35 2008

"Your comment shows your level of illiteracy, and how quick you are to spread it". ------------- illiteracy cannot be spread, but watch out! Your ignorant reasoning might.

"Grubs and bugs do NOT carry and spread pesticides like fish, for gawd's sake!" -------------How in the Hell can you make statement like that?.....Not only is it always a bad idea to say anything is absolute, but to state something like this when there is no evidence on the table your willing to show us(I can already tell you're a Christaian.)Obviously you don't know what the Hell you're talking about..."grubs and bugs" are hardly technical terms.

"TAKE THE CHALLENGE: Call your local Department of Agriculture and ask your State Entomologist to confirm, before you keep making a fool of yourself!" -------------Here's a challenge...learn to think before you talk in absolutes. If science has taught us anything, it's that there is usually a new perspective yet to be discovered and applied.

"Until then, this is arguing in a loop with a fool. I withdraw from the thread standing firmly on my previous posts."--------------there's a sign of defeat if I've ever seen one.

"IT IS SAFE to offer local bugs and grubs to your animals as long as the area has not been treated with pesticides." --------------like others have pointed out, pesticides are not the only problem.

"It is OK to offer them fresh collected earthworms, grubs, snails, etc." -----------------again, it's as if there could possibly never be an exception to the rule

They are NOT typical infection hosts for your reptiles. If in doubt, call your local university's Department of Entomology to confimrm infestation routes.

"Challenge EVERYTHING you read on message boards, and confirm with educated authorities by yourself! I will continue doing what I have been for years, offering my animals fresh critters from my garden."-----------------That's your call, and I wish you the best luck, but to determine other people's situation with no knowlege of their region, indigenous species, and industrial locatins is ignorant. I live about an hour away from the Oak Ridge Nuclear Power Plant and Laboratories....you think it's safe to collect [bleep] near there?

Uhh...how can any one person know that everyone in a neighborhood/county/city isn't using pesticides? You think everybody gets their oil changed at JiffyLube and has it "recycled"? The sad truth is that people dump chemicles out in their backyards all the time. specific locales may not be a significant influnce on the county's general contamination level. So, "Is it worth the risk?"

If you live in the country I would first say yes, but remember there are a lot of Agricultural businesses that reside and use pesticides in the country/ rural areas. If you are 100% confident, then I would say great....the moe variety the better.

People bash other people for housing their geckos on sand (natural habitat by the way), but collect their own food sources (which is direclty absorbed into the blood stream) froman environment that they are not completly aware about.

Spend money, get and safe reliable food sources from a trusted company. You will albo be supporting a reptile industry (good for the hobby as a whole).

this is just my personal 2 cents, take it or leave it. personally i bred mealworms and roaches, so i personally do not feed wild caught bugs to my leos, thats just cause i dont have too, oh, i also breed mice and they get the ocasional pinky. however. personally i would come to belive that if you live in a residential area the occasional bug would be harmless to your leo, based on the simple facts that the average residential area does not use a boat load of pesticides or herbicisdes like farm land would, and i know around here there is plenty of perfectly healthy lizards running around (i live in phoenix) and they are obviously feeding on the local wildlife. now, i know most people would frown upon feeding wild bugs to your animals, in moderation i dont really see the problem, also lets examine our own diets, how much garbage do we feed ourselfs, pretty much all modern foods we eat are littered with various "toxins" and were healthy right? debatable i know, heh. sorry for the long post, but like i said, just my 2 cents.
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2.1 leopard geckos
1.1 golden thread turtles
1.0 reticulated python
2.1 firebelly toads
0.0.1 pacman frog
0.1 creamsicle corn

I catch crickets, moths, butterflies, and some caterpillars in my yard for my geckos. They love them. I have been doing it for a couple of years now and my geckos are perfectly fine. I have tried earth worms but they dont like them that much.