Reptile & Amphibian Forums

As you all know, the cicadas are coming out soon. I found the first one in our backyard today and noticed theyre about the right size for my beardie to eat (same size as grasshoppers from Can O' Grasshoppers).

Safe or no?

This article talks about feeding them to water dragons...

http://www.agamainternational.com/lesueurrii.shtml

This is a care page for Frilled dragons, it talks about feed them also...

http://hometown.aol.co.uk/compuwizzz1/page5.html

And yet another care sheet that says they are fine...

http://www.paradisepets.co.za/care_frilled.htm

Basically, common sense tells you that if you see the wild birds eating them then they should be safe. Hope this helps.

~Veronica
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Beautiful Dragons

Just so u kno, i've seen one chew entirely thru a thick plastic container before...

If this does not worry you, then fgo for it, but i'd hate to hear that ur beardie got injured from its own food...

I would not worry about the cicada biting or chewing your dragons, they cannot bite or chew.
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I'm just curious, did you see this happen recently? If so, when?
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Rob Talkington

though I am no expert on cicadas, I do know they don't have mouths like crickets do. Cicadas feed on sap and thus, their mouth parts are specialized for this task. More like a mosquito mouth part, designed to puncture through the outer bark and hollow so the cicada can suck out the sap.

As for safe to eat, I believe the only real concern is if wild caught cicadas have come into contact with pesticides or other chemicals that may have been sprayed in the area. Newly emerging cicadas would be fine to eat, if you can find them coming out of the earth where they spend their larva stage.