Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
Does anyone know if bearded dragons can eat maggots, because a friend of mine has been feeding his dragon with them (the type you get from fishing tackle shops) ive told him it cant be good for them if they dont kill them when eating them and have advised him not to feed them to her. But im not sure.
does anyone have any further advice on this issue.

define what is meant by "Maggot"

while I would generaly say "NO" for many reasons...

here is the thing; a "Maggot" is a larval stage of the development of an insect. based on that some larval insects are very good food for a reptile; example silk worms and wax worms.

the classic "Maggot" is a larval blue fly or other fly larva.
with that there are many negatives such as parasites. and not much food value.

so what larva are we speaking about?? and how are they raised?

explain to your buddy that crickets and other items sold for reptiles are normaly kept clean and free of parasites. "fish bait" is probably not kept as clean and could pass any of several kinds of parasites that will windup giving the dragon something like pinworms that will make it sick and could kill it.
-----
This space reserved for future use...

Maggots are larvae that feed off decaying matter, usually of fles of the order Diptera. They are not the same as silkworms or waxworms. Silkworms are actually the larvae of moths, waxworms and mealworms are beetle larvae.

I do beleive typical maggots used as fish bait are your typical blowfly larvae or blue bottle fly larvae. I wouldn't recommend using these because of the germs and bacteria found in rotten meat. Samonella could be a concern as well. Not to mention these maggots can't smell all that great, better to feed crickets.