Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So I've been seeing lady bugs around this week and wondered if they're OK, or healthy, to feed to my spotted. I know they're a beetle, so I'm thinking it's alright. Any thoughts?

Cute turtle.

All species of Ladybugs, native or non-native, contain alkaloids. They can be toxic. They release these compounds when harrassed. If you're rough enough with one, you should be able to smell a noxious smell. As such, your turtles probably wouldn't eat them anyway. They may bite them, but they'd regret it. A good rule of thumb is to avoid feeding insects with bright colors...they're often warnings of toxicity.

In a few months, the Junebugs (or whatever the local name for them is) will begin to congregate on window screens around porch lights in large numbers. The "softer" and smaller rust colored ones are relished by all of my turtles. I can collect hundreds before 10pm! In the West, I've been told that they are black and harder. However, my friends' turtles seem to like them all the same.

I can't believe I never thought of junebugs as a food source they are everywhere, how do you catch em, in mass? I mean I can catch them by hand but I'm lazy lol,
wayne

I'm fortunate enough to live out in the country. All I need to do is turn my front and back porch lights on at dusk and my screen doors are covered by 10pm. I grab a large rubbermaid sweater box, place it at the bottom of the screen directly against it, and flick the screen a few times. The beetles just drop right down inside. A few try to fly out, but I can usually bat them down. Then, I pour them into a tomato sauce jar. In the morning, it's crunch-fest! The best thing is, these things hate to fly during the day. They'll dig in leaf litter pretty fast, but they won't fly away.

Intersting, Ken. Such a wealth of knowledge you are.
About the lady bugs, I guess I'll won't feed them, obviously, per your advice. My spotted did eat one the other day I threw in there though...Oops.

Thanks for the compliment. I've just always been poor, so I've had to be creative

I think that the Asian variety of Ladybug is not as toxic (orange instead of red), but I couldn't find anything to back that up. Whichever it ate, I'm sure your turtle will be fine.

My "screen" doors are glass I have to go outside & catch them by hand.
This means I need to replace my doors!!!
LOL
Before the June bugs show up they are in the ground because they are grub worms. Before the beetles come in around May I go outside about this time of year & dig up the grubs, the turtles love them just as much as they do the full grown beetle.

When I was a kid I had green anoles, they loved flies, soft grasshoppers, moths, but they would not touch a lady bug. I think they could smell what I couldn't.
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PHRatz

Haha, yeah we've talked about our bug catching antics!

I had some cousins who bred little Bantam chickens. They whipped up a pretty wicked little beetle trap using a light and a 55 gallon drum. They just shone the light down into the drum on dry nights and the beetles would fly in and not be able to fly out. Maybe you could rig something up. Of course, chasing flying bugs at night with a bucket and a flashlight is pretty darn therapeutic!

>> Of course, chasing flying bugs at night with a bucket and a flashlight is pretty darn therapeutic!

It is! LOL
This is OT but I have to tell you this story real quick.
Dr. Breene who was head of the American Tarantula Society was at our house once 5 years or so ago because he was in town to do a program for my college's vet-tech continuing education seminar.
He showed us how you can find wolf spiders at night. You put a flashlight at your temple just behind your eye & turn it on, then scan the ground. Wolf spider eyes sparkle an emerald green color that you can see when you hold the flashlight that way. So we're all outside running around the yard with flashlights yelling "there's one!"
There just happened to be a couple of policemen at the house 2 doors down. Apparently the woman down there had called them for some reason.. anyway when they left her house they drove by here very slowly staring at us.. they must've thought we are INSANE!!!
LOL
After that happened I really haven't ever felt weird about catching turtle food under the porch light at night! hee heeeeee
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PHRatz