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Tip: Don't Feed Fireflies to Your Reptiles or Amphibians

From Lianne McLeod, DVM, About.com GuideOctober 28, 2009

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Firefly by Fritz Geller-Grimm on Wikimedia CommonsFireflies (lightning bugs) are such neat insects. However, feeding them to reptiles and amphibians is not recommended -- they are known to be very toxic to bearded dragons and toxicity has been seen in other reptiles and amphibians, too.

Also avoid feeding the larval forms (sometimes called glow worms). The chemical that gives these bugs the ability to glow so wonderfully is apparently what makes them toxic.

As as aside, collecting wild bugs is a double edged sword -- a great way to add variety to the diet of insect-eaters (well, except for fireflies), but at the same time you need to be wary of the risk of pesticide exposure. Keeping wild-caught insects in a jar or other container for a few days can help ensure they haven't recently been exposed to pesticides. They would likely die fairly shortly after pesticide exposure, so any that die within a few days shouldn't be fed. This also gives you the opportunity to gut load them too.

Related Reading From the About.com Guide to Insects

Photo: Firefly by Fritz Geller-Grimm on Wikimedia Commons

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