Feeding Bugs From Outside

[Newt]

i know most ppl will say never to feed bugs from the outside
and i am wondering why.
i know that they could have pesticides.
around where i live no one sprays pesticides(i have asked)
and i have so many grasshoppers out my door id love to feed them to my critters

so i am wondering why else cant one use bugs from outside?
do they carry parisites or bacteria?
and how can a grasshopper outside eatting grass and veggies n such be worse then a cricket fed cricket food?

i havent fed my lizards any bugs from outside as of yet cept for earthworms for my plated lizards.

so anyone who knows why its not good plz let me know =)
ty

[Rikki]

Yes they can (and most do) carry bacterian. Not to mention; most of the crickets found out side are the black crickets, which carry hard shells, making feeding and digestion a hard part for reptiles. Its not safe, just DONT do it.

[Brock]

I thought most people were FOR feeding stuff from outside. They are much more nutritious than stuff you buy. Green Grasshoppers, praying mantis, stick bugs if you got em, june beetles/japanese beetles, those white cabbage butterflies you see all over the place, I just fed all my herps some hornet larvae from a nest we just brought down today, earthworms, slugs, snails.

Just make sure you know what you're feeding, and if you want to make sure they are relatively clean, keep them in a cage and feed them lettuce or cabbage to clean their intestines out, and spray them down to get any external contaminents off them.

Roaches of course are the best feeder you can buy/breed, but I heard all crickets you can buy have pinworms.

So yeah, if all the grasshoppers you have outside aren't bright and obviously toxic, then go ahead and feed them. Green ones I know are preferred by most reptiles.

-Brock

[galad]

I would have to agree with everything broc has said minus one small detail.

The purpose of feeding wc insects is to provide the natual gut load that they carry as you have said. So feeding them lettuce or cabbage to clean their intestines out kind of deffeets the purpose.

peace

ws

[Brock]

I thought it was the nutrients that were just in them from having the natural outside diet, not JUST from what they ate for breakfast.

Personally I would just feed them right after I caught them, but the cabbage ensures that you eliminate any toxic plants they might have been eating if you're not totally sure on the diet of the specific insect.

-Brock

[DragnDrop]

Wild bugs are better food as well as variety for the lizard/gecko/whatever. Even a nutritionally empty junk-food type bug that you catch once in a while for variety will work wonders to perk up a lizard, even get a non-eating one out of a slump. When I had my chams, they spent the summer outside (S. Ontario). The first week or so I would feed them crickets and their usual fare, but in no time they were hunting their own food. Whatever got in through the mesh was fair game. They turned up their noses at my measely offerings of indoor food. They got moths, cicadas, june bugs, dragonflies, flies, who knows what else, and all the snails and pillbugs/sowbugs they could possibly want. By the time I took them in for winter they were in perfect shape, well fed and looked fantastic. I got them dewormed in case they picked up some cooties, but there was never any problem from eating wild caught food even though the bugs they caught were city born and bred.
I wouldn't go collecting in someone's garden if I knew they use every chemical they can buy at the garden centre, but my neighbours don't spray their lawns and gardens. If you can collect bugs in a field away from the road, near or on an organic farm (they'll love you for helping) then go ahead, get wild bugs. Even once in a while as a treat is enough to make your lizards "love" you even more.

Now, on to the other points:
Feeding any bug one or two good meals of 'clean food' isn't going to remove many toxins, parasites and what-have-you things. Even if the parasites are removed, the eggs are most likely still going to be inside someplace. Feeding the bugs first won't remove cooties, and toxins will probably just kill them or produce symptoms, before you find them. Only use bugs going about their normal business, not the ones that make you wonder what they're doing there or why are they acting like ... whatever. Using cabbage isn't going to improve the situation (high in oxalates, hinders Ca absorption) and lettuce is useless gutload. Either way you look at it, feeding them for one or a few days isn't an advantage. The bugs have had their natural diet making them better food even if they aren't gutloaded first. They've built 'better bodies' right from day one, more nutrition in the 'meat'. Our gutloads aren't perfect, neither is the natural diet but it comes closer to the ideal. An 'empty gut' wild grasshopper will be more nutritious than a captive born and raised one fed a CB type diet.

[Newt]

DragnDrop
just wondering what u use to deworm ur reptiles?

the only thing i want to feed my reptiles is grasshoppers being there are tons, i know ppl dont spray pesticides around my area and i have all clover/grass/alfalfa feilds surrounding me so the grasshoppers are eatting nutricious food

and yes when i have my critters outside they are chasing down grasshoppers and whatever bug around
they seem to really love them more so then the crickets

i have been giving my reptiles a couple grasshoppers everyday to see what effect it has on them and they are all doing great and they get more excited trying to catch a grasshopper

thanx for all the advice =)

[RepTylE]

Years ago I tried using black crickets to feed to my geckos and not one of them were the least bit interested in them.

[-okapi-]

hmm... I donno about feeding wild caught critters to herps. A wild insect can be the intermediate host to parasites or carry any pathogenic bacteria, virus, or fungus. Plus theres the risk of natural toxins (as defence) or unnatural (manmade) poisons being in the insects body. That beetle flying into your porch light could of come from a golf coarse where it was exposed to pesticides while it was a grub. I would rather breed my own feeders than take a risk. I’ve also heard that earthworms carry the eggs of parasitic worms in their body, which hatch when the host is eaten. get a few colonies of waxworms, crickets, roaches, and beetles going and youll never run into the problems that wild caught feeders can bring, plus your herps will get a several different food items, which is healthy for them.

[WingedWolf]

I think you need to be selective if you feed wild-caught insects. First, KNOW what the bugs are--don't feed toxic insects to your herps. Avoid insects that are more likely to transmit parasites, unless you worm twice a year. (That's a trade-off...worming is hard on the animals, too). Grasshoppers and crickets are both prone to carry parasites.

I personally DO feed non-toxic wild-caught moths to my herps. During a certain time of year here, we have huge gatherings of cutworm moths, known commonly as "millers" (because they mill around). These large, fat-bodied moths can be caught a dozen to a netful at times. Locals KNOW that pesticides don't work on Millers (because the moths swarm for a month or so, then migrate up into the mountains...they're so mobile, if you spray, the ones you killed would be instantly replaced by new ones), so they are a pretty safe bet.
The benefits in this case aren't really nutritional--moths aren't known to contain a broad variety of nutrients, though I suppose they may be better than captive-raised moths. They are, however, high in fat--and a good dose of fat in the middle of summer is perfect for reptiles that have been breeding. They give my insect colonies a chance to build up, as I don't have to purchase food or feed from my colonies for a while. But the best benefit? Exercise and psychology.

Have you ever seen a leopard gecko actually leap straight up into the air with all four feet off the ground? I have.
"Air Gecko" is WELL worth the price of admission, I guarantee it.

[RepTylE]

I would be more concerned about pesticides or other substances that wild caught insects might be exposed to than diseases. I mean when you get right down to it, you heve no idea in many cases what hygienic conditions the insects you buy were produced in. I think that everyone at one time or another bought insects only to have a mysterious die-off a few days later. I have had that happen and along with being pissed off I also worried that the bugs were diseased or contaminated. With wild caught you have no idea at all what they might have gotten exposed to as well. I just don't like to take chances so wild caught is just not an option.