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Cicadas – An End of Summer Treat for Pet Reptiles, Amphibians and Invertebrates

As summer winds down, resourceful herp keepers are presented with a unique opportunity to treat their pets to a novel food item – providing, at the same time, a source of important nutritional variety. The waning days of summer bring with them the annual die-off of untold millions of large, juicy insects – the annual and periodical cicadas.

More than 100 of the world’s 2,000+ cicada species make their home in North America, and they are widely distributed. I still hear them regularly in the heart of Manhattan, and various species are quite common in and near other large cities as well. Most have a life cycle of 2-8 years, but 7 species in the eastern USA have a 13 or 17 year cycle and a number reach adulthood in 1 year.

The entire cicada population of a given area expires within a short period, usually at the end of August or in early September in the northeastern USA. This yearly event provides a bonanza (up to 1.5 million periodical cicadas may emerge from a single acre of soil!) of nutritious food for a wide range of creatures – deer mice, wood turtles, box turtles, skunks, flying squirrels, black bears and a host of others have been observed gorging on cicadas. Even adult copperhead snakes, not normally thought of as insect eaters, partake of the feast.

If you are alert at the right time, you may find hundreds of these normally arboreal songsters, spent and cicadaabout to die, on the ground. Your medium and larger sized reptile, amphibian and invertebrate pets will consume them with gusto, and you can freeze the excess for future use. Cicadas occur on every continent except Antarctica, and pets both native and exotic – American bullfrogs, African mud turtles, red-kneed tarantulas – unfailingly attack them with gusto. You can also collect the nymphs as they emerge from the ground in early summer – this usually occurs at night, and often within as short period of time as 1-7 days.

Dietary variety is an important key to keeping your pets healthy and in breeding condition. Those of us who keep insectivorous herps and invertebrates often face limited food choices. The annual cicada die-off may provide a relatively easy way for some of us to remedy that situation.

One word of caution: I have noticed that populations of annual cicadas near NYC have seemingly declined drastically in recent years. A colleague suggested that the insecticides sprayed to control mosquitoes bearing West Nile Virus may be the culprit. I tend to agree – cicadas, with their largely arboreal lifestyles, are easy targets for insecticides sprayed from airplanes (far easier targets than mosquito larvae, which seem as common as ever). I have not run into secondary poisoning problems when feeding cicadas to captive animals, but suggest that you do not collect in areas that have been commercially sprayed.

 

Image attributed to wikipedia: http://www.cirrusimage.com/homoptera_cicada_T_linnei.htm

2 comments

  1. avatar

    I’ve been using end-of-summer cicadas to feed my big flat-rock scorpion for years. (She is well over 10 years old!) Thanks for the tip about freezing extras. I’m pretty sure my girl would not eat them frozen/thawed, but I will keep it in mind for future lizard or turtle food!

    • avatar

      Hello Raksha, Frank Indiviglio here.

      Thanks for your interest in our blog and kind comment. I’m very glad to hear that someone other than me has hit on cicadas as a food source – my thoughts along these lines are most often greeted by blank stares!

      Interesting to learn that the scorpion can get through the cicadas exoskeleton, although considering their size and diet in the wild, it does follow. I’ve observed the cicada exo-skeletons to pass through the digestive tracts of American bullfrogs undamaged, so they are pretty sturdy.

      Ten years is a great longevity…I haven’t checked, but you may be near a record with her.

      I’ve had some luck in tong-feeding dead insects to scorpions and even orb-weaving spiders by breaking the insect to release the scent and body fluids, and placing it close to the animal’s mouth.

      I’ve written a few articles on scorpions…if you have a chance, the one on Flat Rock Scorpions has links to several others.

      Enjoy and please keep me posted,

      Best regards, Frank Indiviglio.

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Being born with a deep interest in animals might seem unfortunate for a native Bronxite , but my family encouraged my interest and the menagerie that sprung from it. Jobs with pet stores and importers had me caring for a fantastic assortment of reptiles and amphibians. After a detour as a lawyer, I was hired as a Bronx Zoo animal keeper and was soon caring for gharials, goliath frogs, king cobras and everything in-between. Research has taken me in pursuit of anacondas, Orinoco crocodiles and other animals in locales ranging from Venezuela’s llanos to Tortuguero’s beaches. Now, after 20+ years with the Bronx Zoo, I am a consultant for several zoos and museums. I have spent time in Japan, and often exchange ideas with zoologists there. I have written books on salamanders, geckos and other “herps”, discussed reptile-keeping on television and presented papers at conferences. A Master’s Degree in biology has led to teaching opportunities. My work puts me in contact with thousands of hobbyists keeping an array of pets. Without fail, I have learned much from them and hope, dear readers, that you will be generous in sharing your thoughts on this blog and web site. For a complete biography of my experience click here.
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