That Reptile Blog – Reptile, Amphibian and Exotic Pet Care and Information

Coating feeder insects with calcium and vitamin supplements is a time-tested method of adding important nutrients to reptile and amphibian diets.  However, shy and nocturnal species that do not eat soon after the insects are released into their terrariums may get little benefit from powdered supplements.  Insects quickly lose their coatings as they move about…crickets and roaches add to the problem by grooming the supplements from their bodies as soon as they are able (Yes, “grooming” …watch roaches sometime, they are quite fastidious!).

Spray-On Calcium

R Zilla Reptile Calcium Supplement Spray and Vitamin Supplement Spray help to address this problem.  The spray sticks to and may even be absorbed by insects (as well as dry foods and salad), thereby assuring its delivery no matter how much time elapses before the food is consumed.  These products will prove particularly useful to those keeping Leaf Tailed Geckos, Crocodile Skinks, Flying Geckos, Red-Eyed Treefrogs, Spadefoot Toads, certain burrowing tarantulas and others that are notoriously shy about showing themselves by day.

Calcium Spray supplies calcium in three forms, including Calcium Gluconate, which is readily utilized by many species.  It can also be administered orally to animals with deficiencies (a consultation with your veterinarian would be advisable beforehand).

Further Reading

Please see my article Providing a Balanced Diet to Reptiles and Amphibians for more information on other aspects of captive herp nutrition.

An interesting article on feeder insect calcium content is posted here.

 Next time we’ll take a look at a few effective but little-used techniques for raising the calcium content of insects fed to reptiles and amphibians. 

Agalychnis callidryas image referenced from wikipedia and originally posted by Christian R. Linder

Please see Part I of this article for a general discussion regarding the collection of insects and other invertebrates and their use in the diets of captive reptiles, amphibians, birds, invertebrates and fishes. Today I’d like to focus on some areas of special concern.

Toxic and Biting/Stinging Invertebrates

While not involving pesticides per se, for your own safety and that of your collection it is imperative that you learn to identify the toxic or otherwise dangerous invertebrates that you may encounter while collecting. A good field guide (i.e. Audubon, Golden Guide or Peterson series) is indispensable in this regard. Be sure to handle unfamiliar species with plastic tongs.

Please bear in mind that even relatively mild bee venom can cause fatalities in allergic people. And while less than 1% of the world’s 40,000+ species of spiders are considered dangerously venomous to us, a number readily bite both people and animals in self defense. It is best, therefore, to avoid them…the Thin-legged Harvestman or “daddy long-legs”, which are not spiders, are safe to use. Steer clear also of bees, wasps, large ants, stag beetles and others well-equipped to defend themselves.

Bright colors often indicate that an animal is toxic or bad-tasting; ladybugs, fireflies, milkweed bugs and a great many others fall into this category. Unless you are sure of an insect’s identity, the safest course of action is to avoid brightly-colored species.

Native vs. Non-Native Prey Species

In many cases, predators avoid dangerous prey animals that occur naturally within their ranges; this can spare both pet and pet-keeper a good deal of grief!  However, dangerous non-native prey animals may be attacked with abandon if the hunter has no “frame of reference”, so use extra caution in such cases.

I have, for example, housed highly-toxic Marine Toads with Green Anacondas for decades without incident, despite the fact that anacondas consume non-toxic frogs readily. However, Australian monitors and snakes, which have no instinctive or learned toad avoidance behavior, eagerly consume the Marine Toads that have been introduced there, often with fatal results.

Earthworms

Earthworms are one of the most nutritious live foods available. There are, however, situations that warrant precautions.

Earthworms are unique in consuming dirt as they tunnel, and in doing so may concentrate toxins present there. To my knowledge, the only problem that has arisen thus far has involved worms that dwell along golf courses, which are subjected to unusually high degrees of pesticide application. Please see my article Raising Earthworms for details concerning striped skunks and earthworms in NY.

West Nile Control and Related Programs

Avoid collecting invertebrates for 1 week after an area has been sprayed as part of West Nile eradication efforts, and steer clear of farms where pesticides are known to be applied regularly. Avoid also local insects that are considered to be agricultural pests, as they are likely the subject of control measures (this may apply to aphids, caterpillars, Japanese Beetles, etc.).

Enjoy

Despite the precautions that must be taken, invertebrate collecting is a fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable endeavor. Don’t forget to examine your catch closely…several years ago a new species of centipede was uncovered in NYC’s Central Park, on ground trod daily by thousands of people. Like me, you just may wind up keeping some of your discoveries in captivity for their own sake!

Further Reading

For a very interesting account of how toads learn to avoid stinging insects, please see my article Amphibian Learning Abilities.

Please write in with your questions and comments.

Black Widow image referenced from wikipedia and originally posted by Trachemys.

Milkweed Bugs image referenced from wikipedia and originally posted by Greg5030.

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 about 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