Toxicity Of Fire Flies

[AKFROG]

I just read a short article on a veterinarian website about pet owners feeding fire flies to bearded dragons and them dying because of that. They can be very toxic to certain reptiles and amphibians that are not native to the U.S where fire flies are found. We don't have fire flies here in Alaska, just Brown Bears. I don't know what part of the U.S. have fire flies. I guess they are really a species of beetle.

[Lija]

I think you should not feed brown bears to your frog

[Lecroixe]

Well a brown bear couldn't harm anymore than a pinkie once a month right? Haha.

Though that is interesting. I haven't heard of anyone feeding fire flies to their pets. I actually know a guy from work that does look for prey to feed to his pets from his backyard though. (I recall he would look for smaller frogs as feed, another time he fed his betta to his piranhas.)

[Mentat]

We have lots of Fire Flies here in Summer and yes they are deadly to animals (reptiles or amphibians) that eat them. Local animals know not to eat (the light generating chemical also works as defense and deterrent); but bearded dragons and other imported pet's from areas without them have no idea and just see a nice glowing attractive bug .

[AKFROG]

It's not a good idea to feed wild creatures to your pets. I would be worried about parasites and like the fire flies a toxic substance also.

[Tongue Flicker]

I saw a few male cane toads feeding on fire flies on a beach before. I wonder how that went lol

[GrifTheGreat]

I just read a short article on a veterinarian website about pet owners feeding fire flies to bearded dragons and them dying because of that. They can be very toxic to certain reptiles and amphibians that are not native to the U.S where fire flies are found. We don't have fire flies here in Alaska, just Brown Bears. I don't know what part of the U.S. have fire flies. I guess they are really a species of beetle.

Fire Flies are all over the US. It may be too cold in Alaska for their life cycle. They are indeed toxic.

[AKFROG]

We just have lots of Mosquitos, Horse Flies and No See Um's.