# Do bearded dragons eat "Christmas beetles"?



## Star_Cameron (Nov 4, 2015)

Hello,

It's that time of year when there are a tonne of Christmas beetles around, I'm not sure if people might know them by another name. But I'm wondering if they are a natural food for beardies in the wild?

I wouldn't consider feeding them to my beardie, since they are wild and probably full of poison, and they also seem like they would be quite 'chitin-y'. But a couple of times one of them has flown into my house and started smashing into my beardies tank because of the lights. My beardie just goes nuts for it, charges towards it and tries to eat it through the glass. The only other 'food' that gets close to this reaction is mealworms. I'll have to film it next time, it's pretty full on how much he wants to eat them.

Any thoughts?


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## HiramAbiff (Nov 4, 2015)

Yep, I've fed them to my beardies in the past. 
I've also seen wild lizards absolutely smash them.


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## Sean_L (Nov 4, 2015)

All my dragons are very fond of them. Free food as far as I'm concerned. And more importantly, its quality food that's full of vitamins and minerals that purchased 'live food' may not contain.
They're actually the Brown Coc kchafer Beetle _Rhopaea magnicornis _(the space is to avoid the sensor, sorry mods).

The 'Christmas Beetle' is a great deal less common and quite spectacularly coloured in comparison with glossy cream wing covers and an iridescent sheen.


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## Nero Egernia (Nov 4, 2015)

The Christmas Beetle is not poisonous (unless it has come into contact with pesticides). Are you referring to the _Anoplognathus_ species? I regularly feed them to my lizards and they eat them with gusto (Dragons and Blue-tongues). In my opinion wild-caught insects are a great source of food provided they have not come into contact with pesticides and other such poisons. My lizards will always go for the wild fodder over the store bought insects any day.


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## twistedFrog (Nov 5, 2015)

Ahh the things you never thought about nor thought you needed to know, then someone posts a thread and you go WOW now I know I actually am glad I read that thread! Thanks


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## Star_Cameron (Nov 5, 2015)

Thanks for the input!

Do you think it would be a good idea to maybe catch a few, and try and keep them for a couple of days with the same food you'd feed crickets, just to make sure any potential pesticides are out of their system? Kind of like an insect detox.

Thoughts?


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## mad_at_arms (Nov 5, 2015)

Just be aware that most beetles have a hard undigestable exo skeleton. (google chitin) 
It might fit in the front end but may have problems coming out the rear end. So choose suitable sized beetles and don't go overboard with the feeding of them. That said some of my geckos go crazy for wild caught grasshoppers. Whenever I go home to see my folks I always take a cricket tub to catch wild insects. As for insecticides, most are designed to work quickly (otherwise they aren't doing their job) if you have concerns hang on the bugs for a day or so before feeding.


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## Star_Cameron (Nov 5, 2015)

I've attached a picture of the beetles. They're quite small, the head plate seems like the hardest chitin, but the wings seem quite soft, as does the body. And they're quite plump, so the ratio of flesh to chitin it probably pretty good if that means anything. Apologies for the crappy photo haha, my phone's camera is having issues focusing.

Also the previous poster was right about it being a brown cockchafer rather than a "christmas beetle".

Thanks again for your input.


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## Newts (Nov 6, 2015)

On a similar note, I wanted to give my gecko a moth since we have so many around and I thought it would be great for her to chase something that uses vertical space like she does. But then I hesitated, wondering if there were any parasites that may be found in the moth's gut that can transfer to reptiles. Does anyone know if this can occur?


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