Wood lice?

[endrien]

Could a leopard gecko eat wood lice? You life up any piece of wood on the ground here and there are a ton of them so it makes me wonder if leo's could eat them?

 

[ElapidSVT]

the only problem with feeding wild insects is the possibility of introducing parasites and diseases.
otherwise, it's just fine!

 

[endrien]

the only problem with feeding wild insects is the possibility of introducing parasites and diseases.
otherwise, it's just fine!

I was wondering where they are so common if breeding them would be viable, not as a staple food(or could they be?) but as a bit of a treat. I've heard they are high in calcium.
Is there any way of killing potential parasites and diseases?

 

[ElapidSVT]

o yeah, the other thing is pesticides. forgot about that bit as well.
not sure about treating insects for parasites, specifically mites.
it's generally considered risky behavior, feeding wild insects to captive herps.

i'd recommend against it.

 

[endrien]

o yeah, the other thing is pesticides. forgot about that bit as well.
not sure about treating insects for parasites, specifically mites.
it's generally considered risky behavior, feeding wild insects to captive herps.

i'd recommend against it.

Well, I'm not sure they would be exposed to pesticides as I could get them from in the woods not near any houses. But you may be right about not risking it.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

It's not a good idea to feed captive animals any wild caught prey unless it's something necessary for the survival of the species. In the case of leopard geckos, no, it's very risky.

 

[T-ReXx]

WC invertebrates can carry quite a few internal parasites as well. Also, some species of Isopod produce varying amounts of cyanide as a defense. Unless you are certain you are dealing with non-toxic species and raise several generations seperately to reduce parasite risk, I would not recommend it. Some people(including myself) utilize isopods as cleanup crews in naturalistic vivs and the geckos don't eat them due to their bad taste and in some cases higher toxicity levels. Stick to safe, cultured feeder species.

 

[rhino43grr]

neherpetoculture.com sells isopod cultures. they have breeding kits for them also. i'm going to be ordering some eventually for in a naturalistic vivarium i'm working on. they're high in calcium from what i understand.

http://neherpetoculture.com/liveinsects.htm

 

[Klogue1]

I was also wondering this a while back too, but I had been looking at cultures being sold online, like rhino43grr said. I've heard they can be nutritional but I've not found a chart listing their facts... any ideas?

BTW, sorry to intrude haha ^_^