BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

I know that Blueys eat a range of bugs and grubs, would they eat lily beetles, they're pesticide free and fed on ALL my lily's, have alook at the photos and tell me what you think, if no good for blueys what about a beardy?

Cool looking bug. It's actually kinda cute.

*shrugs* I'm not as familiar with overseas insects. The bottom one looks weevil-like.

KW

We have those in Finland - it's called "liljakukko", which actually roughly translated means "lily rooster"

This bug starts to make noise when it's in distress. It kinda squeaks when you pick it up. The red colour normally indicates that the insect is poisonous or tastes bad - but why not try?

Can I feed this bug? questions come up periodically.

Quick rule of thumb: If it is brightly colored, it is either toxic or tastes bad (there are exceptions - some bugs look like toxic bugs - see protective mimcry) If it is camouflaged, then it's probably tasty.

Another good rule of thumb: if it's feeding on a toxic plant, it's probably toxic. FYI: lilies are usually toxic, deadly nightshade is in the lily family.

You are hitting both Red flags ( and the bug is literally red flagged )

I'd keep these well away from your skink and your beardie.

Colin

Thanks Colin, I'll try to get rid of them another way then, I did wonder if they were doing a mimic act, I might just let them finish off the lilies, then they should go away{not much of them left now anyway}

^The only way of getting rid of those is to kill them and their larvae (or get rid off the lily ) - they return mysteriously (spend the wintertime in the dirt close to the plant I guess) to the lily every year.
I thought that ladybugs were poisonous, but my praying mantis seemed to enjoy it And I think the skink would maybe try the bug, but if it tasted bad he would spit it out.

Thanks for that skinkee, I'll try one on sunday and let you know how it went

I disagree with the notion of why not just try it. I mean I'd imagine it wouldnt do much harm, but unless someone on here has successfully fed them to their skink, I wouldnt take the chance. There are so many things you can give Blueys to vary their diet. Why risk it?

hmmmm... i wouldn't risk it, 'cause i go parinoid over stuff like that

Yeah, well what do these guys eat in the wild? I believe a large variety of things, even rotten things like fruit and meat, am I right?

But I see your point. I would just be curious to see if the skink would eat it... I've fed mine a couple of prawns, although he wouldn't get access to them in the wild. But to be clear - maybe not a good idea to start feeding things on a regular basis if not sure about the effects they have, but I would try a couple due to curiousity

To each his own

BlueyBoy wrote:I disagree with the notion of why not just try it. I mean I'd imagine it wouldnt do much harm, but unless someone on here has successfully fed them to their skink, I wouldnt take the chance. There are so many things you can give Blueys to vary their diet. Why risk it?

Agreed 100%.

KW

skinkee wrote:Yeah, well what do these guys eat in the wild? I believe a large variety of things, even rotten things like fruit and meat, am I right?

But I see your point. I would just be curious to see if the skink would eat it... I've fed mine a couple of prawns, although he wouldn't get access to them in the wild. But to be clear - maybe not a good idea to start feeding things on a regular basis if not sure about the effects they have, but I would try a couple due to curiousity

The problem with that is BTS will eat almost ANYTHING! Yogurt, leather, rocks, dog crap, camera cords, marbles, rat poison. Taste doesn't always play a factor if they're hungry, so no, if it tastes bad, they might not spit it out. And I'm not sure a captive bluey would know what not to eat, so if an insect or plant were poisonous, the bluey may not know the difference!

It's funny what the old "teach you a lesson" saying does. People could feed their bluey everything under the sun saying it's fine, and a little won't hurt them, but as soon as their skink dies or gets dreadfully sick, they tend to jump on the other side.

Zach, why do you think that a captive bluey might not know what's right or wrong to eat? It's not like they're domesticated in any way, that takes many many generations of specific or selective breeding to evolve desired traits.

If anything, I reckon a captive bred bluey would eat less outside than a wild one, because captive breds are better fed and so may not be as hungry or do not need to be as opportunistic feeders.

When mine are outside I rely alot on them to tell me what they prefer to eat, rather than me determining what's good for them. I get what you are all saying, but I put more faith in their millions of years of instinct than in my handful of years keeping them as 'pets'.

Maybe it's easier for me because I know that the habitat that I live in is home to wild blueys.

Common sense should always play a part for those of us who try to let ours have as 'natural' a life as they can. If one of mine is outside and decides a bug looks yummo I don't interfere. But that's different to finding bugs and giving them to them because I think they look tasty.

Besides, I have lousy taste. I think chicken flavoured chips/crisps with a red apple tastes divine (has to be chicken flavoured but)

In answer to Lisa's question, I have a theory:

I think they develop tastes based upon their environments. So it's sort-of like domseticating, but look how easy it is for them to get "stuck" on one flavor of something. They may be predispositioned to trying many things but they eventually get into a routine. It makes me wonder if this played a role in how the species distributed themselves across Aus and created all the different strains of, say, the Easterns.

KW

"Imprinting" on a food source doesnt happen over night, I had an Iguana that did that a few years ago , I didnt realise my other half was feeding her only peas and calci dust for three weeks while I was a way for work, she fed her that coz she knew she liked them, took me over a month to get her to start eating other foods offered.