# Stink bugs and mealy bugs safe or not?



## Keyqueen (May 30, 2021)

We've been having our usual winter time infestations of stink bugs and aphids/mealybugs. With it being my first year as a froglet mom I've been paying a lot more attention to it this year then in the past. 

With the stink bugs I'm concerned my Grey's might try to eat them if any happen to get inside their terrariums. Besides the fact that the bugs would be a pretty big mouth full for my little guys, (the largest of them is barely an inch long if that), I've read that stink bugs can be toxic.

With the mealy bugs, my mom has a houseplant (goldfish plant) that is infested with them. She doen't want to use chamicals on it and has suggested I put the plant in one of my terrariums for awhile to see if the frogs will help any. I don't have a problam doing this in theory but would like to know what possible risks there might be to my frogs.


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

So long as your frog isn't otherwise starving, it may try to eat the odd not-food-intended insect, and never try it again due to the bad taste. Poisonings of captive animals (usually by plants, and very rare in any event) are almost always due to either mixing the toxic food in with normal food (livestock are prone to this), starving animals (livestock on range), or pathological behavior (cats and dogs eating plants because captivity makes them crazy). Vacuum up the stink bugs when you see them, and don't worry.

It isn't likely that a tree frog will eat mealybugs, and certainly not enough of them to eradicate them. 

Also, all plants put into a frog (or other animal) vivarium should be fully disinfected with a bleach dip beforehand, to eliminate frog pathogens (which cause disease in frogs) and plant pests (which can multiply in vivs and infest your other plants). Putting a known infested plant into a viv is a very bad idea.

Sometimes mealybugs can be removed by repeated attacks with a very strong stream of water. They can also be swabbed off with a Q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol.


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## IShouldGetSomeSleep (Sep 23, 2021)

Keyqueen said:


> We've been having our usual winter time infestations of stink bugs and aphids/mealybugs. With it being my first year as a froglet mom I've been paying a lot more attention to it this year then in the past.
> 
> With the stink bugs I'm concerned my Grey's might try to eat them if any happen to get inside their terrariums. Besides the fact that the bugs would be a pretty big mouth full for my little guys, (the largest of them is barely an inch long if that), I've read that stink bugs can be toxic.
> 
> With the mealy bugs, my mom has a houseplant (goldfish plant) that is infested with them. She doen't want to use chamicals on it and has suggested I put the plant in one of my terrariums for awhile to see if the frogs will help any. I don't have a problam doing this in theory but would like to know what possible risks there might be to my frogs.


I've had good results treating mealybugs on some palms using a high concentration solution of neem oil and of course going in and crushing them. Frogs won't eat mealie bugs they hardly move. There is also a type of ladybug relative sold as a natural predator of mealie bugs but they cost far too much to be practical.


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## Keyqueen (May 30, 2021)

My mom said she has been spring the plant with the hose on to kitchen sink and not having much luck.
We actually did have an experience this summer with aphids on the bean plants in her garden. When the tadpoles I was raised morphed out I released most of them on my moms bean plants which where infested with aphids, within the month the apids had all but disappeared and we were finding tiny fat frogs sleeping on the leafs for the rest of the summer.
That's way my mom thinks the frogs could take care of them. I thought they might not be intrested now that they're bigger but am/was willing to give them the chance as long as the mealy bugs themselves arn't harmful to them. 
As for the bugs infesting the terrarium, I only have fake plants and use frog foam as substrate so it should be fairly easy to disinfect afterward. 
I hadn't however considered the possibility of the plant carring a disease that could affect the frogs.


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## Imatreewaterme (May 19, 2021)

I had stinkbugs infest my house one time. Turns out they were coming in from the chimney. It was such a pain until I found where they were coming from.

Goodluck!

Ricky


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## solidsnake (Jun 3, 2014)

Are you having problems with mealy bugs or aphids? They’re two totally different pests. Mealy bug infestations can be an absolute pain. Read up on their life cycle to fully understand how to deal with them. I remember pulling out all of my plants, washing them in soapy water, soaking in bleach/water solution, spraying them with rubbing alcohol, replanting and still having mealy bugs. It seems like once they have a chance to become established, nothing short of setting your viv on fire gets rid of them.


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## lork-the-mighty (May 11, 2021)

Socratic Monologue said:


> (cats and dogs eating plants because captivity makes them crazy).


Little bit offtopic but what do you mean with this? AFAIK cats eat plants to puke, and dogs eat plants because well.. they’re omnivores.


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

I don't know dogs well, as I've never cared for one. "The internet" lists boredom as one of the reasons that dogs eat houseplants, and captivity is nothing if not boring. Animals of all sorts can figure out quickly which food is good, and which is toxic, but not if they're forced to eat only one item -- so eating a toxic houseplant can be an artifact of captivity in an omnivore whose diet is inadequate (i.e. they don't have any grass to eat). It is neat to see how skillfully our sheep eat the grass around _Datura_ that pops up in our pastures occasionally.

Cats eat plants sometimes to get their owner's attention -- I've had numerous cats that know do to this, as it gets my goat. Cats chew on things when they're cooped up -- it looks clearly like a nervous reaction, like when they lick all the fur off part of their body when there's no medical issue the cat is responding to -- and houseplants are a convenient target. Cats make houseplants the target of hunting practice -- they destroy the plant, and then chew it up, usually a prized plant. ;( Yes, cats do eat plants to puke, but this has been only a minority of cases in my experience.


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## Captain Awesome (Jan 13, 2018)

lork-the-mighty said:


> Little bit offtopic but what do you mean with this? AFAIK cats eat plants to puke, and dogs eat plants because well.. they’re omnivores.


Actually, Neither of these statements is true. They are very common and frequently used myths. 
Cats puke because they ate undigestible plant matter. They don’t eat it because they need or want to puke. 
Dogs are often noted as being omnivorous because people feed them omnivorous diets but their gut lacks much of the capabilities that would define them this way. Their gut is about the same length as cats, short like a carnivore. Wolves eat very small percent plant matter, so small it is inconsequential and dogs are basically wolves. They can not ferment pretty much any plant material. They can digest some of the heavily processed plants we feed them. 
Both animals eating plants is more likely a result of being domesticated and kept in captivity.


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