How safe is feeder frog

Hi and welcome to the forum. I will let someone else weigh in on this because I'm jaded. You see I love frogs and would never feed them to anything. If I got a bunch of feeder frogs I would end up with a bunch of adult feeder frogs. Maybe someone else has a different opinion.

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I am in agreement here. I don't think its a good idea to feed frogs to frogs. Its expensive and potentially dangerous. Frogs (and amphibians in general) use toxins to protect themselves from predation, so they really don't make good feeder items. Of course they have their own predators that can over come this, hognose snakes, Heterodon sp. come to mind. A North American bullfrog, Lithobates catesbeianus (I assume that's what we are talking about) could probably eat a wide variety of frogs species, but why take a chance. If you are thinking of feeding smaller bullfrogs to a larger one, forget it. That's a great way to pass diseases on to your frog.

There was a study I read about in National Geographic a few years back, where they fed various salamanders to tiger salamanders, Ambystoma tigrinum. One of the salamanders used as a feeding item were smaller tiger salamanders. They were fed both sick and healthy salamanders. Those that ate salamanders of an unrelated species were fine regardless if the prey animals were healthy or sick. Those that ate the sick tigers, became ill themselves. Something to think about.

As far as feeding your bullfrog, stick to crickets, mealworms, waxworms, superworms, earthworms, horn worms, roaches, silkworms, and so on. Its a much healthier and risk free diet.

Let's not forget the thousands of possible pathogens that may be hitch-hiking on a amphibian. Likewise in the wild, most species of frogs DO NOT eat other amphibians commonly. There are a few species (C. cornuta is on that I can think of off hand) that actually DO specialize in eating other frogs/amphibians. These frogs though have enzymes that allow them to accomplish this without harm, because they have millions of years of evolution to allow that type of foraging behavior (similar to how king snakes can eat venomous snakes without harm). Plus I personally couldn't bare to watch a frog eat another frog. So stick to insects, and if you really must for a RARE TREAT pinkie mice.

Originally Posted by NW Amphibian Rescue

Hi and welcome to the forum. I will let someone else weigh in on this because I'm jaded. You see I love frogs and would never feed them to anything. If I got a bunch of feeder frogs I would end up with a bunch of adult feeder frogs. Maybe someone else has a different opinion.

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i know exactly what you mean!! LOL and besides that .. wouldn't that technically be cannablism? i mean, i know they eat each other in the wild, but personally, it would definitely weird me out.

Ehh just stick to insects. If you want variety why not go for the following:
Crickets
Locust
Grasshoppers
Roaches
Moths(no butterflies)
Earthworms(of all kind)
Wax worms
Pheonix worms(high in calcium)
Slugs
Snails

Etc.

Stay away from other amphibians, reptiles, fish and mammals as a food. Just trust me on that one.

Originally Posted by NW Amphibian Rescue

Hi and welcome to the forum. I will let someone else weigh in on this because I'm jaded. You see I love frogs and would never feed them to anything. If I got a bunch of feeder frogs I would end up with a bunch of adult feeder frogs. Maybe someone else has a different opinion.

Please select your national colors on your profile. Thanks

I occasionally give my garter snakes a frog or toad as a treat, or use them to get Nerodia feeding. That is about the extent of it

As for possible toxins, it should not be a problem. Bullfrogs LOVE eating other frogs. As a matter of fact numerous species are going extinct in part because of introduced bullfrogs.

That having been said, the parasites a wild caught frog will carry will probably harm a captive bullfrog, particularly a captive bred animal that does not have a properly primed immune system.

I would recommend Dubai roaches. They are easy to keep and breed, cant fly, and done clime glass.

As others have said, pathogens would be a concern. If you really want to try it, it might be worth de-worming a mating pair and breeding the feeders yourself. (Sounds like more trouble than it's worth.)