Can I feed walking sticks to my frogs?

[missclick]

A local woman has probably THOUSANDS of walking sticks, because they breed so quickly, and wants to get rid of some of them. I'm wondering if they are okay food for my little dudes.

[Paul Rust]

A local woman has probably THOUSANDS of walking sticks, because they breed so quickly, and wants to get rid of some of them. I'm wondering if they are okay food for my little dudes.

Hi missclick, I would recommend against it for several reasons. One is that all stick insects have a fairly powerful bite and can pinch with their thorny limbs as well possibly injuring your frog, this can also happen with adult crickets. The second and most important reason is that the American Walking Stick (Anisomorpha buprestroides) and others have a defensive chemical spray that can cause considerable pain and blindness in an adult human, I can only imagine what it would do to a frog. I would stick to common and accepted food items. Good job asking someone before you tried it!

I should note that Anisomorpha buprestroides lives in the southeast U.S. and I used it as an example of what can happen if you don't know exactly what you are getting. You never know what people have, You wouldn't expect a Poison Dart Frog in the American West but look in my living room.

[missclick]

I'm glad i asked too, and thank you for the quick reply. I had no idea those little buggers were so dangerous haha.

[Paul Rust]

I'm glad i asked too, and thank you for the quick reply. I had no idea those little buggers were so dangerous haha.

You're welcome, I can't remember if I caught your intro or not. Just in case,

WELCOME TO THE FORUM!!!

[missclick]

another question this time about my crickets, since i dont keep alot of crickets on hand (30 at most) i havent gone through the trouble of buying cricket food (that gooey blueish stuff) and i had read somewhere they eat almost anything but if you feed them vegetables and whatnot the nutrients from the veggies is transferred on to the frogs when they eat the crickets.
so, i've been feeding my crickets carrots and stuff and after seeing their abdomens fill up with orange stuff im a little worried that the carrots might not be good for the frogs.

should i stop feeding the crickets veggies and go buy cricket food or should it be okay?

[Paul Rust]

They should be fine to feed to your frogs. You should be dusting them with vitamin and calcium supplements. That is more important than what your crickets are eating.

[missclick]

awesome thanks for the reply
and yeah i do dust them with frog supplement stuff

[Paul Rust]

You should be fine then.

[Kurt]

Carrots are great! Turns the crickets' poo orange, but more importantly by eating the carrots, the crickets can turn the carotenes in the carrots into vitamin A.

[missclick]

super, its really funny because with the young crickets you can almost see through them so you can see all the carrot inside of them

it may be lame but i have a lot of fun watching the crickets as well as my frogs haha

[Kurt]

That's not lame. At the Museum of Science, when I worked there, we had a "bug zoo" exhibit and one of the species we had on display was Acheta domesticus, the domestic cricket. I thought that was kind of lame, but I guess when you feed hundreds of thousands of these guys to frogs and what not, you have a different perspective than your average museum visitor.

[missclick]

well that is true, but it doesnt mean they are any less interesting than any other insect, heck i think watching wood lice is fun

when i was young i wanted to grow up and be and entomologist, and id have to say that snails are on my top ten favorite animal list and very close to the top. i used to paint their shells and then track them around my yard haha

still waiting for my chubby to come out of his hiding space, the anticipation is killing me