Xenopus frog food

[Angus]

Have any of you ever wondered that if the food you are feeding your frogs is good enough for them? well... i have recently been thinking that due to not having the recommended food.
where i live there is nothing called a pet shop in the whole country there is nothing. I've always dreamed of opening up a PET SHOP. but that is way out of my league.
anyway. here are the foods that i usually feed them.
minced beef,minced beef,minced beef,minced beef,minced beef, THAT'S ALL I HAVE FOR THEM AND IM FEELING SORRY FOR THEM!

Isent there anything else i can feed the besides MINCED BEEF??
is there some thing that i can like prepare for them and freeze it?

[Heatheranne]

What types of frogs do you have? Do they eat the beef well? Being the beef is not running around alive like crickets or other insects, you might be able to get them to eat dried crickets. I'm not sure if they are as nutritious as live ones though. But, dried crickets can be purchased. You might even be able to purchase frozen ones. And depending on the size and type of your frogs, I'm am sure you can purchase live chilled worms on the Internet. Is there anywhere to go fishing there that would sell worms or crickets as bait?

[tgampper]

Hi Angus:

One good thing about Xenopus is that they will eat just about anything that will go into their mouth. A variety of non-poisonous insects, slugs, worms, aquatic invertebrates, and even small fish will be taken eagerly. Unfortunately, a steady diet of meat is not good for these frogs and eventually cause vitamin A deficiency and metabolic bone disease. Since Xenopus is native to Mozambique, there should be no problems finding food for them. How large are your frogs and would you be able to post any pictures?

[Angus]

here are some pics of the xen frogs i have X. levies and X. mueleri.

[tgampper]

I glad your mom is doing well. Several years ago, I had my appendix removed and it was a very painful experience.

[Jakub T]

Earthworms would be a great addition to your frogs diet

For my frogs, earthworms are the basic food As an addition, I use snails (without shell), live bloodworms, Grindal worms, and, occasionally, insects and small fish.

Angus, I wish good health for your mom

[tgampper]

Hi Angus:

Thanks for the photos. Are X.laevis and X.muelleri living together in the same body of water or are they in separate locations? It would be interesting to know if they're any hybrids.

[Angus]

Yes they are living together. i have more photoes on my profile
and, having them live together i'm leaning their difference. and have found that X. muelleri"s metabolism in much faster than the X laevis.

[Angus]

no, i have no hybrids here..

[Angus]

There is one X. laevis that i have and recently it has grown black spots on the under side of its legs as you can see in this photo. is this normal for them to change colour paterns? the frog is only 7 months old
and the other 3 X. laevis froglets that are the biggest of all that are only 4cm from the tip of the their noses to the cloaca, have started singing. but singing in short busts 2 to 4 second long, and continue after about two min or so. they dont sing all the time. they usualy sing alot after i feed them and the three of them have mating pads but not very dark pads. and what bugs me is that they are only 7 months old and i know their age coz i raised them from eggs
can anyone help me with answers?
Terry i'm sure you can. you have already helped me on all my questions.
i would really appreciate it.
thanks
Angus

[Jakub T]

Moths are very good food for clawed frogs - they're vivacious, and often large. My Xenopus laevis and Silurana tropicalis love to eat this kind of insects. Even my African Dwarf Frogs are eating moths, of course, in small size

[tgampper]

Hi Angus:

Sorry for not responding sooner. I looked through my African amphibian field guides and could not find any reference of X. laevis having large black spots on the underside. So, I have no explanation for the spots. Just keep a close eye on the spots. There is only one species of southern African Xenopus that has spots on the belly and on the underside of the legs - X. petersii, but they are found only in Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Zambia and northeast into Tanzania.

Photo xeno3.jpg is your typical X. muelleri. The key is the subocular tentacle just under the eye. Muelleri's tentacle is very long. I have never seen a pattern as in photo xeno2.jpg. That's my favorite

The age of sexual maturity for laevis is about 9 months for females and a year for males. You will find that muelleri isn't as large as laevis. Males will develop thick "nuptial" pads and the cloaca (vent) of the female will be swollen.

The call of X. laevis is quite complicated. The male has at least three distinct calls and the female has two. It appears that the female determines how long or short the male's advertisement call is. The male will call first, if the female likes him, she will give a long rap with excites the male. If the female is not interested, she will give a slow tick and the male will abruptly stop calling. These duets can be quite loud. Mine like to call in the twilight hours, just before sunrise and just after sunset.

[tgampper]

Hi Jacob,

Welcome to Frog Forum. Thanks for the food information. Would like to see pictures of your frogs

[Jakub T]

I created an album: http://www.frogforum.net/members/jak...a-jakub-t.html
My young African Clawed Frogs (wild type), Dwarf Frogs and a pair of Tropical Clawed Frogs

[Angus]

thank you Jacob.
and thank you too terry.

but have there been any record of acf frogs singing and having pads at a youg age of 7 months? and my frogs arent even that big as you can see in this one photo its not longer than 5 cm.

and about the spots on the one frog of mine, i think its normal, because in Jacobs photos one of his acf also has spots. teh image below is the frog that has the spots.

thank you
Angus


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[Jakub T]

Yes, young ACF's have spots, that disappear with maturation - it's the opinion of my friend - he has six adult frogs, including four in "wild type".

[tgampper]

but have there been any record of acf frogs singing and having pads at a youg age of 7 months? and my frogs arent even that big as you can see in this one photo its not longer than 5 cm.

I think it is normal for a male to call at 7 months. Even though the average sexual maturity for males is about 12 months, there are always individuals that seem to break the rules

and about the spots on the one frog of mine, i think its normal, because in Jacobs photos one of his acf also has spots. teh image below is the frog that has the spots.

Jacob is right. Young Xenopus do have spots that will go away as the frog matures.

[tgampper]

ae

I created an album: http://www.frogforum.net/members/jak...a-jakub-t.html
My young African Clawed Frogs (wild type), Dwarf Frogs and a pair of Tropical Clawed Frogs

I like your photos of Silurana tropicalis I would say it is one of my favorite African species. According to many researchers, this species is replacing X. leavis as a model lab organism. The reason is that S. tropicalis matures twice as fast as X. laevis and is less genetically complicated. By the way, frogs in the genus Silurana are more closely related to Pipa (Surinam toads) and Hymenochirus (dwarf clawed frogs) than to Xenopus.

[Jakub T]

Their behavior is quite different from the clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis). Most of the time they spend motionless at the water surface, between the plants. They are not good swimmers, in contrast to the clawed frogs. Often bury themselves in the substrate. Their favorite food are insects, like crickets, flies, moths.

[tgampper]

It is highly recommended that you add a Xenopus enrichment pad (fancy name for a plastic lily pad) to your tank. Silurana tropicalis, S. epitropicalis, and a new species, S. paratropicalis like to bask out of the water.