Quote Originally Posted by Gnag the nameless View Post
I am curious; who else likes to watch their frogs hunt their prey? I certainly do. I'm not trying to be cruel, and yes, I sometimes do feel a bit remorseful, but many scientists agree that crickets and insects alike are not conscious. And I never have [and most likely never will] fed my frogs a mouse.

Anyways, I simply find it interesting to watch an animal hunt prey, using their primal instincts and specialized tactics to capture their meal.

I'm also curious, do frogs hunt in different ways? Maybe, you all could explain how your frogs hunt. I'd love to know all the different ways a frog catches it's prey. I wouldn't think Pacman frogs chase their prey around like my frogs will do if they miss or prey escapes their grasp [which it rarely ever does]. However, are all frogs ambush predators?

For me, since my juvenile bullfrogs were wild caught as froglets, they are very skittish, so catching one in the act of hunting is a rare and precious moment. I need to have a camera nearby more often.

As for how they hunt, here's a rather dramatic revision of it:

My juvenile american bullfrogs will swim towards their prey, as silent as the water itself. If it is a shallow section of the water, they will stalk towards their prey like a tiger on the prowl approaching an unsuspecting Sambar deer, getting ready to strike. They will get within jumping range, and leap, swallowing their prey whole, whether it is on a lilypad, rock, leaf, or simply floating in the water. They will open their mouths to envelope their prey or using their front arms to cram the food into their mouth. This happens within a second, maybe even half a second. Also, the second they leap, they'll never give up. Even if they must chase the cricket onto land, so be it, they will hunt that thing down! And then they'll eat it up, and have this kind of smug look on their faces. It's a real spectacle to watch.
I occasionally feed my african clawed frogs (x. laevis) crickets, they are completely aquatic crogs so their method of hunting insects will obviously differ from terrestrial frogs. In the wild, they are known to prey on insects that fall into the water and get trapped on the surface water tension so when feeding I will sprinkle a few crickets into their aquarium water.

Once they hit the water they vainly will try to swim and this attracts the frogs very quickly. The methods used by each frog is actually a bit different. Some of my frogs will slowly wade up to the surface until it is right beneath the cricket and then quickly strike and retreat to the substrate (xenopus will always retreat on a successful or unsuccessful attempt to catch prey near the waters surface, it's an instinct to avoid predation from birds and other predators). One of my frogs can actually swim directly upwards strike the cricket and catch it in it's mouth and fall back to the substrate in all one motion, which is quite impressive for a species which supposedly has poor vision.

It is pretty cool to observe all this, xenopus use their forearms to push food into their mouths and since they lack a tongue they also use a hyobranchial pump to suck food into their mouths, they often will use plants to anchor themselves and stay slightly below the surface, waiting for prey to present itself.