Help! Frog lover very scared of bugs! Where should I start?

[dilovesfrogs]

Hello,

I have been a frog/toad lover for a long time, and have been dreaming of having my own frogs. However, I am award that handling frogs involves handling bugs or worms. I have been very scared of these disgusting things since I was a kid, and the thought of them makes me throw up.

Can anyone give me any suggestions on this? Do all the frog lovers love bugs as well? If not, where did you start and how did you conquer your fears?

A life without frogs is bleak and sad...

Thank you in advance!!!!

:'(

[Hidr]

Get some African dwarf frogs. Feed them frozen foods. No yucky bugs.

[Sasha]

I'm with you, I hate bugs too! Your love of frogs helps you overcome your fear though. They need YOU to feed them and they have to eat bugs. So start with something small, like small crickets, and work your way up in size. Wearing gloves also helps you mentally because you are touching them but not really touching them. After awhile you will work up a tolerance for them.

I looked up at my ceiling one day and said "oh look there's a loose cricket" and continued on with what I was doing! Of course, I got some tape and taped up all the escape holes in my tanks so it doesn't happen again but the point is I didn't SCREAM when I saw it!

[demon amphibians]

I have never been afraid of bugs but i did very much dislike roaches. Most of my life they gave me the eeby jeebies. But my pet food bill started getting larger and larger until I found myself paying almost 80 bucks in food a month. meaning crickets, worms and such. So i had to make a choice keep spending on over priced crickets which have a poor nutritional value compared to my other option which was culturing a colony of roaches the only insect in the world that bothered me. So how i got over my phobia of roaches was i did research to better understand them. When i found that some species had a poor rep because of there invasive cousins. I started to feel better about the idea of them. I went out and bought a few Madagascar hissing roaches. Trust me this things are big and quit unpleasant to handle but after i pushed aside my fears and stared to handle them with gloves at first i started to get used to them. then i picked them up with my bare hands knowing that roaches are some of the cleanest insects on the planet aside from the kind you find in your trash can. In fact i found that if you touch a roach it will run off hide and clean itself of your filth. knowing these things about them is what got me through the whole roach idea and now i have 30,000+ dubia roaches which are much smaller then the Madagascar roaches. instead of paying 80 bucks a month in food. most months my feeder bill is 0 dollars which is just great. They are cleaner then crickets and worms. If you would like to know more to better understand there true nature i can give you all the information you will ever need. I promise i can convince you to change your mind about these veggie eating, peaceful, non invasive , non biting, non flying, non jumping, slow moving insects. That have no smell and are no more fearful than a butterfly yet much cleaner.

[dilovesfrogs]

I have never been afraid of bugs but i did very much dislike roaches. Most of my life they gave me the eeby jeebies. But my pet food bill started getting larger and larger until I found myself paying almost 80 bucks in food a month. meaning crickets, worms and such. So i had to make a choice keep spending on over priced crickets which have a poor nutritional value compared to my other option which was culturing a colony of roaches the only insect in the world that bothered me. So how i got over my phobia of roaches was i did research to better understand them. When i found that some species had a poor rep because of there invasive cousins. I started to feel better about the idea of them. I went out and bought a few Madagascar hissing roaches. Trust me this things are big and quit unpleasant to handle but after i pushed aside my fears and stared to handle them with gloves at first i started to get used to them. then i picked them up with my bare hands knowing that roaches are some of the cleanest insects on the planet aside from the kind you find in your trash can. In fact i found that if you touch a roach it will run off hide and clean itself of your filth. knowing these things about them is what got me through the whole roach idea and now i have 30,000+ dubia roaches which are much smaller then the Madagascar roaches. instead of paying 80 bucks a month in food. most months my feeder bill is 0 dollars which is just great. They are cleaner then crickets and worms. If you would like to know more to better understand there true nature i can give you all the information you will ever need. I promise i can convince you to change your mind about these veggie eating, peaceful, non invasive , non biting, non flying, non jumping, slow moving insects. That have no smell and are no more fearful than a butterfly yet much cleaner.

Oh no! What an experience! Other people might think it is insane to raise roaches, but only true frog lovers are willing to conquer their fears of disgusting stuff! Thank you for the detailed info and I might consult you when I am at that step. I think I will follow other people's suggestion -- start from small bugs. My tolerance for bugs is a little lower than normal people so it might take a little longer

I am so happy to find this forum. It is such a relief to find so many frog lovers here -- I thought people are only interested in more active pets, and amphibians are doomed. It always makes me so sad that frogs are heavily affected by human activities.

Thank you guys again. Amphibian lovers are good people!

[dilovesfrogs]

I'm with you, I hate bugs too! Your love of frogs helps you overcome your fear though. They need YOU to feed them and they have to eat bugs. So start with something small, like small crickets, and work your way up in size. Wearing gloves also helps you mentally because you are touching them but not really touching them. After awhile you will work up a tolerance for them.

I looked up at my ceiling one day and said "oh look there's a loose cricket" and continued on with what I was doing! Of course, I got some tape and taped up all the escape holes in my tanks so it doesn't happen again but the point is I didn't SCREAM when I saw it!

Wow, thank you for sharing your experience. For bug/worm-haters like us, having a frog is a life changing experience

Love your tree frog there.

[dilovesfrogs]

Get some African dwarf frogs. Feed them frozen foods. No yucky bugs.

Thank you very much for the info!

[Mentat]

...handling frogs involves handling bugs or worms. I have been very scared of these disgusting things since I was a kid, and the thought of them makes me throw up.

Can anyone give me any suggestions on this? Do all the frog lovers love bugs as well? If not, where did you start and how did you conquer your fears?...

As per other posts; it's all about building tolerance. Get some light gloves (i.e. kitchen or medical) and some slower bugs (night crawlers, Dubia roaches, etc.) and try handling them. If you get stressed lots (a little discomfort is fine and part of healing process from bug fear) just look at them first until comfortable enough to try and handle. Once OK with gloves, you can try without them. Touch first and once that is OK; try pick-up and maybe handling later. Always start each activity with short periods of time and then increase it until can handle OK.

With luck in a few weeks to months you should be able to do it OK. Having someone serious that is fine with handling them bugs without playing jokes on you would be very helpful. If you get sick to point of panic attack or throwing up; take a step back and continue process from easier activities.

I'm fine with bugs, but recently started having serious panic attacks when driving across bridges. A great resource to help with phobias is "The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook" by Edmund J. Bourne. Good luck!