can I feed to my frog wildcaught frogs?

[danfrog]

Just because frogs are the main food sources in the wild doesn't mean that they are the optimal food source in captivity. I mean you wouldn't go and feed your dog dead animals you find on the side of the road just because it is probably what a wild dog would eat if it found it. I guess you could say that pacman frogs are opertunist out in the wild. They will eat what ever is available just to be able to survive a littlebit longer.

[Lija]

Justin, i don't even see the point to argue with "oh i fed like that and nothing happened"
i will repeat though to never use wild caught frogs to a frog living in captivity!
1. ethical aspect of feeding frogs to a frogs! Most people will find offensive the idea of even raised from the eggs and diseases/toxins free frogs to be used as a food, unless there is absolutely no other choice and as a last resort, for example some WC cornutas.
what could possibly be a reason to feed even captive bred or captive raised frogs to a frogs, when there so many food items available. the fact that in a wild frogs diet consist mostly of anurans doesn't necessarily mean we should do that in captivity. First of all the way that data was collected, frogs were collected when they are available ( breeding season and babies/youngsters). At that time and in general they eat what is readily available. More importantly care and life in captivity is very different from such in a wild, thus we need to adjust a lot of things to ensure long and healthy life of a frog.
2. parasites/viruses/bacteria. Don't see a reason to go into any discussion about that, you should read some veterinary books may be? but to add - it is recommended to quarantine ANY captive bred frog for at least 30 days before allowing any contact with your collection ( that include using same tongs, etc), and at least 60 days and in some cases more with deworming done at that time for wild caught frogs.
3. environment toxins.

[DVirginiana]

Well, first of all, the guy who posted this thread is in Greece. None of those species that you listed are found on his continent. Or on the same continent that pacs are from. The argument that those frogs are its 'natural' diet is kind of pointless in that case...

I do have a good anecdote about how toxins from frog species that are typically considered 'non-toxic' can harm reptiles/amphibians from different areas. I raise garter snakes, and they are known to be big amphibian eaters in the wild (NOT in captivity btw! I can't tell you how many people have had to deworm snakes after feeding w/c frogs). In fact, they're the only known animal with immunity to fire newt poison. But only garters living in the same locality as fire newts. Garters of the same species that didn't evolve alongside the newts don't have this immunity. That's an extreme example, but it's a clear one.

You say you've heard not to feed w/c prey hundreds of times; well, there's probably a reason for that. It's a risk. A scientific, quantifiable, risk. w/c frogs contain parasites. No, your frog won't automatically catch the parasite or disease after eating it, but it's a numbers game. Eventually something will go wrong.
I don't go around eating undercooked pork just because some of my ancestors were able to reproduce before dying of trichinosis.

Finally, like has already been said, there's no point in raising your own frogs as feeders. I don't have a problem with it ethically (they probably have a higher quality of life prior to feeding than pinkies/fish/ect. that are farmed and frozen as feeders). But why would you bother? You'll end up with way too many frogs to feed off, they don't freeze well, and you can't ethically release them into wild populations. Like Lija said, they're a last resort. Only time I've ever heard of it being needed is for w/c cornutas and for some failure-to-thrive baby snakes.