Wild Caught Questions

[COOCOpUcHoo]

So it is summer and my yard is filled with hundreds of grasshoppers. I do believe my Pacman would love them, but i read the post about wild frogs, and i don't want to get my pacman sick. The only problems is, i had 2 firebelly toads. For half the year (spring and summer) i would only feed them grasshoppers and crickets i caught outside. They lived for five years (i was around 7 years old at the time and i had no lighting and kept them in the basement which was probably 65 degrees) which was a good amount of time for the conditions they were in. I even managed to get my female pregnant by accident. So for five years i fed my fire bellies only wild caught food for half of each year. Can i do the same with my packy?

sorry if this was confusing

[danfrog]

Nope. Nothing wild.

[DVirginiana]

Firebellies are supposed to live 10-15 years. You just said that the reason they didn't reach near that life expectancy was the conditions they were kept in, and that includes feeding them wild caught bugs. It's understandable because of your age at the time, but when a pet situation ends badly like that, you should avoid doing any of the same things again.

[nirotorin]

They would be great food if you could be sure they were pesticide free, which they probably are (considering they're alive).

You could keep them, and feed them clean veggies for a week, or two. Kind of like a quarantine, or cleansing cycle.

You could also just catch a bunch, and breed them yourself. From what I've read they aren't that difficult to breed, and raise.

[demon amphibians]

They would be great food if you could be sure they were pesticide free, which they probably are (considering they're alive).

You could keep them, and feed them clean veggies for a week, or two. Kind of like a quarantine, or cleansing cycle.

You could also just catch a bunch, and breed them yourself. From what I've read they aren't that difficult to breed, and raise.

I agree, grass hoppers make an excellent feeder for pacs. I fed my Pac nothing but grasshoppers during the summer months and it lived for over 12 years. It would have lived longer if i wouldnt have left home and left it in the care of my neglectful brother. None the less what you need to be careful of is where you get your grasshoppers. pesticides are the big concern in this case. If pesticides are used in your area avoid using grasshoppers. I always say this when it comes to feeding wild caught insects. It is always good to be cautious of what you feed from the wild. But it is ok to feed your frogs grasshoppers if they are caught in a pesticide free enviornment.

[COOCOpUcHoo]

Thanks to all for the information. I KNOW that my yard has no pesticides. The last time we used any fertilizers was probably 2 years ago. I do no know if i can do that 1-2 week cleansing cycle, I will stick with crickets store bought. But is it possible that my frog will develop an immune system from feeding him/her wild caught grasshoppers?

[DVirginiana]

Thanks to all for the information. I KNOW that my yard has no pesticides. The last time we used any fertilizers was probably 2 years ago. I do no know if i can do that 1-2 week cleansing cycle, I will stick with crickets store bought. But is it possible that my frog will develop an immune system from feeding him/her wild caught grasshoppers?

The thing is, you don't know if the BUGS in your yard have no pesticides. They could have come from down the street, or chemicals could have washed into your yard from somewhere else when it rains.

No, pesticides have nothing to do with an immune system. It's not like a virus where you develop antibodies, it's like eating rat poison. The more poison you eat, the more damage is done. There's no 'getting used to it'.

Stick with feeding him store-bought. Just because they look healthy does NOT mean they are pesticide free! Insects are often not affected by pesticides like they were intended. Just to clarify, this is NOT immunity; a single animal can't develop immunity to poisons. It is because over hundreds of thousands of generations, genes that allow an insect to function around the poison are naturally selected for, and those few insects pass on their genes much more than those that can't handle the pesticides.

Bottom line is, when you feed anything wild caught there is a risk it will harm your frog no matter how certain you think you are that it is safe, because you don't know where it's been. You can spend just a few dollars a month to buy feeders you know are safe.

[Namio]

I second what DVirgina had said. Frogs will not develop immunity to herbicide or pesticide. What they do is to withstand those toxins until their immunity compromises and eventually they'll die if you kept feeding it food with harmful chemical. Since there's no way we can know for sure whether wild caught insects are chemical free or not, by doing so you are taking a risk on your pet frog's life. Personally (and i believe many others feel the same way), it is not a risk that I'm willing to take.

[Samalander]

FWIW I have fed my pacman wild caught worms, insects, and small animals my cats killed (birds, mice and even baby rats). I have had this frog for over 22 years now

[poison]

FWIW I have fed my pacman wild caught worms, insects, and small animals my cats killed (birds, mice and even baby rats). I have had this frog for over 22 years now

Please tell me what the benefits of doing that is. And how many specimens have you worked with?

[DVirginiana]

FWIW I have fed my pacman wild caught worms, insects, and small animals my cats killed (birds, mice and even baby rats). I have had this frog for over 22 years now

I have a garter snake that has exceeded the captive life expectancy of his species by 50% (average is 8, he's 12) that I unknowingly fed feeders that have been PROVEN as toxic for the first ten years I had him. He's doing great, so clearly a LOT of what I was doing was correct, but I'm not going to recommend what are unquestionably risky feeders to a kid who's just getting into reptiles because it worked for me.
And they are, unquestionably, risky. It's never something I would recommend to a young kid without the resources to really find out what the local pesticide use patterns are.

[COOCOpUcHoo]

I wasn't talking about toxins that he would be immune to, I was talking about disease.