Firebelly Feeding Question

[a1lane]

I have two firebellys, a green male and a brown female. The green one is an excellent cricket hunter, he rarely misses when he goes after one. The brown one is a terrible hunter, nearly every time I watch she misses the cricket and Greenie ends up eating the majority of them. My question is do you think something is wrong with Brownie or is this normal? I try to drop the crickets so they all fall right around Brownie so that she gets at least one.

[John]

How long have you had them? Has it always been this way? Is the brown one skinny? At a guess it sounds like the brown one might have eyesight problems.

[a1lane]

I've had them both for a couple of months now. She doesn't seem to be skinny, she looks healthy, most of the time she catches at least one. What I'm really concerned about is that I want to add a few more firebelly's to the tank but I'm afraid she could get starved out with more competition. Is there something else I could feed her or should I try putting her in her own tank and try to get her to eat from tongs?

[John]

should I try putting her in her own tank and try to get her to eat from tongs?

That should work if she is somewhat tame. It might be your only alternative.

[into]

you could put her in a rubber maid container with a vented lid and place a cricket or two in with her and observe how/when she reacts to them. i don't know about fire bellies but my green tree frogs won't except crickets from tongs yet. I usually put them in one at a time to make sure each gets their share.. and you'll better understand their behavior and technique. With my GTF, The timid one is actually more agressive about eating, as soon as he is placed in the container, BOOM! one leap and the cricket is in his mouth. The other, the tamer one, will watch them for a few seconds, sometimes doing 90 degree body adjustments as the cricket races around the outer rim. Then there's Dumper, the whites, he just crams and jams them into his mouth with his hands.

[findiviglio]

Putting the slow feeder into another enclosure, as suggested by someone earlier, is a good idea. Try adding some cover if the frog is reluctant to feed in strange surroundings.

Small earthworms, sowbugs and an occasional waxworm will be easier to catch than crickets (the frog should ideally be given a varied diet, and not solely crickets, in any event). Pinching the “knee” of a cricket’s rear leg will cause the cricket to shed the leg, slowing it down somewhat (best not to pull the leg, just squeeze). This is a defensive reaction, much like a salamander dropping its tail, and pain is not, as far as we know, involved (crickets will feed immediately after shedding legs).

I have observed similar feeding difficulties in a number of frogs, most especially young American and Fowler’s toads. For further discussion and other’s experiences, please see the comments to an article I have written on toad husbandry at http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatre...-iii/#comments.

Good luck and enjoy your frogs, Frank