Re: Question about mice and frogs.
I have encountered some field studies looking at the stomach contents of horned frogs, in particular, C. cornuta. Vertebrates appear to constitute a significant portion of the diet in terms of mass. In Duellman, W.E. & M. Lizana (1994) Biology of a sit-and-wait predator, the leptodactylid frog Ceratophrys cornuta. Herpetologica 50 (1): 51-64., for example, frogs constitute about 17% and rodents 34% of the stomach contents by mass. Clearly, vertebrates are an important food/calorie source for certain species of frogs. There is also a paper entitled "The diet of Ceratophrys ornata (Anura: Ceratophryidae) in Argentina", which I have not been able to look at directly, that supposedly comes to a similar conclusion.
My opinion, submitted humbly considering the posts of experts like Frank, is that rodents are just fine as a component of a balanced diet for certain species of frogs and toads. My belief is that excessive caloric intake may be the real culprit, as I have read reports that frogs fed a diet consisting solely of insects have still developed corneal opacities.
Hopefully, I haven't just painted a big bulls-eye on my bottom!
Greg
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