What do Tomato Frogs Eat?

What do tomato frogs eat is very crucial because the health of your pet is something you should prioritize as it is where their life expectancy relies on. Usually, Tomato frogs can live an average life of 6 years but there are cases that they reached the age of 10 years old. With proper diet and nutrition, your pet can also reach this age. For this reason, you should be able to watch what do tomato frogs eat.

In the wild, they can eat as much as they like and whatever they catch but being a captive-bred the items in their food list that you can provide have somehow become limited. If you want your pet’s lifespan to be extended, make sure you are able to provide all their nutritional or dietary needs. In this article, you’ll learn what do tomato frogs eat and how you can provide a healthy diet.

What do Tomato Frogs Eat?: For Adults and Juveniles

Tomato frogs in the wild live only at a maximum of 4 years, but in captivity, they live for about 10 – 15 years in general, the main reason is because of their nutritional diet. The main reason for it obviously, is because these wild caught frogs don’t have proper nutrition compared when they are being taken care of.

What do tomato frogs eat in the wild is usually fish, huge insects, other frog breeds (sometimes their own kind), worms, as well as small reptiles, amphibians and mammals such as mice.  The predator-prey factor in their natural habitats is also a major cause of their short lifespan.

Tomato frogs are considered carnivores and insectivores. What do tomato frogs eat is consisted of small roaches, crickets, silkworms, night crawlers, horn worms, and other types of insects and worms. They can also eat rodents. It is recommended that the meal you provide for your pet varies for a more balanced nutrition.

These vitamins and supplements is necessary for bone growth especially for growing tadpoles. Make sure that the right amount of these vitamins will be served to your pet. You may ask for your veterinarian’s instructions with regard to this matter.

Pre – Killed Rodents

You may provide pre-killed mice or rodents to your pet occasionally but you think twice. Studies show that these preys are low in calcium and high in fat which is not healthy and recommendable for your frog to consume. Experts and veterinarians said that feeding them with mice may cause to certain deficiencies and obesity as well as resulting to a shorten lifespan.

What do tomato frogs eat while they’re stillJuveniles or the younger frogs could be fed for 5 to 7 times a week. On the other hand, adults should be fed for 3 to 4 times a week or every other day. The amount of food you should serve depends on the size of your tomato frog. If ever you have more than one frog inside an enclosure, see to it that both is getting an ample amount of food. Do not give them more than what they can handle

For tadpoles and young frogs, there is a diet called gut-loaded diet that you may want to administer in order to strengthen the body of your pet as well as its immune system against any illnesses as it grows.

What do Tomato Frogs Eat?: Tips on Feeding

What do tomato frogs eat involve gut-load diet. This is the process of increasing the nutritional value of the prey that you are going to feed your pet 48 hours before you serve it to them.

We all live in an ecosystem and we all benefit from each other one way or another. A good example is the food chain. In which an animal preys on another animal and eventually the predator becomes the prey of another animal as well. The nutrients contained by the prey will pass on to its predator and so on.

In captivity, it is impossible for you to create the same natural cycle present in the wild but gut loading can be an alternative in order to replicate this process.

By this way, if you feed high nutritional value food to the prey you are about to serve, your pet will also receive the nutrients you have loaded to its meal. Make sure that the right kind of vitamins or nutrients will be passed in order to achieve balanced nutrition as it is important in when it comes to what do tomato frogs eat.

Commercial Gut Loads

Usually, in order to successfully gut load the prey you are providing, there is a need for you to administer multivitamin powder with calcium. Be mindful that phosphorus inhibits calcium absorption therefore the level of calcium should be higher than the phosphorus level. Its oxalates content should also be at minimum.

Most commercial gut loads you can purchase are low in calcium which may not be enough for the nutritional needs of your frog. Do not worry since you can formulate your own gut loading recipe. By this way you can save money and really make sure that the nutritional content will be exceptional.

What Tomato Frog Eats

Below are the steps you can make use of in choosing what do tomato frogs eat.

• Choose what kind of food you are going to use for gut loading your frog’s food. You may choose between fruits and vegetables.  Have at least 2 or 3 options. Serve it alternately every now and then.

• Make sure that the fruits and vegetables of your choice are free from any chemical residue like pesticides. Rinse it thoroughly under fresh running water. These chemical components can be toxic to so make sure the foods are properly rinsed.

The ingredients in gut loading should be high in calcium content and low in phosphorus, goitrogens, and oxalates. Food like dandelion leaves, collard greens, mustard greens, escarole lettuce, watercress, papaya, alfalfa, and turnip greens are just some of the components you should primary consider as their nutritional value fits with what has been required when it comes to what do tomato frogs eat.

You may also mix it with ingredients such as sweet potato, orange, carrot, kale, butternut, squash, black berries, bok choy, green beans, and apples but the calcium content of these ingredients are only in the moderate level though they are still relatively low in oxalates, goitrogens, and phosphorus.

For a more well – rounded and balanced nutrition, you may mix both the primary and secondary ingredients with dry gut-loading ingredients. These ingredients include dried seaweed, bee pollen, sunflower seeds (unsalted and organic), almonds (unsalted and organic), flax seed, and spirulina.

Avoid using food with low calcium content as it will only be a waste since calcium is the kind mineral you want for your frog. Food such as potatoes, oats, meat, eggs, beans, cabbage, romain lettuce, spinach, iceberg lettuce, cat food, dog food, broccoli, grains, corns, tomatoes, fish food, and canned dead insects should not be used for gut-loading. We hope you learn what do tomato frogs eat and the nutritional tips for a healthy frog. For more info, visit the blog section of this website.