babies took mouse tails

[ssssnakeluvr]

actually, ssssnakeluvr posted that piuc...lol!! That's more of an odd meal for garters, but i have read about them eating roadkilled amphibians also....

[abcat1993]

Nobody feeds theirs frogs though. I hope

[Stefan-A]

I would if it weren't for the parasite/disease problem, the fact that all local amphibians are protected and their reproduction and growth rate. Not exactly able to compete with fish and mice.

I did give mine a hatchling bird once, but birds can't compete with fish and rodents either.

[CrazyHedgehog]

Nobody feeds theirs frogs though. I hope

Thought about it years ago, when our pond became full of tadpoles..and then hundreds of small frogs.... but the frogs were just way too cute...couldn't do it!
Anyway, are they not protected now?

[abcat1993]

Not many frogs are protected where I live, they're just too cute as you said and they might have parasites. But (a question for the new moderator) can you feed garters tadpoles since all they eat is algea and other pond junk?

[Cazador]

The older a tadpole or froglet it, the more likely it would be to have parasites. Some parasites bore directly through the skin, and others can be swallowed with food and water.

They can be treated for parasites just like tropical fish can, and I've toyed with the idea of raising a colony of frogs/tadpoles just for that purpose. They're supposed to be very nutritious and a good source of high energy that can be fed to baby snakes. However, the energy-rich tail of a tadpole can easily lead to obesity if it's given too often to adult snakes. You might consider tadpoles a "high energy protein bar" for snakes.

[abcat1993]

So would it make them grow faster if given occasionally?

[Stefan-A]

Any chance that you could avoid parasites alltogether by raising frogs/tadpoles from eggs? It's much easier to grab an entire egg cluster than to catch tadpoles.

Or did you have a specific frog species in mind, that would be a prolific breeder and non-toxic? African clawed frogs?


One problem with treating tropical fish for parasites, is that you're not supposed to use them as food for other animals after the treatment. At least it says so on the bottle. And since amphibians are supposed to be very sensitive to chemicals, isn't there also the risk that you might kill them with that medicine? Or is there some kind of medicine specifically for frogs/tadpoles?

[Cazador]

Hi all,
I'm looking at a bottle of metronidazole (Flagyl) right now. It would be used to kill amoeba and protozoa. It also kills gram positive and some gram negative bacteria.

The treatment protocol is different for fish and for reptiles, but the bottle says to treat fish, add one tablet for each 10 gallons (38L) of water and to retreat in 24 hours. The fish (or tadpole in this case) should remain in the solution for 5 to 10 days.

If I were going to feed the fish or tadpoles to a snake, I would change their water after their treatment and give them at least a week in fresh water to pass the medication. Otherwise, you'd be treating your snake with Flagyl, which is safe, but you wouldn't want to expose any organism to low doses of medication for an extended period.

As far as collecting eggs, I don't think it would be a foolproof method, but the chances of the eggs being parasitized would be a lot less. I suppose it depends upon how heavily parasitized the water was, where the eggs came from.

The tail of a tadpole is like the yolk sac of a bird or snake... it's provided to stimulate rapid growth and is a complete nutrient source.

[sschind]

Nobody feeds theirs frogs though. I hope

I had a southern hognose snake that would only eat frogs. I avoided the parasite problem by feeding him CBB African clawed frogs. It worked for the year I had him, but the he died. He was a wc and I never did find out why he died but I did have him treated for parasites and periodically checked and he was clean when he died. As far as the clawed frogs go, If I wanted to go through all that again I would just to get clean tads for my baby red sides but I figure they will be eating pinkies soon enough so I don't want to bother.