Can Frogs Eat Fruit? Vet Approved Nutrition Advice
By Oliver Jones
Updated on
Generally, adult frogs are obligate carnivores, which means that they only eat meat. As such, adult frogs should not be given fruit as part of their diet. However, there are a small number of omnivorous frog species and these eat a combination of meat and plant ingredients. Frogs generally eat insects and may sometimes eat vertebrates, although tadpoles are herbivores: they do not eat meat but do eat a combination of algae and aquatic plants.
Usually, pet frogs are given a diet that consists of a good combination of different insects like locusts, crickets, and roaches. It may also be necessary to feed vitamin supplements to ensure that your pet frog stays healthy.
Read on for more information regarding frogs’ diets and whether they can be fed fruit.
Frog Diet
Frogs are amphibians and the majority of amphibians have a similar diet. When they are very young, for example when frogs are tadpoles, they are herbivores. Tadpoles will initially eat their egg as soon as they hatch, getting a first nutritious meal. They will then consume algae and some aquatic plants. Once they reach adulthood, their diet changes from plant-based foods to a carnivorous diet that consists of insects and some crustaceans. Some frogs even eat smaller frogs and are actually quite skilled hunters. If an animal is smaller than they are and they believe they can eat it, they will often attempt to.
Animals that change their diet from herbivore to carnivore as they change life stages are sometimes referred to as “life-history omnivores.”
Can Frogs Eat Fruit?
Adult frogs should not be given fruit because they are carnivores. This means that their digestive system is not designed to properly digest the fruit.
What to Feed Pet Frogs
Although every species has a different diet, depending on what insects and other food sources are available, you will generally need to feed a pet frog a good selection of insects. This can include crickets and locusts as well as roaches and mealworms. Some also eat small vertebrates and you should be able to find live vertebrates at specialist pet stores.
Frogs are not scavengers and are hunters. This means that they will not usually recognize dead insects as being a source of food, so your frog will only eat live prey. The prey should not be any bigger than the distance between your frog’s eyes, or they will struggle to eat the whole prey item.
The 5 Popular Pet Frog Species
1. American Green Tree Frog
The American Green Tree Frog is an arboreal frog, which means it spends a lot of its time climbing and living in trees. You will need an enclosure with some vertical space, rather than water. These frogs are not good swimmers but they are good eaters, so you will need to have a plentiful supply of insects at the ready. They can live for 5 years, are cheap to buy, and are a good choice for those owners who don’t want to have to regularly change the water.
2. American Toad
The American Toad lives near water but not really in water. Its enclosure will need a bowl of water and the American Toad will benefit from being given logs and other platforms to sit on or under. They are hardy animals and they will even change color if they are stressed, which makes care surprisingly easy: like having your own frog alert system. You do need to diligently wash your hands if you handle American Toads because they carry bufotoxin behind their eyes.
3. Oriental Fire-Bellied Toad
Oriental Fire-Bellied Toads are actually frogs. They are brilliantly colored, combining bright green and black with orange on their bellies. Unlike the American Toad and the American Green Tree Frog, the Oriental Fire-Bellied Toad does need water in its tank because this particular species loves to swim.
4. Pacman Frog
The Pacman Frog is one of the most popular pet frog species and is named because it looks like Pacman when it is eating, opening its mouth wide. The enclosure doesn’t need water, but it does need a deep substrate because this species likes to burrow and hide. It is also a nocturnal species, so you may not actually see much of your Pacman Frog between its hiding and sleeping.
5. Tomato Frog
The Tomato Frog is another that is named for its distinctive look. It is a brilliantly tomato-colored frog species that doesn’t take much care or maintenance, apart from a quick tank clean every week. Provide a shallow water dish and feed pinhead crickets and fruit flies and the Tomato Frog should prosper even in a relatively small 5-gallon terrarium.
Do Frogs Have Teeth?
Most frogs have teeth along some of their upper jaw, but the vast majority of species have no teeth on the bottom jaw. Some species have no teeth whatsoever.
Do Frogs Ever Sleep?
It was once believed that adult frogs did not sleep but that is no longer known to be true.
How Long Do Frogs Live?
The lifespan of a frog depends on its species as well as other factors, but most species live anywhere between 5 and 12 years. Some may even reach 20 years.
Can Frogs Bond With Humans?
Frogs are not familial animals, which means they won’t form a close bond with you in the way that you form bonds with other people or animals. However, they may recognize that you feed them and if they are comfortable in your presence, they may come to the wall of their enclosure when they hear or see you approach. Frogs should only be handled when necessary, and for as brief a period as possible, so they aren’t the best pets for people that want a cuddly animal.
Conclusion
Frogs make interesting pets, although they don’t like to be handled and many are nocturnal animals. But they have incredible colors, are voracious hunters and eaters, and are fun to watch going about their lives. Although tadpoles are herbivores, typically living off aquatic plants and algae, adult frogs are obligate carnivores that typically eat insects and some vertebrates. They should not be fed fruit because they do not have the digestive system to be able to digest fruit or process the nutrients in the fruit.
