# How many times a week do you feed your frogs ?



## froglet

Ok so we talk about how many times we dust our frogs ? How many times we Mist the tanks ? etc. I am asking a simple question wich i think be a nice topic. MY frogs are fed every day, and it seems that because i do this, they get lazy at hunting and dont eat as much as they should, cant seem to get weight on those fellas. Further more i know of tons of people who feed every 3 or so days and their frogs are plump and fatty... Is this a serious concern ?? 
Well i shall ask then.... 

How many times a wee do you feed your frogs ?


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## Grassypeak

I was feeding my leucs four or five times a week when they were younger ( I bought them at two months of age). They are 8 months old now. They seemed to be getting fat, so I’ve cut back to three times a week. They appear to be doing fine with this schedule.


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## defaced

I feed daily to every other day. Depends on if I remember to do it daily.



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## amphibianfreak

I feed adults every other day, froglets I feed every day or two smaller feedings twice a day


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## froglet

Yes froglets require tons more food and i think i should cut down my feeding to atlest 4 times a week. Dont want to shock them from eating every day to 3 times yet =).. they are getting lazy =)


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## joshsfrogs

Feeding frequency depends on a lot of conditions including age (younger frogs need more food than older frogs), tank size (larger tanks support higher amounts of fauna, allow more excercise for the frogs, etc.), fly escape-ability (more fly proof your tanks are the less you have to feed). Some of my adults I'm down to feeding 2-3 times a week.

A caution for those starting out with younger frogs is that you don't want flies crawling all over the frog and you want to teach the frogs to hunt and move around in search for food. Therefore, the absolute best case scenerio for feeding young frogs would be a few flies a few times a day.

Also, I have heard the number 50-100 flies per frog every day thrown around a lot. I think that is way too many.


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## froglet

I do agree 50 to 100 flies is way too much, specially for thumbs. Most my frogs can eat are about 6 flies per sitting if that many. Possible larger frogs will take down 20 or so, maybe more. But every day that much feeding cant be good....


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## bradadams

I second to feeding adults every other day and froglets everyday. Feeding adults daily may be over kill since some of the food will remain in the tank until the next day.


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## twisner

i feed about 5 times a week, but only small amounts as my tank is HEAVILY seeded with springtails. They probably eat as much springs as flies!!
i am also planning on getting some more species to seed tanks with, so they can have more variety.


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## Ed

There have been several different discussions about the number of flies and here is one of the pertinent posts from one of the threads. 

From http://www.dendroboard.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ight=ohaus

snip "here were some discussions on this in the past. 

Here is some of the pertinent details 

There are some calculations that can give you the minimal caloric needs of a frog. (ill or rapidly growing frogs can have a caloric need up to 8 times as much). Assuming we are speaking about a large froglet let us use the values for a 1 gram frog (from Amphibian Medicine and Captive Husbandry) (I am using a figure for 25 C as this will increase metabolic need even more) is 0.02 kcal/day. A gross energy value for fruitflies (including undigestiable parts (but we don't know the amount of chitin that is digested as in insectivores it can range as high as 85% and if this is determined at some point it can significantly reduce the amount to be fed) is 5.12 kcals/gram fruit flies (from Feeding captive insectivorous animals: nutritional aspects of insects as food; 1997, Publication of the AZA Nutrtional Adisory Group Handbook). 
If you work the math then a 1 gram frog at 25 C needs is 0.0039 grams of fruit flies a day to deal with the basic metabolic needs. 

I had a little extra time one day so I warmed up the Ohaus TS120 and let it acclimate and tared it. I then dumped enough fruit flies on it to get a usable weight (0.125 grams). I took these ffs and froze them, and then counted them. It took 166 ffs to make 0.125 grams. This comes out to be 7.53 E-4 grams per fly. Using the previous calculation from above we had come up with 0.0039 grams/ffs/day. 
A quick calculation results in 5.2 ffs per day to sustain basal metabolic rates at 25 C (77 F). So an actively growing 1 gram frog can require as many as 42 ffs a day but the number is likely anywhere from 1/2 to 2/3 this amount as I was estimating high (8 times SMR requirements) on maximal amount. When pouring ffs from a container it is pretty easy to pour two to three times as many ffs. As the frogs are hard wired to take advantage of this time of plenty (even though it occurs daily), it is easy to overfeed your frogs. " endsnip

Now one of the points I should have built upon in the past is that unlike birds and mammals, you can view nutritional requirements for frogs spread over a short period of time. So for the frogs, the nutritional needs can be spread over the period of a week reducing the number of feeds. 

Now please keep in mind that the numbers above are indicative of the requirements of the upper end nutritional needs and are in excess of most frogs. 

Ed


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## Murph1908

I just got my 3 _azereus_ last week, and have been watching their dining habits closely. I have fed them once a day, about 30-40 flies each day. I end up having a lot of dead flies on the orange wedge, but I didn't want to assume they had eaten their fill, but maybe were still getting used to their new home.

I have distinctly witnessed at least 2 of the 3 finding the flies and gobbling some up. One yesterday ate around 8-10 that I saw.

But considering the number of dead, uneaten flies, I am probably overfeeding at the moment.


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## Rain_Frog

I'm really starting to believe that frogs don't need to be fed everyday, and that it does more harm than good. I used to feed my frogs everyday and have since cut back. Very often I find fruit flies still in the tricolor and mantella tanks. When I started noticing more dead ones sticking to the plants, I began just to put a piece of fruit in to attract leftovers. Tricolors do not eat until they are stuffed like tincs do, so I'm just wasting food.

My tincs though, I noticed that they ate too much, and got very fat.


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## fmfox

in my main viv, i feed them every other day or so. but because it is so heavily planted, with so many places to hide, approximately half of the flies avoid predation on any given day. so even on off-days, there's a good deal of food crawling about, waiting to be discovered. 

as a result, the frogs are basically hunting all day every day.


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## Tripod

Adult frogs => Monday, Wednesday, Friday (and it's probably still too much!)

Froglets => Every day

Tadpoles => Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday (soon to be once per week)


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## salvoz

If I feed too often, and have some flies from the old feed hanging around, the animals wont each much if any of the new (=dusted) flies. I find that feeding them every other day increases their immediate intake of the new, dusted flies, and this means more vitamins and other supplements ingested per feed.


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## Android1313

I usually feed adults once a day. Unless there are flies still in there from the previous day. I usually blow into the viv, any flies that are left over will move around so I can see how many are left. Froglets I feed every day, tads every two/ three days. So usually about 6 times a week on average.
If the frogs are breeding/laying I usually feed more flies at the same feeding intervals.


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## rmelancon

A lot has to do with the "fly-escape-proofness" of you tanks. The more flies that stay in the tank, the longer you can go between feedings.


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## Lee Steele

I have three azureus that are about four months old. I feed daily, as I remember to do so, and they frogs are doing great. They have grown like crazy, are putting on weight and are fantatic at hunting. I have a 29 gallon viv that is heavily planted. Many of the flies will climb and "hide" in the flora provided but that doest stop the frogs from eating. I often see them in the plants hunting and eating. Its just crazy. I LOVE IT.

So far so good... I hope it continues to be as good as it is now.


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## EDs Fly Meat

> Adult frogs => Monday, Wednesday, Friday (and it's probably still too much!)
> 
> Froglets => Every day


I do what Tripod does as well.


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## bluedart

So do I, Dave.


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## littlefrog

I might be the lone exception? I used to feed froglets every other day, and adult frogs twice a week. Now I pretty much feed everybody just twice a week. Sometimes this is three days between feedings, sometimes four, occasionally five. 

I really haven't noticed any difference in frogs doing it this way. My froglets might grow a bit more slowly, but not so slowly that I really see a difference at two or three months. One reason I feed less often is laziness (or having two small kids and a greenhouse and a teaching job, maybe that is just too few hours in the day). But a major reason is that I was seeing froglets stressed out by extra flies and opening tanks to feed.

Frogs aren't nearly as fat as they used to be, and they are a lot more active.


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## housevibe7

Nope, you aren't the only one, I only feed my guys about once a week. Froglets about twice a week. I have quite a bit of micro fauna in my tanks so that seems to help. My terribs will eat anything you put in front of them... I think them having to actually hunt for their food is a good thing. That's when I know its time to feed, when I see a lot more activity on the glass, especially in the thumb tanks. When they are hunting, I figure they are hungry.


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## sports_doc

evolution of a hobbyist....

early years....fed EVERY day...lots of _fat_ frogs.

over time I've gone to 2x/week. Leaner frogs, but I dont think 'super-sizing' them was beneficial. 

the transition was more due to time constraints then choice....I honestly couldnt keep up with FF production if i tried to feed daily now 

Realizing that in a heavy planted tank, ff's last 2-3 days....and other critters are present for grazing as well...


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## Julio

same here, i do fine that flies linger in the tank for a few days which is why i do 3 times a week and i for one think that my frogs are too fat.


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## denfrogs

I feed adults every other day, froglets I feed every day.


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## Rain_Frog

This poll has flaws, because I feed different species of different lifestages different amounts.

Froglets get food every day over every other day, depending on how many froglets I have (competition seems to make them more aggressive and have higher metabolisms).

Adult tincs I feed only thrice a week, but I increase to every day if I want to stimulate breeding. E. anthonyi get food whenever, usually three times a week. I think it's good to have frogs go through lean times and "feastful" times to keep them from becoming overweight.

I feed adult mantellas only about once or twice a week during the winter, but every day to three times a week when I want eggs.

I stopped feeding every day becuase too many flies would run around the tank and escape, and you'd be surprised how much non-tinc frogs don't eat if you put a slice of banana in their tank

.


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## MeiKVR6

10-15 flys every day to my Azureus froglets. 

About the same to the sub adult Leuc.

...and like many of you - I think they are a bit on the chubby side...


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## earthfrog

I feed four times a week. I have a large tank and only three thumbs, so I feed a large amount and then mist and darken the tank the other days when I can. It seems to promote breeding.


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## DCreptiles

i feed adults about once a week and i find that they hunt very well put on good weight and also my viv isnt to big but has alot of plants. my younger frogs i feed about twice a week and they also are active feeders and i see just about all my frogs eating almost as soon as the flys hit the moss. and they are active all day long.


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## ~demon

Did you say moss do you mind posting some pics in the 'post your moss thread' in the plant section?


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## DCreptiles

you want to see what my moss looks like because the frogs are chasing flys the moment they hit the ground?


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## Roadrunner

As in humans, it`s not good to eat all your food for the week in 2 sittings. I think most problems come in when you feed too much food every day. I think they normally eat everyday in the wild, just that they only find enough to keep them going well enough. 
As for frogs in captivity being fatter, our counterparts in the wild used to be much thinner but we also used to die at 30 or younger.
There is a difference between wc slimness, cb healthy size and obesity. Frogs that have more fat reserves(not obese) seem to have more energy to make it thru the stressful times and are therefore "healthier" for our purposes in captivity.


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## Ed

Hi Aaron,

I agree that they feed on a daily basis but a lot of that diet is what could be called "low quality food items" (harder to digest, lower calorie per unit such as ants, beetles, mites..) while a large portion of what they are offered in captivity is much higer in calories per unit...

With respect to the early deaths of human, while some of it is linked to nutritional status a a lot of that was due to disease processes and poor sanitation. In addition the typical statistics are skewed due to the high number of infant mortalities.. (see Medical History --- Hygiene and Sanitation for one reference). 

There is a difference in the metabolism of poikilotherms that allows them to be able to get all of thier caloric needs from one or two meals a week as the can slow thier metabolism down otherwise until they get to feed but this method can have an impact on the behavior of the animals.. it is more natural for them to hunt on a daily basis and smaller meals routinely will help with this issues. Most people will still overfed not realizing just how few insects are needed to meet the needs of the frogs. One of the ways around this is get a good invertebrate population living in the enclosure that encourages the frog to hunt.. 




frogfarm said:


> As in humans, it`s not good to eat all your food for the week in 2 sittings. I think most problems come in when you feed too much food every day. I think they normally eat everyday in the wild, just that they only find enough to keep them going well enough.
> As for frogs in captivity being fatter, our counterparts in the wild used to be much thinner but we also used to die at 30 or younger.
> There is a difference between wc slimness, cb healthy size and obesity. Frogs that have more fat reserves(not obese) seem to have more energy to make it thru the stressful times and are therefore "healthier" for our purposes in captivity.


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## Roadrunner

Thanks Ed. I knew you`d be able to expound and elaborate. 


Ed said:


> Hi Aaron,
> 
> I agree that they feed on a daily basis but a lot of that diet is what could be called "low quality food items" (harder to digest, lower calorie per unit such as ants, beetles, mites..) while a large portion of what they are offered in captivity is much higer in calories per unit...
> 
> With respect to the early deaths of human, while some of it is linked to nutritional status a a lot of that was due to disease processes and poor sanitation. In addition the typical statistics are skewed due to the high number of infant mortalities.. (see Medical History --- Hygiene and Sanitation for one reference).
> 
> There is a difference in the metabolism of poikilotherms that allows them to be able to get all of thier caloric needs from one or two meals a week as the can slow thier metabolism down otherwise until they get to feed but this method can have an impact on the behavior of the animals.. it is more natural for them to hunt on a daily basis and smaller meals routinely will help with this issues. Most people will still overfed not realizing just how few insects are needed to meet the needs of the frogs. One of the ways around this is get a good invertebrate population living in the enclosure that encourages the frog to hunt..


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## LME7132

I tend to watch my frogs when I feed them (since they are out and active) and try to pay attention to how they respond. If they are only going after the flies that come near and not really hunting I might skip the next day, if they devour everything offered I might give them more that night. I do make sure to log when I feed them and make sure that they get at least 3-4 times a week, but the schedule may vary from week to week. That said my Azureus seem to think I should feed them any time I walk by the tank.


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## SamsonsFrogs

I have been feeding my froglets about 2 times a day and i think i may be feeding to much.Lol one of my New Rivers is looking kinda fat. Like Rosan Arnald fat. Anyways i think i will alternate between 2 times a day every toher day. Reading these posts has helped me since i am new to this hobby. I am not sure on age of my frogs but i think they are about 4 months old considering their size.


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## sasha

I think it's important to feed a little more during warmer months, and a little less during cooler months.


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## Rain_Frog

In my experience, one has to worry about obesity more in captivity than underfeeding. I don't feed my tincs nearly as much as I used to.

And I agree, microfauna is good to encourage the frogs to hunt and exercise.


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## Steve88W

Wow.. it looks like I'm really over feeding my Azureus pair.
The female actually sits in the food dish in the morning and stares at me until I feed them. (is she training me?)

I was feeding them once a day about 40-50 flies with a 'snack' in the late afternoon of about 15-20 flies. My tank is at the office and I use the 'snack' time to let others watch the feeding frenzy.

They are fairly active and continue to hunt during the day but there are quite a few flies left under the leaves each day. 

I'll cut back to every other day but keep the 'snacks' for now and see how they do.


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## Dendrodaved

oops, I feed my frogs every day and I don't even count how many ffs I pour in (probably enough to feed a human) but after reading this post I will and must stop overfeeding. but when you say 20 or 30 per frog, how do you know that one frog says to the other frog " hey mikey you ate your 20 so these are mine" because some frogs are more aggresive chowing down. 
and I was wondering why my Galacts went from froglets to almost adult size since Christmas, and my cultures were only lasting 3 weeks. I just though since we eat everyday than our frogs needed to eat everyday.


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## heatfreakk3

Dendrodaved said:


> oops, I feed my frogs every day and I don't even count how many ffs I pour in (probably enough to feed a human) but after reading this post I will and must stop overfeeding. but when you say 20 or 30 per frog, how do you know that one frog says to the other frog " hey mikey you ate your 20 so these are mine" because some frogs are more aggresive chowing down.
> and I was wondering why my Galacts went from froglets to almost adult size since Christmas, and my cultures were only lasting 3 weeks. I just though since we eat everyday than our frogs needed to eat everyday.


20-30 flies is just an average. Some frogs of course will eat a little more then others, but 20-30 flies per frog is just a good rule of thumb to make sure they are fed well, but not over fed. I feed probably a little more than 20-30 flies per frog, but I feed every other day. Seems to work good for me.


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## BBJ

Lately i have actually only been feeding once per week, some weeks i dont even feed.

My frogs are doing great, are perfectly healthy. And they have been out sporting full courting behaviour now with the arrival of springtime.

I feed the microfauna 3-4 times per week though, and this in conjunction with a large 160 gallon viv full of leaf litter and deteriorating plant matter has led to an explosive microfauna population that seems to supply more than enough food for the frogs, which are actively hunting during most of the day.

I am almost certain that they could get by without me feeding at all, but i continue to do so in order to provide the vitamins and calcium from the dusted fruitflies.


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## J Teezy

SE FF auto feeder container doesn't seem to good to me. Sure it would be nice for a few day vacation but it specifically says that you need to turn your mist system off or the culture will crash. If i turned my mister off it would hurt my tanks humidity, my frogs, and my plants. So really if you are going on vacation and need to maintain humidity and water plants as well as feed your frogs how you going to do this with their auto feed container? They don't say anything about a fogger though.

Also you could probably make the same cup they do, just make a hole in your lid


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## stemcellular

Piece of banana or orange, simple as that.


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## J Teezy

either i accidentally posted my above post in the wrong thread or a mod moved it, but anyway

I was told by someone who has been in the hobby a long time that a good rule of thumb for most dart frogs is every other day, and to feed enough so that the day after you feed if you look in the tank you still see some FF's in there, and when it comes the next day to feed you should see very few if any in there.

Thats pretty much what i've been doing with my leucs


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## Gamble

I saw that it was mentioned that there have been surveys on misting ... etc ...

Can somebody PM me the link to these surveys? 

Thx everyone.

BTW ... i feed everyday, but after reading this, i think i may cut back now.


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