# FR Frogs not Eating Ants.....



## froglet (May 18, 2005)

So today i decided to treat my frogs to a special breakfast and went to my back yard to collect ants. I hardly feed my frogs ants but once in a while they love to indulge on them.... not all of them ofcourse. I was certain that my FR frogs would eat ants since it is part of their staple diet. Now i understand if CB frogs wont eat them since ofcourse they have those pointy hairs and such but i tried feeding them to some of my FR frogs and hmmmmmmm............... I dont understand it, as soon as i fed they acted as if they had never seen an ant and would not even go for them... What could this mean ? Is there a chance that these so called FR are actually CB passed off as FR ? This is very strange but its making me wonder "what if" ?


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## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

i think i read that darts only eat 3 types of ants. i remember the name myramacine ants? could be only from that genus. i also think that not all dart frogs are ant eaters. this is way out of my experience though as ive never really tried to feed ants.


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## froglet (May 18, 2005)

Im sure that not all dar frogs are ant eaters but even my CB frogs that dont eat ants will atleast take a bite. These guys were just looking at them like " what the hell ". As soon as i placed some FF's in there, they went to town....


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## Ben_C (Jun 25, 2004)

Hi,
I'm fairly certain that all darts will eat ants. The problem is that 'ants' is a very general term and they won't eat any kind (A lot of ants in South/Central america may even eat your frogs!). I think most ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae (sidewalk ants) are happily accepted by WC, FR, and CB frogs. If you aspirate ants and it tastes like an acid, the frogs probably won't eat them.
I hope this helps,
B


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

My frogs love ants, and they're CB. Like Ben said, ants isn't exactly a small group of insects so the likelyhood that you happened to offer an undesireable species of ant is high. I have had sucess with sidewalk/sugar ants. The real little ones, about the size of a nymph cricket.


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## Enlightened Rogue (Mar 21, 2006)

I have a book-The Guide to Owning Poison Frogs by Jerry Walls. In the book he says captive bred frogs will not eat ants. John


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## froglet (May 18, 2005)

Well CB frogs do eat ants, i am not saying all of them will but my Colons devuor them, at the same time i give them to my Inters and they dont look at them twice... I guess its a matter of taste :wink:


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## Enlightened Rogue (Mar 21, 2006)

Hey Froglet, this book also says that Dendrobates Azureus are to rare and expensive for most hobbyists!! Guess he needs to update that book a little,don`t you think? Maybe I`ll try some ants for my 2 leucs. I don`t think there is anything they won`t eat! John


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## *GREASER* (Apr 11, 2004)

frogfarm said:


> i think i read that darts only eat 3 types of ants. i remember the name myramacine ants? could be only from that genus. i also think that not all dart frogs are ant eaters. this is way out of my experience though as ive never really tried to feed ants.


I think Aaron is right about that they may only eat ants from a certian genus. And indeed the term "ants" is very very general. Some have all sorts of distasteful smells, poisons, hairs ect that would prevent an amphibian from eating them.


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## froglet (May 18, 2005)

Yes azureus are rare, i agree 8) . I guess this is too broad and if i knew what ants i have in my yard it would help :wink: ...


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## Guest (Jun 21, 2006)

Sometimes the frogs will stare and not go for the ant or termite if the ant or termite looks dangerous. For example, they won't go after soldier termites, even after I crippled a soldier termite. However they will go after the worker termites. So perhaps your ants looked too aggressive or dangerous.


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

My azureus eat the Soldier termites. I've not given termites to any of my other frogs yet though.


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## Guest (Jun 21, 2006)

You got a tough little frog. Mine avoid big pincers at all costs.


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

I can't remember where I heard this (probably dreamt it), but most if not all ants in my region if not the entire north are descendents derived from the formica. Which they still call some species here, that darts cannot stomach. The soft orange and the dark orange with black/brown abdomens, stingerless, that build rather than dig are called formica ants, here. Then there are the tropical variety (dart habitat) which project their venom.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I was told once upon a time to only feed the ants attracted to peanut butter... only really works in certain regions tho lol.

Deal is basically what is stated before... ants aren't just ants, there are lots of different ants, and frogs know what they like and don't like, even by just looking at them. Its not as simple as just them seeing something moving! It has to be the right shape and size and movement...

I usually don't bother with ants cuz its such a pain to find ones they will actually eat (and I keep moving) termites are so much easier, lol, they eat all the types I've found as long as I pick out the soldiers


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## Guest (Jun 23, 2006)

Corey, will they avoid the soldiers like mine do with some sort of intuition(aka instinct)? Or strike and get hurt?


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I believe its how they are visually wired for food... basically they have a certain set of standards that will click "food" in their brain, and they will react... the workers probibly fit the "food" while the larger, differently shaped soldiers are "not food" or "aviod". I remember ready a study with toads where the toads reacted to certain moving targets differently... certain shapes, orientation of the shapes (vertical long skinny avioded, where horizontal long skinny was lunged at - similar to a worm), and size of the shapes (same shape smaller was food, medium was ignored, larger was taken as a predator) determined the reaction of the toad to the stimuli.

While they do seem to learn (tend not to eat something they've spit out a lot of times), they seem to be able to remember and tell the difference between these and similar looking bugs - pretty cool for such a tiney brain!


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## Guest (Jun 23, 2006)

Agreed, thanks Corey.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

No prob! I just stab the little soldiers to death when I find them, not use trying to "modify" them for froggie consumption when they won't eat them anyways...

("What did those poor little things ever do to you!"
"Have you ever been pinched by a solider termite?"
"Well, no..."
"Want to? 'Cuz then you'll help me stab them to death too."
"Ummm... how 'bout not.")


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