Dwarf African Frog food

S

Sunny

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Jun 24, 2004
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Texas, USA
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I just got a baby Dwarf African frog, and was a little confused about their eating habits and food. We bought a can of dry food for frogs--"HBH Frog And Tadpole bites", sinking soft pellets. There's also frozen food for frogs. The frozen stuff the guy showed to me was not only available just in huge sizes, 3-4 times bigger than the frog itself, but it was expensive, not much of it, and would stink up the kitchen freezer. So naturally we bought the pellets. Now I hear that pellets may not be the best choice for frogs either. What else is there? I am also a little concerned if the frog is getting its food. The can says to give only 4-6 pellets per day, and let them sink. I did this in the area where the frog likes to stay, but haven't seen him eat it. A friend told me that when he gets hungry enough he'll find it.

Also, how do you find out the gender of the African Dwarf frog?
 
Frogs can be picky about what they eat, and how they eat it. I would imagine if your frog was starved to near death, he would eat any food but that doesn't mean its optimal conditions for him.

I feed my frogs mostly frozen bloodworms. The ones I get come in a package of little "cubes". The cube itself is almost the size of my frog, but you break it up with your fingers and only feed what you think your frog will eat. I hand feed mine but you could also feed them with tweezers or something of the sort.

Sexing can be difficult when the frogs are young and very small, but as they become a little more mature, it is much easier to distinguish.

Males: Behind the front arms (on their side), males have distinct white “bumps” or “pads.” These are mating pads, which help the male grasp the female during mating. While some females have small, indistinct pads, males will have very prominent ones.

Females: Females have small protrusions between their back legs - where a tail would be.

If you would like a full, comprehensive article on African Dwarf Frogs, I have an article hosted on my website but it was written by our very own Leopardess!

African Dwarf Frog Article
 
They'd have to be chopped. I do not believe they are anywhere as clean or safe as bloodworms that you purchase in a store, however. Those bloodworms are raised to be fed to fish that need to maintain their health...bloodworms are treated for disease, sterilized, and free of any harmful microorganisms or chemicals. Earthworms that are grown for bait are often grown in pretty nasty (but yummy to them) materials. Earthworms you find may be contaminated by insectides/pesticides/agricultural runoff/etc that may be found in the ground.

Personally, I think its safer (and easier) to just buy bloodworms from a store. I like Hikari's brand.
 
I am calmer now about the food because the frog found his dry pellets and ate without problems last night. But I'll check out the bloodworms when we go to our pet store tomorrow, (it's quite a distance from home, but they are having a 50% sale tomorrow. :cool: )

Why do some people say that dry food is not the best source of good stuff for frogs? We bought pellets just for frogs and he seems to like them. It is said though on the canister that frogs grow faster eating the pellets and therefore shed skin more.
 
I wouldn't feed my frogs a strict diet of pellets. If he eats them than GOOD, that’s a good thing, just that he’s eating is a positive step in the right direction. But make sure to incorporate other foods for him to eat, and he will be much better off. ;)
 
Dry food isn't all that great because it can lead to bloat and internal blockages. Live or frozen food is best for them.

"It is said though on the canister that frogs grow faster eating the pellets and therefore shed skin more."

As for that statement, shedding is not only related to growth. It can occur due to seasonal changes, temperature changes, health, and a myriad of other things. Some frogs hardly ever shed, but that doesn't mean that they aren't growing properly. And as for them growing faster, well, that totally depends on how *much* they eat, not necessarily *what* they eat.:)
 
I'm pretty new to this, hope someone can help me with a small problem relating to african dwarf frogs :)

I recently got one of these african dwarf frogs and I read about them eating bloodworms. I am perfectly fine with this as my other fishes eat them as well as other foods. The problem I have is that sometimes there is left over bloodworms which doesn't get eaten. After a while they turn brown and looks rather horrible :eek:

Since my filter is situated near the top, it doesn't filter out the left overs. Is there a way of removing these left overs? Possible some sort of fish that can clean it up?

Any suggestions would be helpful :)
 
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