Gutloading for.... frogs?

[ettubrute]

Hello Chameleon forum!

Of all of the herptoculture communities you folks seem to be the most serious about gutloading. I don't keep chameleons, but I do keep tree frogs and there is not a ton of information there with respect to cricket feeding for frogs. I've roughly followed some of sandrachameleon's gutloading recipes and was wondering if anyone had thoughts about A) the mixes I chose, and B) if anyone knows how well they'd translate for frogs.

DRY GUTLOAD:
1 cup alfalfa
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp rice protein
1 tbsp quinoa
1 tsp crushed barley
"handful" Spirulina algae tablets
1 heaping teaspoon dried basil
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp slivered almonds
1/2 tsp hempseed
1/2 tsp nutritional yeast

WET GUTLOAD:
1/2 bunch dandelion greens
1/4 cup romaine lettuce
2 carrots
1/2 cup butternut squash
handful of strawberries
1/2 apple
3/4 blood orange
2 blackberries

 

[jamest0o0]

I put frogs in my chameleons gutload

 

[Carlton]

Hello Chameleon forum!

Of all of the herptoculture communities you folks seem to be the most serious about gutloading. I don't keep chameleons, but I do keep tree frogs and there is not a ton of information there with respect to cricket feeding for frogs. I've roughly followed some of sandrachameleon's gutloading recipes and was wondering if anyone had thoughts about A) the mixes I chose, and B) if anyone knows how well they'd translate for frogs.

DRY GUTLOAD:
1 cup alfalfa
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp rice protein
1 tbsp quinoa
1 tsp crushed barley
"handful" Spirulina algae tablets
1 heaping teaspoon dried basil
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp slivered almonds
1/2 tsp hempseed
1/2 tsp nutritional yeast

WET GUTLOAD:
1/2 bunch dandelion greens
1/4 cup romaine lettuce
2 carrots
1/2 cup butternut squash
handful of strawberries
1/2 apple
3/4 blood orange
2 blackberries

Not a tree frog keeper, but I have kept terrestrial leaf litter frogs. My advice would be limited, but a couple of approaches that might help.

1. Find and post this ingredient list to a tree frog forum. There must be some around the web.

2. I might approach an ingredient list from the opposite angle....starting off with simpler combinations of basics and only start adding to them if it seems indicated. You may need to research generalized amphibian nutrition to get at this. After all, chams are not amphibians. They tolerate different levels of UV light, heat, moisture. Ingredients that might affect a frog's coloration might have no affect on a cham. It might be completely missing from a frog gutload. Frogs rely a lot more on protective mucus/permeable skin membranes. There may be ingredients that inhibit these processes or enhance them. Just as water quality is more critical for amphibians, dilutions and concentrations probably matter a lot more for frogs than for chams.

3. See if you can find out whether your particular species or group of more commonly kept similar species has a known sensitivity to nutritional ingredients or forms of them. For example, the way cooler climate, lower canopy shade tolerant species can or cannot metabolize vit. D3 compared to a basking herp. Fat soluble vitamins that play into UV metabolism for a cham might not be necessary at the same levels for a frog. Or, the frog could be very sensitive to those vitamins and be easier to overdose. The acidity or pH of some of the ingredients might create more of a problem for a frog, because it might affect how they maintain their electrolyte balance.

 

[ettubrute]

Hi Carlton,

Thanks for the well thought-out response.

To #1, I'm on the FrogForum, r/frogs on reddit, and to a degree repticzone (but it's really not active at all any more) but the community seems sort of lacking. Gutloading beyond maybe repashy's bug burger seems to be unheard of. If anyone reading also keeps frogs and knows of any other useful forums, please let me know.

To #2, good idea. I'll see what I can do on specific reading. Just like most herps, calcium is pretty much #1 for frogs, but beyond that I don't know much.

To #3, that would be a great idea. I keep Hyla Versicolor, which since they're so common, no one really seems to get crazy about their care. Looking at their close relatives I don't see any likely candidates for commonly kept frogs, but they're pretty similar in behavior and habits to Vietnamese mossy frogs, so maybe I'll give that a shot.