Feeding frogs and snakes

Euronymous

Arachnobaron
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I live out in the county in Oregon where we have tons of garter snakes (no scientific names, sorry) and Pacific Tree Frogs. Is it safe to feed these to large T's? I also have small large mouth bass{D and bull frogs. Do bull frogs or tree frogs have any kind of toxin in them?
 

Mushroom Spore

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There is nothing in that post that is a good idea.

Wild-caught prey is a huge contaminant risk, especially frogs which are basically pollution sponges. Then you have parasites to worry about on top of all that. Never feed anything you found outside, period, end of story.

Also it's pretty risky feeding a tarantula anything big enough to fight/bite back, because sometimes the predator loses.
 

Talkenlate04

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Frogs have parasites, I learned the hard way by having an adult B. smithi die from suspected nematodes contracted by frogs I was feeding her in the summer.
Snakes can fight back, I try to stay out of the habit of feeding predators to predators, but I have seen others feed things like snakes before had no trouble. I would not do it that is just me personally.
Bass……….. lol I guess you could try that to, but it would be smelly I’d think. Imagine if a T hid those remains from you {D None of your ideas seem worth the risks.
 

xodustrance

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If you are turned of by roaches like me, just breed crickets or mealworms. Super easy to do.
 

xodustrance

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OMG :eek: :eek:

I guess even I have my limits.

You are a bigger man then me my friend.
 

Talkenlate04

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Out of curiosity - they look like they might smell (roaches), do they?
They don't smell at all!
That colony above is the adult bin, and I have a second bin that is even more out of control that is full of juvenile roaches. I think I might have to sell some off soon. They are going a tad bit out of control as of late. {D And as you can tell in the picture I stopped removing the babies and putting them in the other setup. I weighed them the other day and I have about 75 lbs of roaches.{D
 

NevularScorpion

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I think the reason why some people look for other feeders is because their ts dont want to eat roaches. I'm one of the people who owns ts that are so picky. i have different variety of roaches but only few of my ts eat them. most of my ts that eat my roaches are WC and for some reason some of my CB Ts dont eat them they rather die from starvation. i actually had some losses because they dont want to eat the roach in the container until they died :(. thats why i have to buy crickets and mouse once in a while to gut load them. the hard part about this is i have to prekilled and chop the crikets before i feed them and its really hard to do it when you have a lot of ts. also most ts dont like male roaches for some reason.
 

crpy

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I live out in the county in Oregon where we have tons of garter snakes (no scientific names, sorry) and Pacific Tree Frogs. Is it safe to feed these to large T's? I also have small large mouth bass{D and bull frogs. Do bull frogs or tree frogs have any kind of toxin in them?
Some frogs, ie. cuban tree frogs that are all over my area, have a fairly strong toxin.
I do not know the effects on a "T" but they make raccoons puke:razz:
 

Talkenlate04

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also most ts dont like male roaches for some reason.
:eek: My Ts LOVE males .They want them more then anything else. My pokies especially love males roaches.
I had trouble to start with roaches as well. But every single T even my stubborn B. smithi eventually gave in and ate roaches.
 

Hedorah99

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also most ts dont like male roaches for some reason.
All I feed out are male dubias or unsexed nymphs and have never had anyone reject one except when they were in pre molt.

And to the OP:
Feeding wild prey, especially frogs, is never a good idea. All frogs are toxic to varying degrees and, as stated previously, soak up any environmental pollution in their skin. I think there has been recent studies as well showing that garter snake saliva is mildly toxic as well. Why risk your pets?
 

Talkenlate04

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Come to think of it, mine hate adult females. Their armor is to much for most T's and they strike but then back off and leave them alone. Every T except my adult blondi refuses female roaches. Unless they are freshly molted {D
 

matthias

Arachnobaron
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I think the reason why some people look for other feeders is because their ts dont want to eat roaches. I'm one of the people who owns ts that are so picky. i have different variety of roaches but only few of my ts eat them. most of my ts that eat my roaches are WC and for some reason some of my CB Ts dont eat them they rather die from starvation. i actually had some losses because they dont want to eat the roach in the container until they died :(. thats why i have to buy crickets and mouse once in a while to gut load them. the hard part about this is i have to prekilled and chop the crikets before i feed them and its really hard to do it when you have a lot of ts. also most ts dont like male roaches for some reason.
Some roaches have a defensive musk they spray when scared. This can turn off a T. I strongly recommend B. dubia. Also the roaches have to be appropriatly sized neither too big nor too small.

Turned off by roaches? Who ever heard of such a thing?! Crickets are EVIL!!!;P
HOLY OVER GROWN roach colony batman!
I'm so jealous.
 

Merfolk

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If you put aside the pollution/parasites thing, frogs and small reptiles are a very popular food in the wild, coming second after only inverts.

If you have doubt about what crawls in your backyard (and in some cases, they are REALLY soaked with parasites and poisons) you might capture a few adults and breed them in captivity. If you really want to try wild feeders, go as far and remote as you can. I have been lucky with this, but I would go CB if I could!!!!
 

betuana

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Seems very risky

I live out in the county in Oregon where we have tons of garter snakes (no scientific names, sorry) and Pacific Tree Frogs. Is it safe to feed these to large T's? I also have small large mouth bass{D and bull frogs. Do bull frogs or tree frogs have any kind of toxin in them?
I'd have to strongly advise against feeding wild prey. While wild T's obviously will catch whatever wild prey they can get, in captivity we can grant them the luxury of being fed regular and SAFE meals.

Wild-caught prey is a huge contaminant risk, especially frogs which are basically pollution sponges.
Mushroom Spore is right on the money here. There are so many chemicals dumped in our environment that can hurt critters - especially inverts. MANY places treat for mosquitoes for instance, and the amphibians soak all that up. I can't imagine that pesticides like that would do your T any good...

I know several falconers, and one suffered from this sort of situation. Her Red Shouldered Hawk caught a frog/toad (they only saw the back legs going down) that got too close to its perch when he was out weathering. Shouldn't be a big deal - they are on the menu in the wild. However, the hawk died less than 8 hours later, after several hours of intensive care and therapy given to it when it started to droop shortly after its snack. It was determined that the amphibian introduced some toxicity to the system - likely absorbed poisons from all the mosquito and pest treatment in the local water. It was an absolutely heartbreaking situation, as this was her first bird, and he was an absolutely gorgeous and wonderfully trained young boy.

Point of that story - if a wild frog/toad in a relatively unsettled area (I don't want to even think about how much more toxins one from a more settled area would have!) can kill a hawk that fast, its probably not the best thing to feed to a T!

But then again - I'm sure there are people who have fed such things without a problem. So it comes down to the amount of risk you are willing to take with your pets. I'd avoid doing it though.
 
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