Feeding and Nutrition :: Please help settle an Argument

[kirkanos64]

Hello, This is my first time posting in this forum and I would love any help I can get.

I have followed the general forum rule of searching for the answer before reposting a question that already been answered.

Let me first say that I am a huge fan of red ear sliders. I've been helping my friend set up her new home for her young turtle and I am currently living with my roommate's 5 year old RES. My roommate and I are both Biology majors in our junior year of college. I have been having all kinds of fun feeding the turtle snails and red rosies. Recently I have noticed all frogs that are out late at night. I searched the forum and frogs are only mentioned when it comes to their eggs. I was wondering if RESs can eat frogs. I youtubed red ear sliders eating frogs and found several videos. Some have the turtle eat them and others are just turtles snapping at a frog in an outdoor pond. The red ear slider website does not mention frogs under nutrition. I am aware that just like fish, certain species are better than others. I read a whole article that I never knew about with goldfish vs rosies. Are frogs okay for the healthy for the turtle? And if so, which species are acceptable and which ones should be avoided.

Please help settle this debate and as many facts and data as possible would be appreciated. My roommate said I could not feed her turtle any frogs unless I could support it with scientifically data and facts. So anything advice would be great.

Thank you again from a first time poster.

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Your starting something most will find wrong. Im fine with animals breed to be food for other animals. Frogs are not one of them. Dont feed it frogs. Now for a real reason not to feed frogs. You never know where the frog was or what it ate. It could potenially be carrying something bad in it. Whole reason to stick to captive breed food compared to wild caught. Also at this stage in the turtles life sounds like you might be giving it to much protein. Anything alive really is only for a treat like once a month. Look more towards veggies.

[kirkanos64]

Personally I do not see how feeding an animal that was breed for food is any different morally than feeding a it an animal that was not. The turtle doesn't morally care and either way an animal is being eaten by another animal, circle of life. But really that has nothing to do with what I would like to know. Yes, I fully agree that you do know where the frog has been or what it ate. That is a very good point. I know plenty of captive breed frogs and that would have been my first choice over some frog hopping along side the road at night. I agree that captive food is much safer, we do feed the turtle snails on occasion that we find outside. So yes, I will not be feeding any wild caught frogs to the turtle. However, I know plenty of stores that sell frogs of different species. Therefore I would know where they have been and what they have eaten. Also, I am not giving the turtle too much protein, we only feed him snails or rosies once a month as a treat, which for a 5 year old turtle is not too much. And within those 5 years, he just absolutely refuses to eat any veggies. I went through the entire list on the website and through some of the forum and we have tried every veggie listed.

So let me rephrase: If I were to buy a captive breed frog of a specific species, would it be healthy for a turtle or do you run into health issues such as avoid goldfish. I'm sure turtles eat all kinds of species in the wild that enter their waters.

Also I am not really looking for a moral debate, I am looking for a scientific answer.

Thank you Diamondbacks4Life for replying and helping me

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Unless your petstore is selling native frogs. Most sell just green frog or bullfrog tadpoles. The answer is none. Everything else is exotic frogs.

If your gonna feed frogs feed tadpoles. Thats actually what they take down in the wild. Once tadpoles are frogs its actually very rare in the wild turtles diet as they become land based.

Have you tried a turtle jello shot for veggies. viewtopic.php?f=8&t=17486

[kirkanos64]

Thank you very much for all your help. I've just seen so many youtube videos, for example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH-KmqwNkJY, and we were not sure how good that was for the turtle. As as my roommate said, "Just because it's on youtube, doesn't mean you should try it." Most of the ones on youtube are strictly aquatic frog, as you pointed out, once they become land based it would be rare to eat them. I think I will do more research and read up on tadpoles. I can't imagine that being significantly different than most feeder fish.

I appreciate all your help and advice.

I briefly read through the jello shot thread, it looked very interesting and I will give it a try though the turtle can be very picky, that might do the trick. Thanks again.

[michaelg]

That's an African Dwarf frog, so like DB4L said, it's an exotic frog. Our PetSmart sells them for like $2 a frog, that's a lot to spend for such a little meal. The Dwarf frogs are not nearly as fast in water as say a bull frog, green frog or leopard frog (most common frogs around here). I think captive breed tadpoles would be a better choice, however they'd be a messy choice. A lot messier than feeder fish. The only tadpoles I ever see around here for sale are bull frog tadpoles and they are like $3 - $5 a piece. A costly yet very filling meal.

-Michael

[kirkanos64]

Michaelg, Thank you very much. I saw a few other videos with north american frogs but it looked more like gory battle than a nice fun meal. You are right, the exotic aquatic frogs are kind of pricey for a small meal. I know some petsmarts sell the white-ish aquatic frogs but again, not very cost effective. There are also a few videos of a bullfrog being attacked by multiple RES but again, not very pleasant for the frog to be ripped to shreds by a team of turtles. Anything from northern america is just too big. I do really like the tadpole idea, especially the bullfrog tadpoles. I may check the local bait shops because I know that everything was captive breed and they offer discounts for buying in bulk.

I may do research on my own unless some one else knows if there are any dietary issues with tadpoles. I know certain fish are bad for RES's livers but I'm not sure how a tadpole would effect a turtle.

Thank you everyone for your help.

[SINI5T3R]

Also, almost all frogs are poisonous give or take a few species. But i would guess around 90% of frogs if are poisonous in one way or another. Most frogs have bumps near there heads that have toxins in them also, when a frog gets bit, it sucks in large ammounts of air and can actually get stuck in your turtles throat. Its a defense against being eaten by birds and snakes mainly out here in AZ. I used to go catch baby spadefoot frogs that were just out of the tadpole stage and throw them in my pond for a few large fish I had and once in a while my RES would beat the fish to it. other then that, I usually would not feed a frog to a turtle. I used to feed Feeder Mice to my turtles but our local pet store that sold live mice for cheap closed down and petsmart mice are crazy expensive.

EDIT: I just watched that vid you posted and that is actually one of those aquatic frogs that you buy from petsmart. that is not a wild frog and is not poisonous. You can feed those to your turtles all day if your looking to spend 4$ on each small tiny meal for your turtles...its more of a waist of money then anything.

[michaelg]

I just bought some captive bred bull frog tadpoles to add to our pond. I'm hoping they'll eat the algae off the liner. Plecos have been known to damage pond liners and the rosy red minnows that never got eaten by the turtles don't seem to eat the algae on the liner. I'm hoping that at least a few of the tadpoles will be able to keep away from the turtles and clean up the liner.

-Michael

[SINI5T3R]

When they turn into frogs send them my way lol i collect frogs. Love the noises they make at night

[michaelg]

Well, I don't think I'm going to have any frogs. I put a dozen bull frog tadpoles in the pond and 5 were gone by the end of the first day. I think the pond is down to 3 now.

When I was in High School, I'd catch bull frogs and keep them a few days and release them where I caught them. This one time I had two in a tank. At about 3 am, one of them started croaking. Woke up everyone in the house, like a smoke detector going off. Needless to say, I couldn't keep bull frogs in the house any more.

I love frogs almost as much as I love turtles. I might have to build another pond if any tadpoles survive to maturity!

-Michael

[SINI5T3R]

Yeah iv got a pacman frog and he does the same thing at night. Its not loud but u can easily hear it lol its pretty funny