Feeding your horned frog is the most essential task in caring for your frog. An improper diet could easily result in an unhealthy or even dead frog. It is important you feed your frog properly if you would like it to live long. In this section, you will learn when, what, and how to feed your frog.

The Prey

Horned frogs will try to eat anything in site. From little rodents to bugs to your fingers. They are always hungry, however, over-feeding will result in an extremely overweight animal that will probably not remain healthy long. A good rule is not to feed your frog anything bigger than half its size. Although your frog will probably still go for it, you want to avoid choking. Your frogs menu will consist of three main types of prey: insects, fish, and small rodents.

Insects:

Insects are an easy and good source of food for your new frog. Crickets, meal worms, wax worms, and even night crawlers are an ideal starter food for your frog. Crickets can be used as a staple food, but if possible, try to vary its diet. It is imperative to keep your crickets and other insects healthy and "gut-loaded," which means feeding them properly so your frog will benefit from their diet. To learn more about keeping crickets and gut-loading, click here.

** Sidenotes - Wax worms are very high in fat and should only be fed occasionally! Also, thanks to Rebecca Ward for this reminder and protective measure: When dealing with meal worms, you will need to cut the heads off of the large ones because the meal worms will eat your frog literally from the inside out. **

Fish & Rodents:

As your frog gets larger, it can and will eat more, this is where things get fun. You need to vary your frogs menu to get it all the proper nutrients. Fish and rodents can help that. Unlike insects, fish and rodents already have some vitamin content to them, but dusting them with a nutrient powder is not a bad idea either. Included in this list are tuffy feeders, feeder minnows, and feeder goldfish. Pinkie mice, fuzzie mice, and eventually full grown mice will be the rodent diet for your frog.

**Note: Goldfish are notorious for being loaded with parasites. If you're buying feeder fish, you'll most likely have the best luck from a place that specializes in fish. Find out where the aquarium guru's go to buy their $400 fishies and get your feeders there. When buying goldfish, look to see if the tank is kept clean, the water is clean, and that there are not dead goldfish floating on top of the water. If their fish are in poor condition, move on to another place.**

How Much to Feed Your Frog

Your new frog (if it is a juvenile), should be fed small to medium sized crickets about everyday. Put 4-6 crickets in the tank and see if it eats them. If crickets are not available, try small wax worms and minnows. As your frog gets bigger and older, upgrade the size of the crickets to large and throw in a meal worm every now and then in place of the wax worms. Feed medium frogs every other day instead of everyday. Juvenile frogs can also be fed a feeder minnow or tuffy every once and awhile too.

When your frog is larger, feed it larger fish and rodents but do not feed these to your frogs ALL the time. Only use it to change up the menu from your regular staple insect diet to a more nutritious one when it is needed. Feed medium to large size frogs one goldfish maybe once every week or so.

Now for rodents, only feed your frog these when they are medium to large sized (use your judgment when deciding what your frog can or cannot eat). Once it is large enough, feeding your frog rodents, such as mice are a good way to fatten up your frog. Feed medium frogs pinkie mice to fuzzies, then finally upgrading to large common mice when it is full grown. If you feed your frog a large mouse, do not feed it for about another week. Feeding it any earlier than this could result in an obese frog.
**Please do not feed your frog a mouse every week. Switch it up between the goldfish and don't hesistate to use meal worms or large night crawlers in place of the mouse. Do not feed mice more than twice a month.**

How to Feed Your Frog

People always ask me how I go about feeding my frog insects and rodents and fish. So I have included below what I do to feed my frog.

How do I feed my frog fish? Well, personally, I just drop the fish in front of my frog. After it flops around a little, my frog will almost instantly eat it. But if there is no movement after awhile from the fish, my frog will not go for it. Another method is to wiggle the fish in front of your frogs face with tongs until it eats it. Or even put the fish in its water dish while the frog is bathing. Try all methods and see which one your frog is more responsive to.

Crickets are a little harder. Putting about 6 crickets in your frogs tank is a good idea. Anymore than 6 and you will have wasted your crickets since they will burrow themselves and hide somewhere. When your frog is young, it will jump around and hunt for the crickets. If the crickets tend to hide, find them and push them to the area where your frog is. As your frog gets older, it will more than likely not go for the crickets and just ambush them. This is where things can get hard. If they don't walk in front of your frogs face, then it will not go for it. So as I said, keep pushing them to the area where your frog is and it'll go for them if it's hungry enough. A last alternative is to hold the crickets or meal worm (whichever you are feeding it at the time) in front of its face. Just watch your fingers. Also, be sure to remove any crickets your frog does not eat.

When feeding mice, simply drop the mouse in the frogs tank. In time, the mouse will walk in front of the frog and the rest is history. Some people ask me if you should use frozen or live mice. When feeding mice, freshly killed or thawed is recommended because it is safer for the frog and more humane for the mouse. I only say this because some mice have been known to bite frogs back and kill the frog. I have never had this happen to me, and its your call, but I figured I'd caution you before it happens. If you do choose frozen mice, be sure its thawed out then use tongs or forceps to dangle it in front of your frogs face.

My Frog Won't Eat

The most common question I get is "Help, my frog won't eat, what is wrong?" If this happens to you, do not worry. Most juvenile frogs and new frogs will not eat for the first day or two because they need to get accustomed to their home. When they are hungry, they will eat, believe me. Large adult frogs sometimes only eat once every two weeks or even a month! Before you panic, take the following into consideration. Is the temperature warm enough? If it is too hot or too cold, your frog may not have an appetite! Adjust it! Also give time for your frog to adjust to its new surroundings. If all else fails, and your frog has not eaten at all (about a week for juvenile frogs, 4 weeks for adult frogs) then your frog may be sick. Check out my diseases page to see if your frog is stressed, uncomfortable, or even too sick to eat. Your frog may even be in hibernation (covered in the About Horned Frogs section) and will not eat at all. You can always contact me too if you believe your frog just won't eat.

Pricing

Feeding your frog is not very expensive. A dozen crickets are somewhere around $1.50 and 25 crickets are about $2.50. Meal worms and wax worms run around 5-10 cents. Pinkie and fuzzy mice are anywhere from $1.00 to $2.00. Large mice are $2.00 and up. As for fish, feeder tuffys and goldfish are 10-25 cents.

Extra Vitamins

It is essential that you purchase a vitamin powder for you frog. Reptile vitamins, such as Reptivite or Reptical, can be purchased at almost any pet store and are relatively cheap. The vitamin comes in a powder form and contains all the nutrients your frog needs. Sprinkle the vitamin powder on your frogs insects, fish and mice at least once a week (not every time you feed your frog)!

Feeding Sources

If you live in an area of the world where insects, rodents, and fish are not readily accessible, there are some websites you can order from and get the food you need directly to your doorstep. The sites listed below sell crickets and mice for wholesale prices and most guarantee live on delivery! Check them out!

Fluker Farms - producer of crickets, mealworms, and fruit flies; also manufactures bird, ferret, and reptile products.
Ed's Fly Meat, Inc. - feeder insect company specializing in fruit flies, springtails, and rice flour beetles for reptiles and amphibians.
Beechdale Rodents - offers feeder rats, mice, and crickets.
Gourmet Rodent - Frozen feeder mice and rats delivered to your door.
HerpFood.com - Largest selection of herp food online!
Kingsnake.com - Feeder listings galore!