Synthetic Foods

• Synthetic foods for frogs include food pellets, dried brine shrimp and even dry cat food or dog food. These foods offer the advantage that they do not require special containment or maintenance, are easily stored and are readily available. Synthetic foods also offer the benefit of being nutritionally complete. However, the pellets usually need to be removed from the cage within 24 hours of feeding or they will contaminate the water or grow mold that can be harmful to the frog. Synthetic foods also have the disadvantage that they do not move--for this reason, it is often difficult to get certain frog species to take pelleted food.
  
  

Live Foods

• Live foods for frogs include crickets, wax worms, meal worms and blood worms. These foods offer the advantage of being more natural--frogs are more likely to take moving prey. However, they vary greatly in their nutritional quality and nutrient supplements are necessary when using live foods. Crickets are a popular live food choice, because they are readily available, can be maintained for long periods of time and can be "gut-loaded" (fed high-nutrient gel food) or dusted with vitamin and calcium supplement powders. Meal worms and wax worms can be maintained for a week or more, but have relatively low nutritional value.
  
  

Terrestrial Frogs

• Synthetic foods may be taken more readily by some species of terrestrial frogs. For example, many toads will eat moistened pellet food or moistened dry cat or dog food. These foods can provide adequate nutrition without supplementation.
  
  

Aquatic Frogs

• Synthetic foods may also be taken readily by aquatic frogs, which are accustomed to taking floating prey from the water surface and do not discriminate between moving and non-moving foods. Some keepers can find it difficult to monitor the frogs' consumption of live foods, which may hide among plants, gravel or other debris. Synthetic floating pellets, however, are both easy to see and easy to remove.
  
  

Tree Frogs

• Synthetic foods are not likely to be taken readily by tree frogs. Tree frogs are sit and wait predators accustomed to watching for moving prey from an elevated perch. As a result, live crickets are usually the best food choice for tree frogs--but must be dusted with vitamin and calcium supplement powders at least once per week.