Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is this true? Don't force feed frogs or they'll die?

Heard this from someone on the board here.

My frog is eating again-he ate a night crawler last night-but only after five days without food!

I wonder, therefore, how often you should feed your frog and or if it isn't eating at all is it not okay to force-feed it little bits of food? What about vitamins and repto-min and things as such. A frog surely won't eat these.

Mrs. Bullfrog.

Notice I said CAN. I did not say they WILL die. Nor did I say the fore feeding itself killed them.
-----
Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

I see. But why?

All I wanted to know was whether or not it IS okay to force feed them. I've read that you can do this, so I've done it a few times, that's all. But why CAN it kill them?

You can force feed your frog--you can also amputate your leg because of a simple cut.

It's more about what you should do. Force-feeding is EXTREMELY stressful to frogs. Andy mentioned it's that way for all herps, which I disagree with in some instances (well, disagree with the degree of when to do it), but for all frogs it's definitely a bad thing and should only be done when something is nearly at the brink of death, which may or may not have been your case here.

I've saved one froglet and a few anoles by force-feeding, but also have lost a froglet and some anoles from the same thing. All were on the brink of death and probably weren't meant to survive, anyway. If you take in the situation, it's very easy to understand how this is stressful for the animal--it being stressful to the animal was always in my face when I tried this.

Frog vitamins are to be dusted on crickets or other food items, not to be directly fed to the animal. Some kinds of vitamin-foods suitable to some reptiles are something the animal comes and eats on it's own, who better than it to judge when it's in need?

When you force-feed an animal you run the risk of stressing an already stressed animal to death. You run the risk of damaging or crushing it, or, in some herps, causing it to lose it's tail or an appendage. You run the very high risk of choking the animal. It really is to be avoided, except when necessary. Even then, it's a risky thing in most cases, especially with small animals. Books show you how to do it sometimes, but that's meant for when an animal really, really won't eat and is dying. It's meant for when a vet has already seen the animal or it won't make it long enough to see a vet without eating.

There are better ways to provide nutrition for a non-eating frog. Soaking it in Pedialyte works, and I've had good luck applying something like Jumpstart to froglets topically when they wouldn't eat. Regardless, your frog seems to be doing better so take this as a future precaution. What's done is done and everyone made it out alive... that's what matters right now.
-----
Got hips like Cinderella / Must be having a good shame / Talking sweet about nothing / Cookie I think you're Tame

As for force feeding being hard on all herps, take a look at snakes and lizards. I personally have not force fed a turtle, but I have the others. Believe me...It can do plenty of damage, especially to the smaller, more fragile species of snake such as hognose. Andy
-----
Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

As a young kid I had a hognose snake that I had caught that wouldn't eat and I force feed him one. I'm not sure who stressed more the snake or me but I just couldn't stand it thus I released him back into the wild as much as I really did want to keep him as a pet. I still think of him once in awhile. To think that the two or three days could have lasting memories!

I've force fed a 6 gram sand boa with a rubber catheter and a syringe. With two people, it takes 10 seconds and the stress is pretty minimal... Just like giving oral medication, actually.
But it's probably a lot different for amphibians, and I wouldn't enjoy doing it for a small lizard either.
-----
Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

Andy, I'm not saying it's good for any animal! Please don't misunderstand what I'm trying to say--the cases I've done it in were extreme and I even sometimes regret doing it because the animals involved were too weak to survive long without that assistance when they did. I don't like "playing God," but I don't like seeing things die, so it's a hard choice.

It's a difficult thing to put any herp through, but it really depends on what you're doing it too, as well. A treefrog, for example, probably won't take it as well as a Leopard gecko. No, a Leo won't take it well, but it'll take it better I think.
-----
Got hips like Cinderella / Must be having a good shame / Talking sweet about nothing / Cookie I think you're Tame

Very true! Andy
-----
Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

If the frog is not eating, then the digestive tract is probably slowed due to low temps or even just the time of year. To forcefeed could be a shock to the system. If the frog isn't eating, maybe it is a result of too much stress; you might have to cover the tank with a towel or leave the room. Bullfrogs are notorious for being flighty (at least mine was.)
-----
*~Ginevive~*

Is it a bullfrog you're talking about? This is the "off-season" for them, and if it as wildcaught, it probably is used to going all winter without food. My male bullfrog was really confused his first winter (I had caught him as an adult at the in-laws' because bullfrogs were becoming a nuisance there.) He would only eat about once a week, and I think I must have had him confused pretty badly.
5 days does not sound that bad for no food. They can live much longer without, and as long as the frog is not becoming scrawny, I would not worry. Mine hibernated most of the winter under the substrate and never appeared thin when I removed him for tank-cleaning.
-----
*~Ginevive~*

I've been keeping pet frogs for decades and never had to forcefeed a frog. Check environmental conditions. And if it's winter, it's normal for a frog to refuse food.

Forcefeeding it will only traumatize it, and may even cause injury.

JadeFox