Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys, I've recently been interested in getting a new amphibian. What I'm really looking for is something that doesn't need crickets as a staple diet. I'd really prefer something that can do well on pellets/frozen/dried food. I wouldn't mind something that can have mealworms as a staple diet as that is what I give my leopard geckos, though I do sometimes get crickets for them as well for variety. I don't mind buying crickets sometimes but don't really like the idea of always having to deal with them. There probably isn't any such amphibian as I'm describing but I might as well ask you guys. Well thanks in advance if anything comes to mind.

You have a number of options. Many small frogs and salamanders do well on fruit flies, but fruit flies are not much improvement over crickets. Large terrestrial/ semi-aquatic amphibians such as tiger salamanders and the various big frogs do well on earthworms, waxworms, etc.; they can also be fed crickets, moths, and pinkies. I would not recommend mealworms as a staple diet for any amphibian. Some terrestrial amphibians can be trained to eat dead prey such as the 'bugs in a can' from ZooMed, especially if you use a vibrating dish.

But if you really want animals that need no live prey, you're going to have to concentrate on aquatics. Newts and clawed frogs will often take pellets. These, along with bigger aquatic sallies such as sirens and axolotls will also take frozen foods such as bloodworms, which are much less of a hassle than crickets. All of these aquatics will also take live feeders such as guppies, scuds, daphnia, small earthworms, etc., which are very easy to raise yourself and do not have the smell and pest potential of a cricket colony.

The stuff said above is pretty good. I had Fire-bellied Newts for a number of years that were fed primarily freeze-dried tubifex worms that come in cubes. All you have to do is mush part of a cube against the glass just below the water line and the newts go nuts over it. They are very cheap and you don't need to worry about keeping the food alive. The newts themselves are very hardy as well.

Thanks for the info guys. I read up on clawed frogs and different species of newts. I'll probably get a few fire-belly newts. The paddle-tail newts look cool too, but seeing how aggressive and territorial they are I think I'm gonna stick with the fire-bellies.

if you get the opportunity try to get some japanese fire-bellied newts. in my experience they are much more bold and are hardier in the size food they will take. cycnops pyrrogaster.
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