White Tree Frog Diet And Feeding Guide

In the wild, the white tree frog eats insects, spiders, and invertebrates. Sometimes they even catch and eat other smaller frogs or rodents. This provides them with the vitamins and minerals they need to remain healthy.

In captivity, you want to provide the same high quality and well-balanced diet they would enjoy in the wild. Providing a nutritious and vitamin-enriched diet will help your amphibian pet remain healthy and strong.

White Tree Frog Diet

White Tree Frog Food Chart
White tree frog food chart

Staple Food

Staple foods are foods you can feed to your white tree frog regularly. These include:

Dubia Roaches

Dubia roaches are very popular feeders due to their high protein content. They are soft-bodied, which makes them much easier for your white tree frog to digest.

These feeders are readily available in reptile and amphibian stores, as well as on the internet.

Nightcrawlers

Nightcrawlers are another of the popular staple food sources for white tree frogs because they are very nutritious, offering the vitamins and minerals your pet needs to stay healthy. They are also readily available for convenience.

Silkworms

Silkworms add a bit of variety to your amphibian’s diet. They mimic eating experiences in the wild. They are low in fat and very nutritious, making them a popular feeder choice.

Silkworms are high in iron, calcium, magnesium, protein, sodium, and more.

Crickets

Crickets remain a leading feeder choice for most amphibian pet owners. They can be eaten by most exotic pets.

This is due to them being very nutritious with loads of protein and good water content, to aid with hydration. They are also smaller and not as aggressive as other insects, making them an ideal meal for your white tree frog.

Locusts

Locusts are colorful and active, which makes them exciting to catch and eat. They are inexpensive and a great addition to your amphibian’s staple diet menu.

Dust with calcium to ensure your pet receives all the nutrients it needs.

Semi-Staple Food

Semi-staple foods can be fed on a semi-regular basis, but should not be the only staple food provided. Semi-stable foods for your white tree frog includes:

Butterworm

Butterworms can be fed on a semi-regular basis to your white tree frog. They are bright in color, which helps encourage difficult eaters.

They are high in fat, which is why you don’t want to give them at every feeding, but they are full of calcium, essential to reducing the risk of metabolic bone disease in your pet.

Wood Lice

Wood lice are popular feeders for white tree frogs because they are very high in calcium. They cannot be given as a staple due to their small size.

Add them to your pet’s meal once a week or now and then to boost calcium levels and give your pet the nutrients it needs to remain healthy.

Hornworms

Hornworms are ideal for fussy eaters with their bright green coloration. They have a high-water content, which reduces the risk of dehydration while being low in fat and chitin and high in calcium.

The hornworm has a soft exterior, making them easy to digest.

Moths

Moths would be eaten by your pet in the wild, so introducing moths to the diet on a semi-regular basis provides a natural eating experience with a low nutritional value.

Never feed moths from outdoors that could be covered in insecticides and pesticides. Feed silkworm moths from your storage that have been kept pesticide and insecticide-free.

Occasional Food

Occasional foods are best considered as treats. Given on a rare basis to your frog to add some variety to their diet. Food considered safe for your white tree frog includes:

Phoenix Worms

Phoenix worms are rich in calcium and phosphorus. They are low in fat and usually have considerably more calcium than other feeder insects. These are a great nutritious treat you can give to your pet now and then.

Waxworms

Waxworms are very easy to find and are brimming with nutritional benefits. The problem is that they have a very high-fat content, which can quickly increase the size of your white tree frog if you feed them too often.

Micro Pinkies

Micro pinkies should only be offered as an occasional treat, as they are also very high in fat.

White tree frogs that eat pinkies too often get corneal opacities, which is irreversible and ends in blindness.

Your white tree frog is also prone to getting obese quickly, being voracious eaters, which is why you want to reduce high fat foods.

Frogs

White the white tree frog is known to eat smaller frogs in the wild, it is not often. Therefore, it is not recommended that you feed other amphibians to your frog on a regular basis.

Should Not Feed

There are some common feeders you will see online that you should never feed to your white tree frog, these include:

Superworms

Superworms are not easy for your white tree frog to digest, which is why you want to refrain from adding these to their diet.

It is believed that the super worm will attempt to eat away at the inside of the frog after being consumed, which can result in serious health issues.

Red Wigglers

While you may read that red wigglers are excellent feeders and are nutritious, they carry parasites, which puts your pet at risk.

It is not recommended that you feed red wigglers for this reason, reducing exposure of parasites to your white tree frog.

Live rodents

Live rodents should never be fed to a white tree frog, as your pet is actually the prey. Live rodents will bite your frog and they tend to carry disease, which could be detrimental to your pet’s health.

Shrimps

White tree frogs do not eat shrimp in the wild, or if they do it’s not regularly. Shrimp is low in nutrients and offers no nutritional benefit for your pet.

Mealworms

Not only do mealworms have a low nutritional value, but they also have a very hard body, making it difficult for your white tree frog to digest.

Lizards

Lizards are known to eat amphibians as part of their diet on occasion, so you are putting a predator in with a white tree frog. They are difficult to digest and not recommended for your pet.

Praying Mantis

Praying mantis can cause more damage to your white tree frog than you know. They have spiky forelegs use for fighting, which can injure your frog. In addition to this, frogs are natural enemies to the praying mantis, based on size.

Fish

Fish are overloaded with protein, which isn’t suitable for your white tree frog, who isn’t well adapted to a very high protein diet.

Supplements

Supplementing your white tree frog’s diet will ensure it gets all the vitamins and minerals it needs while living in captivity.

Calcium with D3

Calcium with Vitamin D3 is an essential supplement, used for captive amphibians and reptiles. Calcium reduces the risk of metabolic bone disease, a common disease in captive amphibians.

The supplement is easy to use. Simply dust feeder insects before popping them into the enclosure. Dust with calcium every second feeding.

Multivitamin

Multivitamins help to promote health and well-being in your white tree frog, ensuring that it gets all the vitamins it needs that it may not be getting out of its diet alone.

White Tree Frog Feeding Schedule

How Often to Feed

Baby white tree frogs can be fed each day, while adults should be fed two to three times per week, providing them as much as they can eat within ten to fifteen minutes.

When to Feed

Your white tree frog is nocturnal, which means it is active at night. Therefore, you want to feed at night. It’s recommended to wait an hour after the lights go out before adding your feeder insects to the enclosure, encouraging natural hunting.

How to Feed

An hour after the lights go out, you can add up to fifteen feeder insects to the enclosure. The insects should be freshly gut loaded. After ten to fifteen minutes remove any leftover food.

Remember your pet is a voracious eater and prone to obesity, so remove any uneaten food within the given time.

Feeder Size

When selecting food for your white tree frog you want to ensure any insects or worms you add to the enclosure are not larger than the width of its eyes.

Why is My White Tree Frog Not Eating

Before you panic that your white tree frog isn’t eating, you will be pleased to know that the can go for a week or more without eating. But you do want to identify the cause to get your pet back to eating and getting all the nutrients it needs.

Some of the reasons your amphibian pet isn’t eating is:

Stress

If you have just brought your new white tree frog home, he is in a new environment and needs time to settle down. Give him some time to settle and then try feeding again.

Ensure you have plenty of branches and hiding places for your frog, so he can feel secure.

Impaction

Impaction is a very serious condition and common when your pet accidentally ingests something while catching prey. This can be some substrate if it does make its way to the bottom of the enclosure, but also from feeding insects that are too big.

Impaction usually requires veterinary treatment.

Wrong Temperatures and Humidity

It’s important to maintain the temperature and humidity within the enclosure. Monitor them regularly using a digital thermometer and hygrometer with a separate probe, ensuring you get accurate results.

Humidity should be between 60% and 90%, while temperatures should have a warm and cool side, the warm or basking side should range between 80ºF and 85ºF and the cooler side should range between 70ºF and 75ºF.

Brumation

It’s not uncommon for amphibians to hibernate in the winter months, due to the colder temperatures. If your frog goes into a hibernation state, it won’t eat until the temperatures warm and it comes out of its brumation state.

Summary

In order to keep a healthy white tree frog, you want to feed it a nutritious diet that provides all the vitamins and minerals it needs.

Follow the guideline above to provide your amphibian pet with the best diet and feeding schedule to promote health and well-being.

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