Baby frogs will eat a primarily carnivorous diet, but tadpoles, on the other hand, prefer plant-based diets. If you’re caring for baby frogs, then you’ll want to feed them smaller insects such as smaller crickets or other insects that the frog can eat comfortably.
Frogs go through a specific metamorphosis through their life that helps them transform from eggs, then to tadpoles, then to baby, and then adult frogs.
Baby and adult frogs prefer a carnivorous diet, so it’s recommended that they eat smaller insects and other meat-based food sources that are made specifically for frogs.
What Do Baby Frogs Eat?
Baby frogs like to eat smaller insects such as small crickets, cockroaches, mealworms, mosquito larvae, fruit flies, and other insects. You can find these foods at your local pet stores.
Tadpoles, on the other hand, are herbivorous. They will mostly feed on algae and plant matter, but once they mature and they turn into baby frogs, they will turn carnivorous.
So the diet of a frog will change throughout its lifetime. Once the frog matures, it will start eating larger insects.
If you’re caring for a baby frog and you’re wondering what to feed them, then you’ll have to make sure that you feed them only foods that they can comfortably consume.
This means providing them with smaller bites and pieces of food such as smaller crickets and other insects that you might feed them.
Baby frogs are capable of fending for themselves in the wild. Once they grow up enough, they will be able to hunt down insects for themselves and feed themselves alone.
However, if you’re taking care of a baby frog, then you’ll need to make sure that you provide it with enough food.
The care and the diet of a baby frog are very similar to a diet of an adult frog, just on a much smaller scale. They will adapt the food they eat according to how they grow and how they can consume the food.
Related Article: How Long Does it Take Tadpoles to Turn Into Frogs?
What Foods Can Baby Frogs Eat?
Try to keep the diet of your baby frog as varied as possible. As you might imagine, the diet of the baby frog will be different in captivity than it is in the wild.
Baby Frog Diet (Wild)
- Plant leaves
- Roots
- Mosquito larvae
- Water striders
- Smaller insects
Baby Frog Diet (Captivity)
- Bloodworms
- Redworms
- Smaller crickets and other insects
- Brine shrimp
- Pinhead crickets
- Wingless fruit flies
In the wild, baby frogs focus mostly on smaller insects that are easier to catch, as well as some herbivorous food sources.
That’s because they still can’t catch food as well as adult frogs, so they need to adapt their diet a little bit.
In captivity, baby frogs can have a more varied selection of insects than they could catch themselves.
By focusing on these foods, you’ll make sure that your frog will have all the right conditions to grow into a healthy and strong adult frog.
In some cases, if the baby frog is still very young and it has just transitioned from being a tadpole, you can also consider vegetables as a source of food. Some frog owners feed their baby frogs algae, while others focus on other vegetable sources such as lettuce, for example.
Related Article: Do Frogs Eat Mice?
Can Baby Frogs Eat Lettuce?
Baby frogs can occasionally eat lettuce and other herbivorous food sources, as they are still adapting to living as adult frogs. They have this habit from their earlier days as tadpoles where their diets are completely herbivorous.
As such, you will probably see your baby frog eat the lettuce you try to feed it. It will not be choosy in terms of food and might sometimes eat herbivorous foods, although it is primarily a carnivore.
If you’re keeping a baby frog, then you might want to try and mix up the diet a bit. You can add some more variety by adding vegetable food sources like lettuce.
This will help keep your frog happy and healthy, but the bulk of the diet should still be carnivorous and you should be feeding them insects.
If you decide for feeding your baby frog lettuce, then the most important thing to keep in mind is that the food should be small enough to fit in the mouth of the frog.
This will help the frog chew down on the lettuce much easier and you will see that baby frogs might refuse to eat lettuce if it’s too big.
Some baby frogs, on the other hand, will refuse to eat vegetables altogether. When they transition from being baby frogs into adult frogs, their diet will change. They will start focusing on carnivorous foods and they will start neglecting the herbivorous foods they ate when they were still tadpoles.
Related Article: Can Frogs Breathe Underwater?
Can Baby Frogs Eat Fruit?
While some baby frogs might eat fruit in the wild, it’s not recommended to feed a frog store-bought food because they may contain pesticides or other chemicals that could harm the baby frog and might even kill it.
A frog, especially a baby frog, might sometimes consume fruits in the wild if there are no other food sources around. But this is very rare and will only happen if the frog has no other choices it prefers, such as insects.
If you keep a baby frog, then you might want to avoid feeding it fruits altogether. Man-produced foods, in particular, contain pesticides and other chemicals that might harm your frog. This is the main reason why you would not want to feed your baby frog fruits.
Learn More About Frog Diets:
Conclusion
Baby frogs enjoy primarily a carnivorous diet, as they will eat smaller insects and other smaller animals. They also sometimes eat vegetables, especially algae.
Tadpoles, on the other hand, have a plant-based diet, as they feed on roots and algae found in their habitat. Once the tadpole transforms into a baby frog, it will lose its liking for vegetables.
Stuart is the editor of Fauna Facts. He edits our writers’ work as well as contributing his own content. Stuart is passionate about sustainable farming and animal welfare and has written extensively on cows and geese for the site.