What Do Desert Rain Frogs Eat? [In Wild & Captivity]

Ensuring a good diet for these potato-shaped desert rain frogs is a significant responsibility for both novice and experienced owners. The Large and bulky size of these frogs makes you wonder about their feeding habits. Before keeping desert rain frogs, you should know what desert rain frogs eat.

Desert rain frogs are opportunistic eaters. So, these rain frogs eat anything that fits in their mouth when these frogs are hungry. The main diet of desert rain frogs is a variety of live insects. It includes beetles, crickets, locusts, grasshoppers, worms, slugs, ants, etc.

Desert rain frogs are not common frogs. So, many people may not be aware of their diet. In this article, you will know about what desert rain frogs eat in the wild and captivity, what not to feed, their feeding schedule, etc.

Let’s read further of this article to get detailed guidelines on the desert rain frog diet.

What Do Desert Rain Frogs Eat In The Wild?

Desert rain frogs do not roam around their habitat in the wild. You’ll find them burrowed under the sandy areas during the daytime. Another thing that you might know is their nocturnal trait.

In the nighttime, these desert rain frogs come out of the surface and start hunting their prey. They’re often seen hunting the insects found on dung. Along with insects, these rain frogs eat small invertebrates that fit in their mouth.

Since these desert rain frogs live in a harsh environment, they must find potential prey. So, these frogs rely on moving insects that are small enough to eat.

Let’s check out the following list of insects that desert rain frogs eat in the wild.

1. Crickets
2. Bugs
3. Beetles
4. Moths
5. Centipedes
6. Slugs
7. Fruitflies
8. Weevils
9. Aphids
10. Locusts
11. Grasshoppers
12. Leaf rollers
13. Grubs
14. Earthworms
15. Waxworms
16. Mealworms
17. Grain moths
18. Dubia roaches
19. Gnats
20. Flies
21. Insect larvae
22. Small vertebrates

What Do Desert Rain Frogs Eat In Captivity?

When you keep desert rain frogs in captivity, you should maintain a similar diet as the wild. Since these frogs are insectivores, you can add varieties of insects to the list of their diet. All you need to do is to provide live insects to your pet desert rain frogs.

Make sure that the size of insects should be smaller than the space between the eyes of desert rain frogs. You can feed all types of insects and bugs that desert rain frogs tend to consume in the wild.

Some common insects are crickets, beetles, beetle larvae, fruit flies, springtails, caterpillars, night crawlers, worms, etc. In addition, you can feed them small spiders, lizards, mice, cockroaches, frogs, etc. You should prioritize feeding those insects containing high protein and good calcium to-phosphorus ratio.

Before giving insects, you should gut-load the insects. Otherwise, you can use calcium supplements with live insects for your desert rain frogs.

These will ensure proper nutrition for your desert rain frog in captivity. Moreover, proper supplementation will reduce the possibility of diseases.

Also, there are various frog pallets available commercially. You can feed these commercial pallets to your pet rain frogs. The experts recommend Josh’s Frogs Tree Frog And Toad Tadpole Food for desert rain frogs.

Do Desert Rain Frogs Eat Worms?

Desert rain frogs sustain a diverse range of insects. Due to living in a harsh environment, these frogs aren’t picky eaters. So, desert rain frogs eat worms like other frogs.

Although desert rain frogs look large, these frogs can grow up to only 2.4 inches. If these frogs start consuming long worms, they may get choked. While feeding worms, you should cut them into smaller pieces.

You can choose various types of worms for your pet desert rain frogs. Such as red wigglers, hornworms, waxworms, earthworms, silkworms, mealworms, etc.

Keep in mind not to feed dead or fridge-dried worms to your pet frogs. Although the dried worms are high in protein, your frogs will not accept these dried worms that are not moving.

How Often Should You Feed Your Desert Rain Frogs?

The feeding schedule depends on the age of desert rain frogs. You might know that desert rain frogs do not have any tadpole phase, unlike other frogs. So, you do not have to worry about feeding special foods to desert rain frog tadpoles.

The new borne desert rain frogs are self-sufficient like adult desert rain frogs. These baby frogs can eat the same diet as adults. But, you can feed these baby rain frogs daily.

In the case of adult frogs, these desert rain frogs do not require regular feeding. You can feed your adult desert rain frogs 3-4 times a week.

What Should You Avoid Feeding Your Desert Rain Frogs?

You might have heard that desert rain frogs are low-maintenance pets. But, it doesn’t mean that you can feed all types of foods to your desert rain frogs. To ensure the good health of your frog, you should set some limitations on the diet of your desert rain frogs.

Since the main diet of desert rain frogs are varieties of insects, you should buy or collect insects from reliable sources. Do not feed wild-caught insects to your desert rain frogs. You can culture insects at your home to feed your pet frogs.

Besides, you should not feed processed foods to your desert rain frogs. Your pet frog can not process seasoned meat, bread, cooked rice, etc. Also, you must not give spicy human foods, salt, or sugar to desert rain frogs.

Another thing that you should remember is that you should not give table scraps to your pet frogs. If you have other pets, you may try to feed those foods made for other pets to your frogs.

But, you should not make this mistake. Your desert rain frogs can not digest commercially-made pet foods like cat foods, dog foods, etc.

Before You Go

If you own a desert rain frog, you should be concerned about its entire care of housing, diet, breeding, etc. From this article, you’ve got to know about the desert rain frog diet. If you’re interested to know about other guidelines for desert rain frog care, you can check out the following write-up.

How To Take Care Of Desert Rain Frog!