Thanks very much for your input. I agree...as with most large frogs that have been studied, rodent meals are rare. Please see Part I). One study of a large number of Marine Toad stomach contents showed that inverts comprised the vast majority of the diet; vertebrates were limited to the rare lizard or small snake. i worked in the region where the study was conducted (near Apure, Venezuela) - small rodents, frogs and other vertebrates were very common, yet not cosumed in any numbers.I think even in the wild only adults of those frogs rarely get a chance to nab an adult mouse. They usually eats insects. I think feeding young frogs pinkies or mouse often for that matter is unnatural, unless there is evidence of frogs invading mice nests and eating the young mice in the wild. Plus id never give live mice only thawed ones.
Thanks for your interest. I know what you mean..unfortunately, videos like that seem to reach far more people than do articles based on science, field research etc. I find that large frogs and some snakes are popular for the wrong reasons...I can't tell you how many people still write in about feeding live rodents to snakes and snapping turtles. I've observed interesting predation in the field, but there is no reason to put captives at risk. Nearly all of the several hundred Green Anacondas I've tagged in the field have exhibited scars, open wounds, broken ribs etc, no matter how large they were. Co-workers also found several snakes that had been killed or severely injured by prey animals. Even a small cut can quickly develop a fatal infection, and the people who just want to cram live animals into their pets rarely have access to vet care. best, FrankYouTube makes me sick all the videos they have of mice and other large animals being fed to frogs and frogs that are so obese it looks like they'll have a heart attack. If we could post links on YouTube is surely share this article!