feeding leopard frogs

Question
Hi there!
I am trying to find a list of insects that I may feed to my rana pipiens. I buy some crickets but would love to catch wild insects as well. They seem to like flies, pill bugs and small worms. I have heard that ants and beetles are out. What about small spiders? Millipedes? Earwigs? Anything else?
Thanks so much!
Amanda

Answer
Dear Amanda,
thank you for your question.
Spiders and earwigs are fine. The small millipedes that live in the earth should be okay, too, but there are toxic species (depending on where you live). Grasshoppers make good food, they are very active and hard to catch. Beetles may be toxic, so I would stay away from them.
There are just two concerns with wildcaught food: you have to make sure that you don't catch any protected species and it's possible that the insects carry parasites. A healthy frog shouldn't have any problems with those, but I still recommend letting a vet check a fecal sample twice a year to make sure everything's fine.
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer