Diet
All adult amphibians are meat
eaters, or carnivores. They actively search for other animals—usually
insects—to eat. Larval salamanders are also meat eaters. Most larval
frogs are plant eaters, or vegetarians, although a few eat both plants
and small animals.
Tadpole Carnivores
All tadpoles have special scraping mouthparts that are used for
feeding on algae. Tadpoles of a few species, especially the
spadefoot toads, sometimes become cannibals. They often eat
their fellow tadpoles and can grow to enormous size, much larger
than their vegetarian brothers and sisters.
As
Long As It’s Wiggling...
Amphibians generally are not very particular about what they
eat. Just about anything that is alive and fits in their mouth
is fair game for adult salamanders and frogs. Some invertebrates
(creatures without backbones), such as spiders, snails, worms,
insects, and crayfish, are common in amphibian habitats and are
eaten regularly. Narrowmouth toads are one of the few amphibians
that eat mostly one thing. They specialize in eating ants.
Cannibals
Amphibians will eat many types of creatures. Fishes, reptiles,
snails, baby birds—even other amphibians—are gobbled down if the
opportunity arises.
