The African Clawed Frog.
The African clawed frog is a muscular , food devouring frog. It originates from African
ponds and slow
flowing streams. It has no tongue and no teeth.
The frog was captured by the hundred in the 1950s and 1960s to
be
used for pregnancy tests , female frogs would be injected with a womans
urine, if the female Xenopus released eggs two or three days later then it
would mean the woman was pregnant, if the frog did not release eggs
then the woman was not pregnant. After the first chemical pregnancy
test was developed the frogs were not needed any longer so
thousands were released into the wild with devastating results.
They ate lots of native wildlife and multiplied.
African clawed frogs are very veracious predators, they will
eat almost anything that you put in front of their mouths. They
eat by using their forelimbs to push the piece of food into their
mouths and swallow it down. They will eat until they can not
fit any more inside their stomachs. There is a wide range of food
which these frogs like to eat, my frogs favourites are frozen
bloodworms , tubifex worm blocks and Tetra Reptomin sticks
special designed for Amphibians. I find that the best food is the
Tubifex cubes , they are relatively cheap , they do not smell and
do not foul the water too badly.
Breeding Xenopus Laevis seems to be very hard for some people
and very easy for some others. It really depends on the conditions
you have and whether the frogs actually feel like reproducing.
(if at first you dont succeed , try , try again.) The male frogs
have dark coloured stripes under the insides of their forearms
called Nuptial pads, these are used to grasp the female
during mating. The females have a small tail between their
hind legs this is to deposite the eggs. The males also vocalise
often during the breeding season.
Frogs become sexually mature in 10 months to 1 year.
I have Succesfully bred
Clawed Frogs so email me if you would like to know
anything.
Frogs water does not need to be completely changed that often,
but some of it should be changed at least once a month, and the tank
topped up every two weeks or so.