Feeding exclusively frozen/thawed CBB animals
reduces (but
doesn't eliminate) the chance of transmitting
some pathogens/parasites. As much as I hate doing anything that even has a possibility of transferring pathogens, there is unfortunately always going to be a slight risk. Freezing also doesn't kill everything, and it's fairly safe to say no hobbyist has a completely bio-secure facility to essentially eliminate these risks.
As an aside, completely unrelated tangent that this post reminded me of, did you know some endoparasites are actually beneficial for frogs?
For example:
Pryor. G.S. & Bjorndal, K.A. "Effects of the nematode Gyrinicola batrachiensis on development, gut morphology, and fermentation in bullfrog tadpoles (Rana catesbeiana): a novel mutualism". J. Exp. Zool. 2005. 303A: 704-712
There also a paper about pinworms increasing dietary efficiency in herbivorous reptiles, but I'm having trouble finding it at this moment. I'll post it when I find it.
The referenced papers mentions they were 176-187mm (6.9-7.4in) and still "bear prominent umbilical scars", so they were newborns and far too small (and thin) to eat the frog. Based on the pic in the paper, the frog was about 150mm/5.9''.
As an aside for those who can't read the full paper, the second "exceptional food record" in the paper is a 151mm (~6'') frog eating a 170mm (6.7''), 115g young chicken.
Here's a couple other papers with references to diet for those curious:
link 1 - second page left hand side for food reference.
link 2 - you need to download the paper to read it
Boring is being nice. Imagine having a pet potato that occassionally eats worms and newborn mice. Don't get me wrong, fascinating animals, but if you want something to watch or hold, go for a gecko or snake.
If you don't want to keep live feeders in stock (not needed, they are easily tong-fed), there are some gel formulas out there that you just add water to and let it solidify. The good ones are well designed and you can make as little or as much as you want.
Just make sure you can keep them; some places don't like you keeping natives (even sp that are the opposite of endangered).
Couple things:
1. You have a toucan!? That is awesome. We need pics! I've been going back and forth between getting Ramphastids or small Bucerotids.
2. I agree, macaws bites are probably one of the worst for most non-mammalian "pets". I had one take a chunk out of my forearm. Worst I've ever gotten from herps is a bloody arm.
3. Not all snakes go through the dormant stage
4. Marmorkrebs or one of the Florida species? I have P. alleni and they don't reproduce fast enough for my liking. It's regularly, but the numbers just aren't quite enough.
Define "good pets".
The Leptodactylus I took care of (at work) were similar in behaviour to Ceratophrys sp. during the day (they did nothing), but were far more active at night. They were however VERY LOUD! If you're in a densely populated part of the city, your neighbours 2 doors down will probably hear them when they go full throttle. They ate pretty much everything that was both big enough and worth eating; meaning they didn't
really go after crickets if they weren't really hungry.
If you end up getting some though, give them a nice thick layer of leaf litter for them to hide in (think dendrobatid set-up but much bigger), and as with all frogs --especially WC which these will be--, get them tested for Chytrid and Ranavirus.
You'd be surprised what you can get in Canada if you know an importer. Canada is absurdly strict about some things (i.e. turtles/tortoises and insects), but they also allow things the US usually doesn't, like certain CITES I spp. It's also weirdly strict about buying medications for animals, with most needing a vet prescription (even fairly non-toxic ones sold off-the-shelf in the US), but that's a whole other conversation I don't feel like getting into right now. The main problem with Canada is that the reptile keeping population is ridiculously small and by-laws are getting worse and worse with barely anyone trying to fight them. I mean, there are some places that ban Eublepharis spp.!!!