{"topic_id":"exotic_nutrition_amphibian","category":"exotic-pet-nutrition","context":"---\ntopic_id: exotic_nutrition_amphibian\ncategory: exotic-pet-nutrition\ntitle: \"Amphibian nutrition — captive amphibians require live food and vitamin/mineral supplementation\"\nlang: en\nsource: \"First-hand professional veterinary reference, saved to source_file; paraphrased derived fact summary per COPYRIGHT_POLICY §3. Deepened 2026-08-01.\"\nsource_file: pdf-raw/exotic-health/mvm_amphibian_husbandry.txt\ndate_parsed: 2026-08-01\ntokens_estimated: 427\nverification:\n  method: paraphrase\n  claims: 11\n  passed: 11\n  date: 2026-08-01\nrecovered: false\npath: exotic-pet-nutrition/exotic_nutrition_amphibian/01_exotic_nutrition_amphibian.md\nsource_document: \"Merck Veterinary Manual\"\ncitation:\n  authority: \"Merck Veterinary Manual\"\n  title: \"Amphibian nutrition — captive amphibians require live food and vitamin/mineral supplementation\"\n  url: \"https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals/amphibians/environment-and-husbandry-for-amphibians\"\n  retrieved: \"2026-08-01\"\n  ref: \"\"\n  doc_type: \"professional veterinary reference\"\n  needs_review: false\nlicense: paraphrase\ncopyright_note: \"Source Merck Veterinary Manual (merckvetmanual.com) is a copyrighted veterinary reference and not openly licensed; per COPYRIGHT_POLICY §3 all claims are paraphrased derived fact summaries (numbers and proper nouns preserved, sentences rewritten), not verbatim quotations.\"\nauthority_tier: T3\nauthority_tier_basis: \"T3:vet-ref\"\nauthority_tier_date: 2026-08-04\n---\n\n# Amphibian nutrition — captive amphibians require live food and vitamin/mineral supplementation\nSource: Merck Veterinary Manual (merckvetmanual.com), a copyrighted veterinary reference. Per COPYRIGHT_POLICY §3, the points below are paraphrased derived fact summaries: numerical values and proper nouns are preserved from the source, but sentences are rewritten and not quoted verbatim.\n\n## Claims\n\n- *[Paraphrased derived summary — non-Open-Access source.]* Most captive amphibians need live food long-term.\n- *[Paraphrased derived summary — non-Open-Access source.]* Adult terrestrial and aquatic amphibians mostly eat invertebrates — earthworms, bloodworms, black/white/tubifex worms, springtails, fruit flies, fly larvae, mealworms, and crickets.\n- *[Paraphrased derived summary — non-Open-Access source.]* Vitamin and mineral supplements prevent nutritional disease.\n- *[Paraphrased derived summary — non-Open-Access source.]* Tropical amphibians in poor conditions often develop infectious or nutritional disease.\n- *[Paraphrased derived summary — non-Open-Access source.]* Aquatic plants oxygenate and clean water, offer cover, and often feed larval amphibians.\n- *[Paraphrased derived summary — non-Open-Access source.]* UVB (280–320 nm) likely aids calcium metabolism and color vision in diurnal amphibians, though its benefits are not fully clear.\n- *[Paraphrased derived summary — non-Open-Access source.]* Glass blocks UVB, so lamps must be placed to avoid that barrier.\n- *[Paraphrased derived summary — non-Open-Access source.]* Some amphibians eat vertebrates — live minnows, guppies, goldfish, or neonatal mice or rats.\n- *[Paraphrased derived summary — non-Open-Access source.]* Calcium and vitamins are delivered by gut-loading insects, using calcium-rich diets, or dusting insects with D3/calcium powder.\n- *[Paraphrased derived summary — non-Open-Access source.]* Amphibians cannot make carotenoids, so a vitamin A source must be added.\n- *[Paraphrased derived summary — non-Open-Access source.]* Useful diagnostics include fecal exams, water testing, skin scrapes, PCR (e.g., chytrid, ranavirus), gill biopsies, and bloodwork when feasible.\n---\n## License & attribution\n\nSource: Merck Veterinary Manual (merckvetmanual.com) is a copyrighted veterinary reference and is not openly licensed. Per COPYRIGHT_POLICY §3, every claim above is a paraphrased derived fact summary (numbers and proper nouns preserved, sentences rewritten), not a verbatim quotation.\n\n- https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals/amphibians/environment-and-husbandry-for-amphibians","sources":["exotic-pet-nutrition — Amphibian nutrition — captive amphibians require live food and vitamin/mineral supplementation (retrieved 2026-08-01)"],"source":{"authority":"exotic-pet-nutrition","title":"Amphibian nutrition — captive amphibians require live food and vitamin/mineral supplementation","url":"https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals/amphibians/environment-and-husbandry-for-amphibians","retrieved":"2026-08-01","ref":"","doc_type":"official PDF","source_document":"Merck Veterinary Manual","verification_file":"pdf-raw/exotic-health/mvm_amphibian_husbandry.txt"},"source_document":"Merck Veterinary Manual","source_file":"pdf-raw/exotic-health/mvm_amphibian_husbandry.txt","trust":{"authority_tier":"T3","fidelity":"paraphrase","license":"paraphrase","display_grade":"B"},"tokens_estimated":86,"generated_at":null,"tip":"Use /api/v1/topics to discover more topics. /api/v1/nutrient for precise single-point queries. /api/v1/cross_compare for 2-3 standard comparisons."}