{"topic_id":"exotic_nutrition_amphibian_live_prey","category":"exotic-pet-nutrition","context":"---\ntopic_id: exotic_nutrition_amphibian_live_prey\ncategory: exotic-pet-nutrition\ntitle: \"Amphibian nutrition — live-prey feeding, supplements, and dusting/gut-loading\"\nlang: en\nsource: \"Merck Veterinary Manual — Amphibians (saved first-hand text)\"\nsource_file: pdf-raw/exotic-health/mvm_amphibian_husbandry.txt\ndate_parsed: 2026-07-29\ntokens_estimated: 159\nverified: true\nverification: c1_substring\nsource_document: \"Merck Veterinary Manual — Amphibians (saved first-hand text)\"\ncitation:\n  authority: \"Merck Veterinary Manual\"\n  title: \"Amphibian nutrition — live-prey feeding, supplements, and dusting/gut-loading\"\n  url: \"https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals/amphibians\"\n  retrieved: \"2026-07-29\"\n  ref: \"first-hand Merck Veterinary Manual text\"\n  doc_type: \"official veterinary manual (EN)\"\n  needs_review: false\n---\n\n# Amphibian nutrition — live-prey feeding, supplements, and dusting/gut-loading\nVerbatim first-hand facts from Merck Veterinary Manual — Amphibians (saved first-hand text). Each bullet is an exact substring of the cited source and C1-substring verified (second-round nutrition broadening, reusing saved Merck source).\n\n## Nutritional facts\n- Although most adult terrestrial and aquatic amphibians feed on invertebrates, including earthworms, bloodworms, black worms, white worms, tubifex worms, springtails, fruit flies, fly larvae, mealworms, and crickets.\n- Some amphibians feed on vertebrates and require live minnows, guppies, goldfish, or neonatal mice or rats.\n- Vitamin and mineral supplements are necessary to prevent nutritional disease.\n- These are commonly administered by gut loading insects, using commercially available diets high in calcium or by coating insects with powdered, multiple-vitamin preparations that include vitamin D 3 and calcium (also known as dusting).\n","sources":["exotic-pet-nutrition — Amphibian nutrition — live-prey feeding, supplements, and dusting/gut-loading (retrieved 2026-07-29)"],"source":{"authority":"exotic-pet-nutrition","title":"Amphibian nutrition — live-prey feeding, supplements, and dusting/gut-loading","url":"https://www.merckvetmanual.com/exotic-and-laboratory-animals/amphibians","retrieved":"2026-07-29","ref":"","doc_type":"official PDF","source_document":"Merck Veterinary Manual — Amphibians (saved first-hand text)","verification_file":"pdf-raw/exotic-health/mvm_amphibian_husbandry.txt"},"source_document":"Merck Veterinary Manual — Amphibians (saved first-hand text)","source_file":"pdf-raw/exotic-health/mvm_amphibian_husbandry.txt","tokens_estimated":159,"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."}