Nutrition and health in amphibian husbandry

Abstract

Amphibian biology is intricate, and there are many inter-related factors that need to be understood before establishing successful Conservation Breeding Programs (CBPs). Nutritional needs of amphibians are highly integrated with disease and their husbandry needs, and the diversity of developmental stages, natural habitats, and feeding strategies result in many different recommendations for proper care and feeding. This review identifies several areas where there is substantial room for improvement in maintaining healthy ex situ amphibian populations specifically in the areas of obtaining and utilizing natural history data for both amphibians and their dietary items, achieving more appropriate environmental parameters, understanding stress and hormone production, and promoting better physical and population health. Using a scientific or research framework to answer questions about disease, nutrition, husbandry, genetics, and endocrinology of ex situ amphibians will improve specialists’ understanding of the needs of these species. In general, there is a lack of baseline data and comparative information for most basic aspects of amphibian biology as well as standardized laboratory approaches. Instituting a formalized research approach in multiple scientific disciplines will be beneficial not only to the management of current ex situ populations, but also in moving forward with future conservation and reintroduction projects. This overview of gaps in knowledge concerning ex situ amphibian care should serve as a foundation for much needed future research in these areas.

Dietary Carotenoid Supplementation Enhances the Cutaneous Bacterial Communities of the Critically Endangered Southern Corroboree Frog (Pseudophryne corroboree)

“…A greater understanding of the influence of the captive environment on amphibian skin microbiota is therefore required to enhance the success of ex situ conservation programmes that have been established for endangered amphibians. A key factor known to affect overall health and disease susceptibility of captive amphibians is nutrition reviewed by [ 13 ]. To date, however, only one study has investigated the effect of host diet on amphibian cutaneous microbial communities [ 14 ], an important component of amphibian immune defence.…”

Leaping forward in amphibian health and nutrition

“…To date, there are knowledge gaps in identifying the main health problems affecting ex situ amphibian populations worldwide [Ferrie et al, ]. To address this challenge, we recommend conducting a retrospective review of health and husbandry records from facilities holding amphibians.…”

“…Prior efforts conducted by colleagues in different fields (zoo keepers, researchers, academicians, veterinarians, nutritionists, biologist, geneticists, conservation groups, to mention some) and by different institutions worldwide have resulted in different approaches without having well‐defined standards, techniques, tools, measurements units, and protocols in place to evaluate different aspects related to amphibian health [Ferrie et al, ]. This lack of standardization represents a significant challenge when evaluating parameters associated with the health and nutritional status of different amphibian species.…”

“…Four general areas in which improvement is possible with regards to amphibian health were identified based on current ex situ amphibian health evaluation practices: (1) nutrition, including nutritional diseases, (2) infectious diseases, (3) husbandry, and (4) integrated biology focusing on genetics and stress hormones. To address this challenge, four priorities were identified to understand different factors impacting amphibian health [Ferrie et al, ]: (1) identify and quantify major health issues affecting ex situ amphibian populations, (2) identify and coordinate laboratories to conduct analyses using standardized and validated protocols to measure nutritional, infectious diseases, genetic, and endocrinology parameters, (3) determine in situ (in the wild in their natural environments) baseline distribution of parameters related to amphibian health, and (4) establish an inter‐disciplinary research approach to target specific hypotheses related to amphibian health such as the effects of population genetics (e.g., relatedness, inbreeding) on disease susceptibility, or how environmental parameters are related to chronic stress and hormone production.…”

Evaluating the probability of avoiding disease‐related extinctions of Panamanian amphibians through captive breeding programs

“…With care and attention to detail, these species can be bred in captivity, and may be useful models for understanding the husbandry requirements of related amphibians. However, the natural history of many tropical amphibian species is virtually unknown, and some species do not adapt well to captivity because we cannot sufficiently replicate natural conditions and diets (Ferrie et al, 2014), do not know breeding cues, or the animals develop high levels of stress in captive conditions making captive husbandry an especially challenging research issue (Browne et al, 2007). 3 Becoming extinct in the wild: The probability of avoiding extinction is linked to the probability that a species actually goes extinct in the wild.…”