Tapping toes......

Happy birthday :!:
There are alot of theories about toe tapping.
One of the more popular ones is that is used as a distraction to insects while hunting.
Another is that it is related to breeding.
I've seen most of my frogs do it (toe tapping that is)...auratus, golden mantellas, terribilis, even some local toads that I raised from tads!

Happy birthday!!!

I believe that the "toe tapping" was like Brian said, connected to hunting. Sort of a sensory for movement or to entice to prey item to move so the frog can see it. By tapping the their toe it sends mini shock waves that the prey will feel and want to flee. While the frogs eye sight is quite good, they tend to track moving insects better than stationary ones. I've watched my guys stare at a FF for 5 min without striking, but as soon as the FF moves.....Gulp!!!

Just my take on it.

Mike

My personal favorite theory is that it has no function at all and is similar to why we stick our tongues out the corner of our mouth when we try to thread a needle or do some other task that requires great hand-eye coordination.

bbrock said:

My personal favorite theory is that it has no function at all and is similar to why we stick our tongues out the corner of our mouth when we try to thread a needle or do some other task that requires great hand-eye coordination.

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Yeah, that is a good one!

I've seen my Yellow Backs whole body tremble while hunting with what I thought was nervous energy from the hunt. I tend to see this happen when I drop in a different food type or feed at an off time. If I just dump in a bunch of ff's in the morning around their normal feeding time I don't see any trembling just chowing.

My personal theory is: because they don't have tail to wag.


Bob

My vote is for the lure idea. This makes sense, because some snakes do it. Kind of to tell the prey, hey look at this tiny thing moving over here. And then.....

bobzarry said:

My personal theory is: because they don't have tail to wag.
Bob

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LOL. I was thinking it is how they communicate with the mother ship

Thanks guys


Your guy's theorys make sense but ive noticed that they tap even when there are no FF around. What do you say about that.

azurhelios said:

Thanks guys


Your guy's theorys make sense but ive noticed that they tap even when there are no FF around. What do you say about that.

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It could still be a mechanism to try and get things in the substrate to move or to come to the top.

Anticipation? Insects aren't usually attracted to movement like that, besides larger carnivorous species. It could be a type of "hypnosis" or even an attractant (color) which would be considered a lure. What Dunner said sounds very logical too, scaring out their prey.

I consider it sort of like walking down a trail at night in the summer time and flushing out insects for the bats to eat. By the way, it's called digital fluttering :wink:

Best,

Justin

azurhelios said:

Thanks guys
Your guy's theorys make sense but ive noticed that they tap even when there are no FF around. What do you say about that.

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If by tapping some toes a frog gets free food, would it do it often??

SB

Probably... kind of like a pavlovian response. But if it is an instinctual thing to do, to scare out some prey, they will probably do it anyway.

Derek Benson said:

My vote is for the lure idea. This makes sense, because some snakes do it. Kind of to tell the prey, hey look at this tiny thing moving over here. And then.....

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I tend to go more with the tension theory. It's like when cats are stalking. Why do their tail tips move back and forth? Doesn't the motion make them more visible to prey? Even cats that rely on camoflauge to get close enough for the pounce like leopards, tigers, and lions do it. For the larger darts like terribillis, their toes are as big as their prey.

Maybe the flicker is a sort of sonar detection method for finding insects. :?

dreamweefer said:

Maybe the flicker is a sort of sonar detection method for finding insects. :?

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That's a cool theory... I like it the best How do they detect a non-moving insect though?

arklier said:

It's like when cats are stalking. Why do their tail tips move back and forth? Doesn't the motion make them more visible to prey? Even cats that rely on camoflauge to get close enough for the pounce like leopards, tigers, and lions do it.

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I think cats do that before using their tails for balance when they're running...

SB

I've read that it serves to give lunge feeders a sense of the stability of the ground they are on so when they lunge at the food they can be accurate.

i love the toe tapping, its so funny!

my theory is that they are tapping Morse code out!

so what are they saying and who are they sending it to?

:lol: