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Frogs Do Not Eat Fireflies

Another Parrot situation

Something that concerns me about the reveal of frogs and fireflies is how the frogs eat the fireflies. For those who don’t know, fireflies are toxic for most amphibians and lizards. Half a firefly is enough to kill a bearded dragon- and I’ve gone through a lot of trouble in the past to try and spread awareness about this when the whole “frog swallows a firefly and glows” viral videos were going around- so I really hope this’ll get taken seriously as this sort of misinformation can unfortunately result in dead pets.

“Are Fireflies Poisonous To Frogs? Fireflies contain toxins that can be poisonous to lizards, amphibians, and potentially other animals, including birds. The toxins, called “lucibufagins,” are chemically related to cardiotoxins found in toads and plants. … Death can occur within an hour of ingestion and is due to the effect of the toxin on the heart.” (Neeness).

“ITHACA, N.Y. -- Just one firefly, with its poisonous lucibufagin chemicals, is enough to kill a lizard, a lesson that American zookeepers and pet owners are learning the hard way.” (ScienceDaily)

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  • 0
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    in the announcement video the frogs did not actually eat the fireflys just pulled them close to it also hopefully firefly's stay in the game and fly's could be frog food instead

  • 2
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    Frogs and toads can both safely eat fireflies and glow when they eat them

  • 4
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    This bothered me too. They should just change fireflies to actual flies or something else that would be more suitable for frogs to consume safely.

  • 7
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    And now they decided to completely throw that idea to the trash can

  • 0
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    Hi 

  • 0
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    Hi 

  • 9
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    This research was done in 2013, Small Animals Toxicology. In the next paragraph the authors themselves recognize that the animals killed in one hour were bearded dragons, a kind of lizard, a reptile that lives in deserts where no fireflies can be seen. Frogs are natural predators of fireflies, and have been predating on them for thousands of years, if fireflies were deadly to frogs this wouldn't have been the case. Yes, lucibufagin is a poisonous chemical, but that doesn't means that it will automatically kill a frog. It's like saying that just because chocolate is poisonous to dogs(or parrots), that would also be the case for humans, different species have different tolerances.

  • 5
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    But yet they can eat literall cubes of magma.

  • 3
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    For anyone upset that fireflies are scrapped. It’s never a good idea to feed wild insects to a pet amphibian or reptile. Even if the insect isn’t  poisonous, it could still carry parasites which could make your pet very sick or even kill them. Fireflies aren’t bred as food for amphibians or reptiles. Although some frogs eat them in the wild,that doesn’t mean that fireflies are healthy for them, frogs are opportunistic predators and will eat any animal small enough to fit in their mouths, this could range from insects, to small birds,to baby snakes and even younger frogs. Minecraft made people want to buy axolotls, it’s very possible that they might make frogs popular pets too especially since frogs are much more well known. The herpetology community has started to gain some interest in recent years, and since both frogs and fireflies are real creatures, some amateur keepers might think it’s okay to feed fireflies to frogs. Birdseed cookies exist but people got upset when parrots could be fed cookies. Most frogs are endangered ,but all the Minecraft parrot species are considered “least concern” so they aren’t going extinct any time soon. There are multiple species of fireflies, many of them are endangered. They might be added in another update and aren’t completely scrapped.it seems kind of dumb to add a mob that only exists to be food for another mob that shouldn’t really even eat them in real life.( sorry for the long comment)

  • 2
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    Frogs eat insects such as flies and moths, as well as snails, slugs and worms. They use long tongues and sticky saliva to catch prey that passes them by. Tadpoles eat algae in the ponds they grow in. Minecraft should add in one these creatures for the frogs in replacement for the fireflies 

     

  • 5
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    1. The fact that this got fireflies removed from 1.19 is just sad. The type of real frogs that closely resemble the ones in the new update (common/cane toads, bullfrogs and woodfrogs) are extremely opportunistic animals that can and will eat just about anything that can fit into their mouths. Where these types of frogs and fireflies co-exist, they are often eaten by frogs. Admittedly, fireflies are maybe not the ideal food of choice for them, but they absolutely can eat fireflies just fine. And where does this lead us? Horses are allowed to eat apples covered in SOLID GOLD and axolotls (an actual endangered species) are allowed to not only eat clownfish covered in harmful anemone mucous but fight laser-eye fish? That's awesome and is one of the things that makes minecraft such a fun game but we're going to draw the line at frogs eating fireflies? How did we let such poorly researched and thought-out reasoning remove what would have been one of the coolest atmospheric additions to the game in ages? It's really just sad this is how it turned out but hopefully the devs add them in eventually
  • 1
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    There are certain frogs that have the unique ability to ingest a firefly. Predators that possibly specialize on fireflies are certain birds (Caprimulgidae, Nyctibiidae), spiders (Lycosidae, Araneidae), certain anoles (Iquanidae) and frogs. {Jstor.org}. I don’t see why this couldn’t have been an exception and that Minecraft frogs could be these resilient species. I don’t see why Mojang still allows you to feed a parrot cookies only to see your feathered friend die but if a untamable WILD animal eats a poisonous prey it can’t be the same way and you watch the frog die of poison. Fireflies don’t just live in swamps and mangroves they live in a vast variety of habitats.

  • 3
    Registered User commented
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    i agree with what you say i just feel like mojang should have taken it a different way by making frogs just not eat them 

     

  • 0
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    Thanks for ruining the game once again. And on poorly conducted research at that. Some frogs can eat fireflies. Grow up. It's a game. Let the devs do what they want to do instead of ruining the game for the rest of us.

  • 0
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    And the game got ruined again.

  • 0
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    Thanks for permanently ruining the game for everyone, jerk. Now that fireflies are scrapped along with parrot breeding, the game is forever broken.

    Mojang and Microsoft, quit you're stupidity. Don't listen to these Karens, because there's always a reason to complain. Also, kids know video games are not reality. That much is obvious right from the start.

  • 0
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    I can't believe Mojang decided to read this post and REMOVE FIREFLIES COMPLETELY from the game instead of just making frogs NOT EAT fireflies. What a dumb decision on their part I honestly can't stand that way of thinking