Frog food tips please.

[leethefrogman]

Hi there,

I'm new to this site but I'm finding it very fascinating!

I own 2 Brown New Zealand Whistling Tree frogs, they are both very shy and wont eat out of my hand or off a set of tweezers so i presume they wont eat mealworms (Is there anyway for them to get over this shyness?). They enjoy flies, and I ordered some live crickets for the yesterday which they have not tried before. Should I feed these crickets fish flakes to fatten them up before i give them to the frogs?

Here's my problem, winter is approaching and all the flies and creepy crawlies are dieing off. I am a poor university student, flies are almost $10 for 50 (And you never get 50 out of a pack) and crickets are $12 for 25!!!!! My frogs are relatively small (40mm) and I was wondering if there is anyway to breed crickets, flies or anything like that. I read about fruit fly cultures and I think fruit flies will be far too small for my frogs to see and eat, or am I wrong?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and i think all the users would be keen to see pictures of insect traps/breeding cages that you may have.

[StephenLS]

How big are your frogs?

[leethefrogman]

They are more than 2 years old, and only about 40mm (1 and a half inches)

[Ebony]

Hi, It is hard to no what to with your frogs during the winter. You could put them in an unheated room and let them go into hibernation (feed them up well before though) or you could breed/catch your own food. I breed Meal worms and Locusts. Keep in mind though that mealworms should not be a main food source as it can cause impaction. Theres plenty of food around outside if you explore a bit and is spray free. I have an Ant colony out side which is great to raid when I have young frogs. Moths are good too. At night I get a net and a touch and sweep the net over the grass and you will be surprised how many you have. You can feed slaters which are easy to breed as they only need dry wood. Also those fly traps that are sold on trade me are great even in the winter. My whistlers and Southerns into hibernation in winter and they do well. They are most likely to breed if they have been in hibernation as well. My Southerns and Whistlers are always kept outside here. We have Southerns and Whistlers at local parks here. Green and Golden Frogs are kept inside as it's too cold here for them but I put them in hibernation inside. I hope this helps .

[Kurt]

Here's my problem, winter is approaching and all the flies and creepy crawlies are dieing off. I am a poor university student, flies are almost $10 for 50 (And you never get 50 out of a pack) and crickets are $12 for 25!!!!!

Wow! I pay $20 for 1,000 crickets.

[Ebony]

Yea, that blew me away too Kurt, when I first came on the Forum...Hugh price differences. I guess its because there's no huge demand for live insects here. Its getting there though. More and more people are getting into amphibians. I can sell one adult Locust for $1.00 each and they get snapped up real quick. I noticed only in the last 4 years that the pet shops have started getting really into selling amphibian products.

[leethefrogman]

Hey Ebony, am i thinking of the wrong insect when i think of fruitflies? I thought they were those little bugs about the size of a full stop? Maybe I'm wrong.

How long will my frogs hibernate for? Im moving to Hamilton for university in a few days so i highly doubt it will be cold enough for them to hibernate.

Also how do you breed meal worms?

Thanks for your help

[Ebony]

Hi, Fruit Flies are tiny brown flies that love fruit. They are too small for your adult Whistlers.

Breeding mealworms is very easy. It takes a while to get the cycle going but once you do then you have plenty. You can Google it and get heaps of info so i will just give you a quick out line. I use those plastic type draws that you can get cheep at the warehouse. I fill one draw with 10cm of Rolled oats or you can use Wheat Bran. Put your mealworms in and throw in potato and/or carrot. Change the veg when it starts to show mould. You must keep the mealworms dry. They don't need water. Then you will notice the worms turn into these white larvae which is the meal worm pupae. You must pick these out because the meal worms will eat them, Beatles will too. I just put them in a container. When you see them change to bettles then you put them in the second draw in the Roll oats/ bran substrate. Also put potato/carrots in. I also put toilet rolls for the beetles to hide in. After quite a while the bettles will lay eggs which take up to 19 days to hatch. It takes ages before you notice the baby meal worms but when you do shift the bettles into the third draw onto new substrate. Then you just keep it going. The whole life cycle takes about a year. The warmer the better as they progress faster. I keep mine in the garage in the summer and move them inside in the winter. I don't use heating. You also need to sieve the meal worm out of the old substrate and replace it every now and again.

Hibernating...I just watch my frogs as it's starts to cool. You will notice that they slow down with their eating and they dig down in the substrate and eventually they don't come out. They usually hibernate all winter. Sometimes if its a really nice day I might see one come up but most of the time they are in their substrate.

Im a bit on the tired side so i hope this makes sense to you and I hope this helps.

[Ebony]

Ive attached photos of my meal worms pupae and the beetles. The lighter coloured beetles are the newly changed ones.

[leethefrogman]

Sweet as thanks a lot Ebony,

I might start breeding crickets but apparently the tank has to be kept at 31C for the best results, which will be hard considering id have to put them in the hot water cupboard for that and that means they wont get any light. I'm sure I will find a solution to this problem, if I get this up and running I will be glad to send you (Ebony) as many crickets as I can spare for the price of shipping it down to you for all your help.

I will post my progress if I get enough crickets to start a farm and if my flatmate will agree to this.

[Julia]

Also how do you breed meal worms?

Thanks for your help

The easy way to breed meal worms: Get a large plastic food tub (mine is 4inch by 18 by 12.) Drill small holes in the lid for ventilation. Fill it with oatmeal till its about 2 inches full from the top. Put a small piece of egg carton in because the beetles like to climb. Add a piece of vegetable. I do not recommend potatoes because they have little nutritious value. Carrot or Kale work well. Add about 100 mealworms and then wait. I know all the info out there on the internet says "you must separate the stages" but i dont. Ive had my colony for over 6 months now, and they are doing just fine! Good luck!

[leethefrogman]

So i bought my 25 crickets yesterday for $12!!!! I was going to breed them and create a cricket army to feed to my frogs and give to my manager for her frog. I placed my little punnet of crickets safely on a shelf in my room. I get home from work and a gargantuan army of ants has crawled through the air holes and torn my live crickets apart. I dont even have an ant problem, never even seen an ant in my house before!!!!!! How do you guys stop ants destroying your live stock?