Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How many small live crickets should a grey tree frog eat a day? I have two and they both totally prefer to eat from tongs rather than catch the crickets, so I have been feeding them two or three at a time 2-3 times a day. Is that too much?

They don't look overly fat. They act like they are starving every time. I had the cricket keeper near the terrarium but one of the frogs kept staring at them! It had it's face up to the glass watching the crickets constantly and it made me feel bad.

What else should they eat? They used to eat the small pellets that sink in the water and once, one of them ate a dried shrimp but they don't seem to want any of that. I am using the vitamin dust too.

Any help would be appreciated. Diane

People are slow to answer this question because it depends on a lot of things. Both the size of "small" crickets and the size of the frogs can vary greatly. Different people will tell you different things. I've succesfully kept grays and this worked for me.

The standard procedure for adult treefrogs is to feed them every three days. You should feed them as many crickets as they will eat in 3 hours. Just count out a bunch, throw them in there (at night), leave the room for 3 hours and count the surviving crickets. Do this a few times and you'll know how many you need. Don't leave the survivors in the cage with the frogs. After you figure out how many crickets they need, you can stay and watch them eat. My guess is they will eat 5-10 half inch crickets each every three days.

Grey tree frogs are very agressive eaters and if you feed them small quantities frequently they will probably eat many times the amount of crickets they require.

Some frogs need to be fed by tongs, but I really feel grays will take care of business themselves.

The good news is by feeding them three times a day a one or two crickets, you are feeding them about (slightly more than) the amount I would guess they need. Your way is just labor intensive.

p.s. Frogs eat irregularly. It is not unusual for treefrogs to stop eating for as long as ten days. I doubt your grays will do any fasting - but if so, don't panic.

Oh yeah, in the other thread you mentioned concerns about heating your frogs. Don't worry about it. Just keep them in your house at room temp and they will be fine. If you happen to be some kind of freak and keep your place above 90F or below 60F on a regular basis, well, I guess you have a problem.

OOPS! I guess I have been WAY overfeeding! That explains why they are so fat. They look like Pacman frogs! I do hear them moving at night but they seem to think they should eat at least twice a day. My small crickets are about 1/4 - 1/2". I also bought some canned mealworms they seem to like from the tongs. They won't eat anything dead even if left overnight on their own. I suppose I could still feed the mealworms from tongs once a week or something and then do what you said for the live crickets.

I am going to have to find a different supply than the pet store for the crickets because it is miles from here and they are $1 a dozen. Beside that, they ran out during Christmas and I had to use the canned ones, which the frogs will eat from a tong but not from the dish or from off the log they sit on.

Thank you so much for your help! I am going back to work from Christmas vacation this week and I was wondering how to manage all these feedings.

Diane