Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well I work at a pet shop, and lately our bags of hampster food have been coming in infested with moths and moth larva. So i brought some of the larva home and tried it out. The frogs love it. The larve is about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch (too big I thought) they still eat it! This leads me to wonder how the frogs judge which food is too big for consumption.

Anyway there are a few problems with the larva. The frogs sometimes get a little frustrated because it is strong enough to hold onto moss or large particles in the tank. This makes it hard for the frogs to get them in their mouth and they often have to attempt to stick it multiple times. To solve this problem I put the larva in a small plastic dish.
Secondly the larva makes a better food for larger frogs, a 3/4 inch auratus wont attempt to eat them.

I'm going to try and identify the type of moth and also start culturing them. Once I get a good culture or three going i'll post again so if anyone wants to try them look for a post in the future about it.

Sounds like Grain Moth larvae to me. Alot of people culture these without even knowing, especially in old cereal. Hardly anybody cultures these as food for their dart frogs, which is a shame because they do make very good food and they're so easy to culture.

Mike
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I am the stereotypical teenager video game player couch potato carnivorous plant grower nano reef aquarium enthusiast coin collector amphibian/reptile keeper internet surfer mountain biker skimboarder sketch artist formally known as Mike. My sign is a semi-colon_;

They are super nutritious. They get big fast though so you would need a few frogs to eat them all before they got too big....you can also breed them easily and make new cycles
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Matt

I've often wanted to try silkworms as another source. A few Qs if you wouldn't mind:

1. Where do I purchase them?
2. I do not have Mulberry trees, Is there something else they will eat that I can easily attain?
3. How do you have your cultures of worms set up?

thank you,

Maggie

you can get silk worms from www.mulberryfarms.com, but i would check with them to make sure they are going to be small enough for dart frogs. i am sure they can send smaller then usual worms if you ask about it. i use to use them for chameleons, and these things can grow REAL fast, so you'd have to feed them off real quick or have a bunch of darts to feed. you can also get medium to feed them at mulberryfarms, if you can't get real mulberry leaves. all you have to do is throw in the leaves, or medium, and thats it. they won't leave the food source, so you could just keep them in a bowl with no lid if you liked. but thats about it.

to add to this and answer a question in above post, there is a guy on ebay that sells them. His ebay name is ishipfast. He sells in many quantities and sizes and his prices are as good as mulberry farms....he doesnt have a minimum order either. very nice guy. He also sells the "chow", which is basically powdered mulberry leaves mixed with hot water. To keep them from growing so fast, don't feed them as much, only enough to sustain them. He can probably also give you some in-depth info on breeding them.
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Matt

Thanks you guys, thats great info...I'll give it a try!