Reptile & Amphibian Forums

can it mainly be various worms, etc with crickets supplemented weekly or biweekly?

Are there any species that can have a diet like this?
-----
0.1 Tigergenesis "Kelly" (That's me!!!)
1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer "Kira"

Well, I try to think of it this way. If the frog was in the wild, it would encounter all sorts of bugs and invertebrates to eat (as well as some vertebrates). Flies, roaches, spiders, moths, worms, ants, grasshoppers, caterpillars, dragonflies, beetles, tadpoles, crabs, etc, etc. And not necessarily all of these for each type of frog but whatever seems platable and small enough should be potential food. I prefer giving mine variety when I can get it. Field collecting seems to provide more nutrients than one staple food item but you have to watch out for pesticides nowadays.

I think crickets is an obvious steady method for people who don't have time or capability to go field collect. They can be bought in many petstores and are easy to manage. This way you can gutload them or dust them with multivitamin supplements and essentially provide a balanced diet. I rmeember when I used to dig up earthworms in my backyard to feed my herps but I had to wait for the population to replenish after collecting so many.

Johnny

After reading your post again, I realize I did use to feed my frogs earthworms as a staple food item because I didn't want to spend money buying crickets. They were collected from rich soils in my backyard. Nowadays, crickets are easier to come by where I live. My frogs are still alive and doing healthy but I try to give them variety whenever I can.

Johnny

Hissing cockroaches and nightcrawlers are other good staples that are readily available in the pet trade. Andy
-----
Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

Thank you. I was thinking the same thing about how they would eat a variety in the wild. Always made me wonder about that when I read care sheets for various reptiles & amphibians that say their diet should primarily consist of crickets. I've been thinking of other species I'd like to try and when looking at frogs and some lizards, the ones I really wanted said feed mostly crickets. I have no problem with feeding crickets (heck I feed mice to my snakes), but I just can't raise/keep them (no space and the sound will drive my dog crazy if not me or my boyfriend). I was thinking it would be easier (in my situation) to rely more on worms and other inverts w/ an occasional trip to the petstore for some crickets. So I kind of gave up on trying other species out.

But then I thought I'd post and see what others think.
-----
1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer "Kira"

Little crickets don't chirp. So you could get a little frog and feed it little crickets. I think the chirping is kind of soothing, and my dog just eats them.
-----
Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

Ummm, food for the frog and a snack for the dog - that's killing 2 birds with one stone! LOL

Anyone know at what age/size they begin to chirp? Do they smell - other than dead crickets?
-----
1.0 Ball Python
"Aragorn"

1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa
"Gimli"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

The crickets that I keep (including dead ones) smell bad no matter what. With good ventilation and removal of dead ones plus uneaten food, the odor shouldn't persist too long.

But yea, the chirping drives me crazy too.

Johnny

Another question, I've read up on the practice of gutloading insects - is dusting done as an alternative to gutloading or in addition to?
-----
1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer "Kira"

I personally gutload and dust my crickets. My crickets are fed a mix of fresh oranges and carrots as well as a mixture of grains and fish food. Then I dust with herptivite and repcal at least every other feeding. Also I feed night crawlers and the ocassional cockroach or wax worm. My Whites TF and pac mans might get a pinkie mouse every month or two. Crickets aren't anything more then a vehicle to carry nutrition in the frogs. They are only as good as what they eat. Commercial crickets have little nutritional value and the ones you buy at the pet store probably haven't eaten in long time.