Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I can't seem to keep the crickets from laying eggs in my Pacman's substrate. How can I get rid of them once they've hatched? (I just changed the substrate) Also, will the hatched crickets bother the frog?

Crickets shouldn't be in there long enough to breed and lay eggs. If the crickets arn't eaten within an hour or so (if even that long...my frogs normally eat their fill in the first 5 minutes), I would take them all out. Crickets that are left in a frog's tank can and will chew on the frog.
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Andy Maddox
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The Reptizone

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If you don't want to leave the crickets in the enclosure I would suggest feeding it with tonges. Then you can keep track on how many it has eaten, you don't have to leave the crickets in the tank and it can also reduce the risk of the frog ingesting substrate.
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CokeOfMan

I've tried feeding him with tongs but he prefers catching them on his own. If I decide to feed with tongs, how long should I wait before I feed him the next cricket? He'll usually eat about 3-4 criks a night but I don't know if I should be feeding him one right after the other? Any thoughts on this?

If you increase the moisture content of the substrate the eggs will drown.

Ed

How much moisture should I add? How will the extra moisture effect my pacman? Substrate is about $5.00, maybe I should just get rid of the substrate and start over. Another question, I have a 20 gallon tank and one pacman. How often do you change the substrate? When you add water to the substrate block, do you use spring water? That's what I've been using for his water bowl though I've never seen him use it. I've seen a product called Glub in the pet store. I wonder if that would be better for his bowl.

If you make the substrate wet enough that you can squeeze water from it but still dry enough to not look like a swamp that will kill the eggs.
Alternatively you can freeze the substrate to kill the eggs.
I usually kept mine on damp finely milled cypress mulch (bedabeast, ect was not around back then) and changed it monthly.

Ed