Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Have a couple questions on the feeding of whites any help would be appreciated.
Is it ok to occasionally feed them nightcrawlers(dew worms)?
Can freeze dried crickets be used as an alternative to live crickets if I'm unable to get them?
I read on a website you can feed them raw meat. Hard to beleive, is it true?
THanks

I would really, really advise against feeding them raw meat. I cant imagine that would be at all good for them, and i'm sure someother people on the bord could give you tonnes of reasons. Its totally not your fault for asking about that, its just a good exapmle of not believing everything you read online.

the occasional night crawler isnt a bad thing for them, i know i do give them one on occasion. but I should mention i live in a very rural area, and they come right out of my organic compost and none of my neighbours use pesticides. even then its taking a bit of a chance, as is feeding with anything from outside.

Freeze dried crickets are also ok on occasion or in an emergancy, but i wouldnt use them as a staple. for many nutritional reasons, and the fact that these guys are quite prone to obesity so the exercise they get form catching live prey is a good thing!

(*Note that you might also have a problem gettting your frogs to accept dead prey, so you need to have a source of something live if this is the case)

if you cant find a store near you that sells crickets you can easily have them delivered. theres tonnes of online bug farms that will ship to your door. or you can breed your own! or you can breed something else to feed them, meal and super worms are SO easy. or you could give lobster roaches a try (i've never heard of anyone feeding them to whites, but there the latest thing in leopard geckos...super easy to breed, and good nutritional value)

any more questions feel free to ask away!

-----
0.2.0. Leo
1.1.0. WTF
0.1.0. Irish Setter
2.1.0. Holland Lop Bunnies
1.1.0. House Cats
Too Many Fish!

Check out my site ~ www.freewebs.com/stephsgeckos

Thanks for your help, yeah i didnt really think you could feed them raw meat I was just wondering. He's doing really good and I fed him a worm today, its the kind you buy for fish bait and I made sure there were no chemicals used. I live about 45 minutes away from a petstore but I'm going tommorow to get some crickets. How do you breed them? Just stick them in a big cage? Oh and what kind of substrate do you use for your wtf? The petstore gave me these moist long strips of bark to use but I noticed as he was eating his crickets that some got in his mouth but he managed to spit them out.

I use an organic potting soil and live sphagum moss as a sub. The bark they gave you is probbaly cork bark? I've never seen it used on the ground before, but it does look very nice if you mount it on the wall. I would reccomend coco fiber on the floor if you can get it. avoid anything with large chunks like bark or stones, or perlite.

i believe crickets will breed if you have then in a tub with an egg crate, food and water and a few inches of soil on the bottom. however, they are very noisy and smell horrible!!! not to mention they will produce much faster than one frog can eat. depending on how often you go into town it might just be easier to buy enough and keep them alive for a week or two.
-----
0.2.0. Leo
1.1.0. WTF
0.1.0. Irish Setter
2.1.0. Holland Lop Bunnies
1.1.0. House Cats
Too Many Fish!

Check out my site ~ www.freewebs.com/stephsgeckos

I think im going to do what you suggested for substrate. And about the crickets - I think you're right. I experienced the same thing with breeding mice for my ball python. They stank, and I had too many. I found out today that my snake is extremely interested in eating my poor little froggy, I was holding him in the same room as the snake and he must have smelled him or something because he got very agitated and remained in his strike position. Kinda scary, good thing the frog can't get out, he lives in a safe exo terra terrarium.

eek, good thing he cant get out!

I love the look of those exo terra tanks, can you post pictures?
-----
0.2.0. Leo
1.1.0. WTF
0.1.0. Irish Setter
2.1.0. Holland Lop Bunnies
1.1.0. House Cats
Too Many Fish!

Check out my site ~ www.freewebs.com/stephsgeckos

Well I have a digital camera but how do you post the pics? Haha sorry new to forums.

Nevermind, figured it out. Heres a pic of my frog and his cage (not the best pic) haha but im trading the cage for the larger exoterra one at the petstore.This is just the setup he came with. Well I dont even know if he is a he, thats why i havnt named it yet. How do you tell?