Everything You Know About Feeding Green Tree Frogs???

Discussion in 'Treefrogs' started by Mescaline, Nov 16, 2004.

  1. Mescaline

    Mescaline New Member

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    i have bought two books on frogs but they only went into description of what to feed green tree frogs (crickets, mealworms, etc.) and they only spoke briefly on gut loading, and dusting.

    can you post everything you know about feeding green tree frogs?
    how often you fed them,
    how many crickets you boguht each week,
    how you stored them,
    did you gut load,
    did you dust them,
    how often did you offer meal worms or other insect, etc.

    also, is gut loading nescessary or is it enough to dust?

    sorry about all the questions, just wanna make the sure they are well kept.
     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  3. biochic

    biochic Well-Known Member

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    Feeding frequency depends on how you feed. Some people just throw a few in every few days. I would say about 5 crickets (make sure they are the right size for you frog) three days a week. If there are leftovers from the previous feeding, add less next time. Your average tree frog may only go through a dozen crickets per week, maybe more, but you really have to be careful about overfeeding. Store crickets in a small rubbermaid that's been ventilated or one of those small Kritter Keepers they sell in pet stores and feed them fresh fruit and/or the cricket food and water that is available commercially. I've never gut loaded crickets for any animal, never felt it was necessary. I would dust about once a week, that should be plenty. Mealworms can be offered as a supplemental. Try offering them in a dish that they can't crawl out of easily but the frog can see into to know they are there.
     
  4. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  5. Hummingbird

    Hummingbird Well-Known Member

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    i totally agree with everything biochic said - except that i *always* gut-load. the crickets you buy at petstores are just empty shells of chitin. unless you gut-load them with the commercial cricket food and cricket water (and powder them with reptile vitamins about once a week), your herp isn't getting the vitamins and other nutrients he needs.

    also, i never store crickets in a rubbermaid. even with a completely open top, rubbermaids seems to stay so humid that the cricket tub will stink within a week. i have found that a glass tank (or a kritter keeper) with a screen lid works best - very ventilated, easy to get the crickets in and out, hardly every gets moist and nasty like rubbermaids.
     
  6. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  7. Mescaline

    Mescaline New Member

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    thank you both, you answered all my questions :)
     
  8. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  9. Mescaline

    Mescaline New Member

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    another question is,

    i have a semi aquatic terrarium, are the crickets just going to drown themselves?
     
  10. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  11. biochic

    biochic Well-Known Member

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    Crickets are stupid. They drown fairly easily! lol You know that your frog doesn't need a large area of water. A water dish that you can clean daily is best.
    Feeding regular cricket food and gel water isn't really gut loading. They have commercial gut load that has additional vits and mins added...kind of like mega-dosing vitamins. I totally think you should feed the crickets, you have to or they'll die - lol.
     
  12. Mescaline

    Mescaline New Member

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    69
    im not sure how old the frogs are, but they are about 2cm long...(if that helps)

    what size crickets should i feed them?

    my pet store offers 4 sizes, pinhead, small, medium, and large.
     
  13. joe5555

    joe5555 Member

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    2 cm is pretty small. I would feed him pin heads. or 2 weeks. the space between his eyes is good guideline
     
  14. Mescaline

    Mescaline New Member

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    how long can they go without eating????

    i know they are probably pretty stressed out right now, and wont eat right away but how long can they live without eating??? (not that i want them to die)

    its impossible to tell whether they ate some, or the crickets just drowned and died.
     
  15. joe5555

    joe5555 Member

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    333
    babys should be eating every day. Thats the problem with buying babie reptiles, some dont eat, or get stressed. Thats a hard question. Maybe a week at tops. Just a guess.
     
  16. biochic

    biochic Well-Known Member

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    Check the cage for dead crickets and keep track of how many you offer every day, that'll let you know how many they are eating. I've never had a problem with amphibians getting so stressed (even after shipping) that they don't eat within a few days or so, and a tree frog that small should be eating some every day and at least every other day. I can't give you a specific timeline of how long it would take them to die without eating, but for a young animal of any kind, it wouldn't be very long...a couple of weeks at most, maybe. The crickets, for babies your size, could range in size from 1/2 to 3/4 of a centimeter. Those are really tiny frogs you've got if your measurements are right. You can also try flightless fruit flies and pieces of earthworm (you can offer it with tweezer..plastic preferrably).
     

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