# Feeding Regimen for Young Frogs



## DartMan (Nov 29, 2005)

I was wondering what/how some of you feed your younger frogs, say less than 9 months of age. Do you strickly feed them fruit flies (Melano's.) or do you mix their food around and feed them springtails, melano's, hydei's?

If you give them a mix of food what is your regimen of food item(s) and for how many days? 

Also, do you feed your young frogs more than once a day?


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## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

I dont have young frogs yet, but based on the research Ive been doing, they will get offered melanos 1 x daily (with a piece of fruit to draw the FFs into one spot, and springtails 2 x weekly (the grow-out tank will already be seeded heavily with springtails and dwarf tropical woodlice before I introduce the frogs).


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## Curt61 (Jan 16, 2007)

Hey, you can feed them only FF's if you would like. But alot of people keep alot of springs in the tank for them to snack on.

Curt.


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## joshsfrogs (May 6, 2004)

I seed all my froglet containers (2 frogs to a 190 oz with sphagnum moss and a few plants) with springtails. I then feed twice a week (mels).


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

I feed my froglets melanogaster daily, though I also have springtails and other emergency food supplies on hand. Adult frogs get fed every other day, though sometimes I skip a day every now and then if they start looking too pudgy. I've noticed that darts seem to gain and lose weight pretty quickly. I wish I could do that. :lol:


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I try to provide as much variety in the juvie diet as I can, so I tend to use the above and include juvie aphids when I can. One major thing to note... a number of people who work with FFs and crickets have notices that their juvenile frogs grow bigger and better when fed crickets over FFs as a staple. I've notice this trend with my frogs, and while a bit more of a pain, the growth just seems to be better. This is a major reason I'm moving away from FFs as a staple, as they seem to be more of a "filler" feeder than a good growth formula for froglets. Getting the froglets on other feeders as soon as they are able to take them helps too.


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

As someone who has raised crickets in the past, I can tell you that unless you're feeding a LOT of frogs, they're more trouble than they're worth. They chirp and hop all over the place and *MAN DO THEY STINK!* Plus they have a relatively long life cycle (approximately 8 weeks), though I suppose you could buy a few breeders a week at the pet store for every new batch. You could always order crickets, but that gets to be expensive and you have to keep them alive while waiting to feed them out if you only have a few frogs.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

The original post was about how people raised babies, that's how I raise babies. I think the crickets are very much worth the effort for the growth and health I see in the animals, and they are worth it to me. If you don't have another critter to feed the adult crickets to, then it may not be worth it. It's up to the individual keeper on what feeders are worth it. Also, smell wise, sure they smell, but if you keep them clean and feed them correctly, they smell less...

I don't think they should be shot down just because the typical frog keeper wants a feeder as convenient to raise as fruit flies.


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## DartMan (Nov 29, 2005)

Thanks all for the great input!

As for the crickets, well they do stink, BUT we buy our crickets by the 500 count case about every 10-12 days. We're use to keeping them, cleaning, feeding, etc ...... And yes, we have a fair number of tree frogs and geckos. I just never tried them on PDF's before.

Hey, ......... as I say, "_In this hobby it's 10% knowledge and 90% experimentation._". Sometimes you have to go outside the box. :lol: 

Thanks again everyone!


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

I don't mean to discount crickets as feeders to those who want to go to the extra trouble, it's just that I personally find them more trouble than they're worth.

If you already order 500 crickets weekly, it probably wouldn't be too much more to increase your order to 1000. One thing about crickets is that you will have a lot higher mortality rate the younger they are. Pinheads are the worst, because they keel over at the drop of a hat. I've had them shipped to me and found half of them dead from drowning in the condensation on the inside of their container. I've had the best results with 1/16" (1-2 week) size crickets. At that age, most can survive the journey intact and are approximately the same size as a hydei, so any frog that is able to tackle those would have no problems.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

What size crickets are you buying at 500 a box? I wouldn't bother increasing your order to 1000 at a go to include smaller crickets, I'd get a bunch of adults and breed them yourself. If you are already ordering adult winged crickets, its as simple as holding them for around 3 more days before you feed out, so that you can get eggs. Or if you are ordering prewing, simply keep them until they become winged adults and breed. I can get a few hundred pinheads from a few dozen adults bought from the pet store (which after breeding was fed to my bearded dragon). If you buy 500+ adults and breed them, you will have thousands of pinheads with only a little extra time and effort, buying them as pinheads is a waste of money (this is why people who need lots of pinheads order ADULTS and not "pinheads"). What you get when you order pinheads are actually more like one weeks (the size difference is significant and this difference can mean whether you feed them to all or some of your frogs) and the pinheads just do not ship well... they dehydrate easily and do not take the temp changes well. Breed your own if you are getting adult crickets, they will be healthy and you can gut load them as well.


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