# The feeding in Germany



## philip (Oct 14, 2007)

Hi 

Here is a list of the food witch i take

Drosophila melanogaster
Drosophila hydei
Folsomia candida
Thermobius domestica
Callosobruchus maculatus
Alphitobius diaperinus
Trichorhina tomentosa

You see that its a lot of diverent food for the frogs.

Now i want to know what you are feeding in the Usa?

Greetings

Philip


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Hi Philip.

It depends on the person.. 
for example at home I use 

D. melanogaster
Stegobium paniceum
Lasioderma serricorne (just starting to culture)
Tribolium confusum
Collembula ssp. 
Acheta domestica

Ed


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## pl259 (Feb 27, 2006)

One of my favorite frog snacks...

Achroia grisella


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

can you guys post common names? not too big on the latin names


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## bellerophon (Sep 18, 2006)

Julio said:


> can you guys post common names? not too big on the latin names


"common" names don't always translate correctly, hence the Latin. :wink:

Ed, why the cigarette beetle? and how are you culturing them?


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## Homer (Feb 15, 2004)

Wow, I just looked up the drugstore beetle--Stegobium paniceum--and found Wikipedia had this to say about them:



> Their larvae are small, white grubs, and they can be distinguished from the grubs of the Cigarette beetle by their shorter hair. The female can lay up to 75 eggs at once, and the larval period lasts up to several months depending on the food source. It is the larvae that are responsible for most of the damage that this species can cause.
> 
> As their name suggests, Drugstore beetles have a tendency to feed on pharmalogical products, including prescription drugs. They will also feed on a diverse range of dried foods and spices, as well as hair, leather, books, and museum specimens. *They can bore into furniture, and in some cases tin foil or sheets of lead*.


When I first saw the picture of them, it looked like a feeder I might try. but after that last statement about their boring capabilities, I think I'm going to have to rule them out.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I'm interested a lot in some of the feeder species used over in Europe... Ed maybe you can help on this one... is there some easy to access information on the legality of keeping some of these species in captivity? For example, _Callosobruchus maculatus _(Cowpea Weevil Beetle), or _Alphitobius diaperinus_ (Lesser Mealie/Buffalo Worm). I've tried looking up some of this info, and haven't found much other than they are possible pest species and used by labs for tests.


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## philip (Oct 14, 2007)

Here are a list with food with used in Germany

Drosophila melanogaster
Drosophila hydei
Drosophila hydei Gold
Folsomia candida ( 4 mophs )
Thermobius domestica
Achroea grisella
Galleria mellonella
Turbatrix silusiae (for Toples)
Enchytraeus buchholzi (for Toples)
Callosobruchus maculatus
Alphitobius diaperinus
Triboleum confusum
Blaptica dubia
Oncopeltus fasciatus
Trichorhina tomentosa

It can be more this is what i know.

gretings

Philip


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

bellerophon said:


> Julio said:
> 
> 
> > can you guys post common names? not too big on the latin names
> ...


I am pretty sure that is what they are but a full identification is going to have to wait until I get them under a microscope. 

The reason is because they showed up in a meal worm culture and are about the size of a D. melanogaster (at least under these condition) and the frogs will eat the adults (which is unlike how most frogs treat the flour beetles). 

The drugstore beetles (which in the USA for some reason are occasionally called "shorelinite beetles (hence the latin names) are a larger beetle that is readily accepted by the frogs. 
For a number of years I used to culture grain weevils but when I came home and found the cultures overrun with grain mites (and the mites were getting into the ffs) so I scrapped them. 


Ed


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

KeroKero said:


> I'm interested a lot in some of the feeder species used over in Europe... Ed maybe you can help on this one... is there some easy to access information on the legality of keeping some of these species in captivity? For example, _Callosobruchus maculatus _(Cowpea Weevil Beetle), or _Alphitobius diaperinus_ (Lesser Mealie/Buffalo Worm). I've tried looking up some of this info, and haven't found much other than they are possible pest species and used by labs for tests.


I would suspect that if you didn't get the cowpea weevils from a within state source you need a APHIS permit.. Its a good thing that they do show up in dried beans and peas... 
you can't ship them legally or transport them across state lines but they are legally if you find them locally. 

I'm not sure of the status of the lesser mealworms as they have been offered for quite awhile as a staple food item but you may want to think about culturing them with the following information 

snip "Another area of concern regarding A. diaperinus is associated health problems in humans. Tenebrionid beetles, including A. diaperinus, produce highly reactive benzoquinones as defense against predation (Tschinkel 1975). Quinones can be hazardous to human health and cause health risks when exposed to the insect for extended periods. Reported health related ailments caused by A. diaperinus include symptoms of asthma, headaches, dermatitis, allergic angiodema, rhinitis, erythema (reddening), and formation of papules (Falomo 1986, Schroeckenstein et al. 1988, Tseng et al. 1971). Exposure to quinone vapors can also result in conjunctivitis and corneal ulceration (Falomo 1986, Schroeckenstein et al. 1988). 

It may be important for individuals with known insect allergies to avoid lesser mealworms as much as possible. Wearing protective gloves and masks while working under filtered and vented conditions may be required if conducting research on A. diaperinus. Quinones produced by tenebrionids are also suspected carcinogens; thus, quinone producing insects also represent a health hazard at all levels of food production and distribution (Ladisch 1965, Phillips and Burkholder 1984)."endsnip

from http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/livestock ... alworm.htm 

Ed


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Thanks for the info Ed  Since living on the farm I've had plenty of new bugs show up where I didn't want them (Red Flour Beetles, Phorid Flies, and a couple smaller beetles that I'm not entirely sure what they are).

I did run across the allergy information when doing research into the culturing of the "lesser mealworm" species... I actually got more information on it's ability to develop allergies than it's care and culture :roll: Due to allergies I already have, I've developed a system where I already look like a mad scientist when I work with my bugs, and while I've been doing a lot of the work outside due to the warm weather, I have a feeling I'll need to develop a critter cabinent like Matt Mirabello developed to force the allergen air out a window and not circulating around my apartment.

While developing care sheets for the food critters on the LBF site I've been doing... just about every bug I've researched comes with an allergy warning, some with stronger warnings than others. Pretty much most of the beetles as well as crickets seem to be the biggest offenders, and some have developed FF allergies or mite allergies as well.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Pretty much if you work with insects you will eventually develop allergies but the problem is more with the production of the quinolones...than with the particulates. If you are using a mask you may want to look into one with that also filters through carbon..

Ed


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

so I go from mad scientist to looking like I'm dealing with tear gas... fun!


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## xfrogx (Jul 5, 2006)

Homer said:


> Wow, I just looked up the drugstore beetle--Stegobium paniceum--and found Wikipedia had this to say about them:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Holy crap!


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

If the culture went beyond one generation, and the culture got overloading the next time around, I've found them drilling thru the bottom of the toss away FF cultures. I simply put the culture container inside another container, and made sure to empty out the beetles as they came out (not many).


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

xfrogx said:


> Homer said:
> 
> 
> > Wow, I just looked up the drugstore beetle--Stegobium paniceum--and found Wikipedia had this to say about them:
> ...


I had an infestation of them in an apartment before I started keeping frogs. I'm not sure how they got in, but they got into the pantry and I waged a two month battle to get rid of them. I ended up having to pitch out all the food that wasn't sealed, canned, or refrigerated. I bug bombed, I spread around diatomacious earth, and had to get rid of several mealworm colonies.

Not an insect I would recommend as a feeder.


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