# Need low maintenance options



## DrawntoLife (Nov 12, 2009)

I already have wood lice at the very top of my list because of how easy they are to culture but they're slow and I know the frogs do better with variation. Aphids interest me aswell is there any other easy to culture and maintain bug I should look into? I'm going to be starting my cultures soon


----------



## redfrogger (Nov 6, 2010)

Wingless or flightless fruit flies, isopods, and springtails!

Contact Pumilo on the forum for springtails and the isopods. His are the best!


----------



## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

Aphids are a lot of maintenance unless you are lucky enough to have an aphid farm in your back yardSprintails and purple isos are the way to go for quick reproduction.FFs are a good source of consistent staple food.


----------



## DrawntoLife (Nov 12, 2009)

Ff are pita haha made me lose my mind a couple I years ago. Aphids as I remember we're easy atleast when not feeding out, drawback is the require a lot of space so I might skip them, something I can look at once a week besides feeding out would be nice haha


----------



## DrawntoLife (Nov 12, 2009)

Doug does have so pretty sick springtails thanks for the tip, is two or three different springs and a culture of woodlice enough variation?


----------



## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Doing frogs without fruit flies is a death sentence waiting to happen. You need to get vitamins and minerals to your frogs. This means dusting fruit flies. Not enough dust will stick to springtails and isopods.
You might be able to consider eliminating fruit flies if you have a constant supply of young crickets. Crickets are WAY worse to culture than fruit flies. Plus they stink and they are noisy. It is hard to rely on a local source to provide you with crickets small enough, and it's also quite expensive.
Hate to say it, but flies are the mainstay of our frogs. I'm of the opinion that you have no choice but to learn how to culture flies, or consider different animals for your vivs.


----------



## Boondoggle (Dec 9, 2007)

Supplementation will be an issue. Springtails are somewhere from difficult to impossible to powder with supplements. I'm not sure how you were planning on feeding out the isopods, but if you are powdering them then that's going to be very labor intensive. 

FFs are by far the easiest food source to maintain colonies of. It's why they've become (along with vitamin supplementation) the standard. Large frogs like Phyllobates will take small crickets, but crickets are a bigger pain in the neck IMO. Bean Beetles are a decent feeder too, but again not nearly as reliable/plentiful/easy as FF.

*Edit-You beat me to it Doug. Great minds...


----------



## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Boondoggle said:


> Supplementation will be an issue. Springtails are somewhere from difficult to impossible to powder with supplements. I'm not sure how you were planning on feeding out the isopods, but if you are powdering them then that's going to be very labor intensive.
> 
> FFs are by far the easiest food source to maintain colonies of. It's why they've become (along with vitamin supplementation) the standard. Large frogs like Phyllobates will take small crickets, but crickets are a bigger pain in the neck IMO. Bean Beetles are a decent feeder too, but again not nearly as reliable/plentiful/easy as FF.
> 
> *Edit-You beat me to it Doug. Great minds...


It's a bug thread. You didn't really think you could beat me to the draw, did you?


----------



## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

you "could" just buy termites for your adults and supplement those. They live a long time, and if you bought 10,000 at a time when they go up for sale you could keep them around for months, and "shake and bake" them with supplements. They would not work well for younger frogs or thumbnails. 

You "COULD" also just buy FF cultures from a number of our friendly neighborhood sponsors


----------



## DrawntoLife (Nov 12, 2009)

I'll be culturing flies for sure among other insects crickets no way it hell ha


----------



## DrawntoLife (Nov 12, 2009)

Oops didn't mean to respostthat


----------



## VenomR00 (Apr 23, 2010)

Boondoggle said:


> Supplementation will be an issue. Springtails are somewhere from difficult to impossible to powder with supplements. I'm not sure how you were planning on feeding out the isopods, but if you are powdering them then that's going to be very labor intensive.
> 
> FFs are by far the easiest food source to maintain colonies of. It's why they've become (along with vitamin supplementation) the standard. Large frogs like Phyllobates will take small crickets, but crickets are a bigger pain in the neck IMO. Bean Beetles are a decent feeder too, but again not nearly as reliable/plentiful/easy as FF.
> 
> *Edit-You beat me to it Doug. Great minds...


Unfortunately with Isopods/Woodlice, you can not dust. They breathe through their skins through special pores, and once dusted, these pores become closed off and in a sense they suffocate/drown to death. You could probably mix powder with water and soak them for 10-15 minutes but I don't know how well the vitamin and calcium transfer would be.


----------



## Leaf28 (Apr 22, 2013)

Will terribilis sub-adults eat fruitflies? My main concern is that the breeder
Has been feeding bean nettles for a while and said they probably won't strike flies.
suggestions?


----------



## Reef_Haven (Jan 19, 2011)

Leaf28 said:


> Will terribilis sub-adults eat fruitflies? My main concern is that the breeder
> Has been feeding bean nettles for a while and said they probably won't strike flies.
> suggestions?


There are people who have fed nothing but melanos to adult terribs for years. Yes, they will eat flies. You could culture Hydei, they are twice as large as melanos.


----------



## volsgirl (Mar 29, 2012)

Leaf28 said:


> Will terribilis sub-adults eat fruitflies? My main concern is that the breeder
> Has been feeding bean nettles for a while and said they probably won't strike flies.
> suggestions?


My terribilis will try to eat anything that moves, I laugh at them when they chase after water drops, dripping off the leaves after misting.


----------



## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

I feed my terribillis ffs,bbs, up to large crickets.I would think if you are feeding melanos to adults,you will need a lot of them though.


----------



## TheCoop (Oct 24, 2012)

I know a few breeders that have only fed them Hydei and they have done great.. Same pairs going on 6+ years..


----------

