How Much?
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How Much To Feed?

This is a common question and unfortunately, there is no good answer.

  1. The goal is to provide the animals with enough food without allowing the food to cause stress to the animals.
  2. Feeder insects can cause stress if there are too many and the animal does not eat all of the insects and the insects may start to crawl on the animal.
  3. Fruit flies and crickets are especially bad in this regard.

The following are some general guidelines, but the amounts will vary depending on the size, number, species, and the size of the enclosure.

Feed these amounts once a day. If there are insects left in the enclosure the next day, reduce the amount fed. If there are no insects left, the next day, increase the amounts. If the animals are adults or sub adults, double these amounts. 
See Table 1.1 for more information.

A piece of fruit such as a small wedge of apple can be placed in the enclosure to attract the flies and/or crickets. By doing this the insects will go to the fruit and leave the animals alone and the animals can go to the fruit and eat the insects when they are hungry. Make sure to change the piece of fruit regularly to prevent unwanted fungal or bacterial growths in the enclosure

Table 1.1

For each froglet of small-medium size species*, in a small enclosure (less than 10 galls) feed approx.:

 

Tadpoles°

Froglets

Adult Frog

Notes

Crickets

Acheta domesticus

1-2 day old crickets

7-10 pinheads

X2 that of froglets

Crickets should be no longer than the width of the frogs head

Flour Beetle Larva

Tribolium confusum

N/A

5-7 larva

X2 that of froglets

If they are all gone the next day increase the amount.  Watch the froglets and make sure they are feeding.  It may sometimes take them a while to figure out what the larva are for

Fruit Fly

D.melanogaster

A few smaller flies

10 flies

X2 that of froglets

¤

Fruit Fly

D.hydei

N/A

5-7 flies

X2 that of froglets

¤

Lesser Wax Moth

Achroia grisella

N/A

3-4 worms

X2 that of froglets

 

Wax Worm

Galleria mellonella

N/A

1-2 worms

X2 that of froglets

These worms are fattening

Springtails

Colembola

See notes

See relevant chapter

X2 that of froglets

#

Aphids

 

A few smaller aphids

See relevant chapter

X2 that of froglets

Ä

Meal Worms

Tenebrio molitor

N/A

1-2 newly morphed worms

X2 that of froglets

Do not feed to Mantella’s as they have difficulty digesting them

Silk Worms

Bombyx mori

N/A

5-7 micro worms

X2 that of froglets

Place in shallow container

Silk worms have a higher protein content than crickets

Meadow Plankton

 

A few smaller insects

See relevant chapter

X2 that of froglets

Only available in summer months

Make sure that the plankton is chemical & pesticide free

*          Some of the larger species can and may take larger feeder insects than indicated

°       You can also try to feed tadpoles small amounts of fish food and frozen mosquito larvae, red gnat, blood worm, daphnia, spirulina algae, ... keep in mind that Epipedobates and Phyllobates tadpoles are more herbivorous that Dendrobates tadpoles

¤        Feed by first tapping the culture on the top, this will force the flies to the bottom.  Remove the cover and tap the flies into a plastic bag with dust.  If you are going to be gone for a few days, just remove the paper towel and replace the lid and place the culture in the vivarium.  Wrap the culture in a wet paper towel to prevent the frogs from seeing the flies and trying to feed through the glass.

#        Place a section of tree fern bark that is about 2" by 2" into the springtail culture.  The springtails will move into the tree fern and then the section of bark can be placed into the frog's enclosure.  The frogs can then feed upon the springtails at their leisure.  Another method used to feed springtails is to culture the springtails in a soil mix and then place a small portion of the mix into the culture.  Also if a soil substrate is used in the enclosure, springtails can be introduced into the substrate.

Ä        Take the entire plant that the culture was grown on and place it on the bottom of your tank in a horizontal fashion to allow the frog’s access to the aphids

Nutritional Value of Various Feeder Insects

Feeder Insects vary in nutritional values depending on how they have been kept and what they have been fed.

 

Crickets

Flour 
Beetles

Fruit Fly

Fruit Fly

Wax 
Worms

Silk
Worms

Meal Worms

Acheta domesttica

Tribolium confusum

Drosophila melanogaster

Drosophila hydei

Galleria mellonella

Bombyx mori

Tenebrio

Moisture %

69

ND

74

71

61

ND

ND

Ash %

1.95/9.92

ND

1.7

2.1

0.97

7.42

ND

Chitin %

5.8

ND

3.4

4.3

ND

02

ND

Protein %

20.7/63.82

ND

17.8

18.3

15.4

11.42

21.2

Fat %

5.7/22.72

ND

5.3

6.2

20.1

10.62

12.5

Carbohydrates4%

3.1/56.02

ND

ND

ND

2.54

18.22

ND

Ca (mg/100g)

21.5

ND

ND

ND

13.1

ND

ND

Ca as total %

7.7/0.082

ND

27.8

49.6

ND

0.342

0.03

Vit. C mg/kg

105.9

ND

ND

ND

23.6

ND

ND

Fibre %

2.8/

ND

ND

ND

1.60

ND

ND

P: Ca ratio

ND/9.75:12

ND

ND

ND

ND

2.35:1

7.8:1

Phosphorus

ND/0.782

ND

ND

ND

ND

0.82

0.27

calories/fat

51.7

ND

ND

ND

181.1

ND

ND

Results are for total sample (not dry sample)
2 Results are for dry sample
ND = No Data

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