Little Piggies! Need feeding advice for White's

[shatrar]

I'm looking for advice on the best way to feed four white's. Here's my story.
Ron and George came home with us on Jan 12, and for the first week I just tossed crickets into their tank and let them hunt on their own. Then we brought home Fred and Charlie the following week and with four frogs I was afraid someone wouldn't get their fair share so I started taking them out one at a time to eat in a separate tub. This quickly became an issue with all of the frogs trying to get out each time we lifted the lid off the tank.
I thought it wouldn't be a problem in their new enclosure, front opening exo-terra. But my guys are not shy at meal time, and when I open the door I have to be ready to catch. I've had 3 of them jump on me at once to be the first to eat! I figured all of this commotion at meal time probably isn't the best for them, and I've been trying to train them to bowl feed. So the first try, Ron had quite the feast before the others figured out where the food was (even after I placed them inside the bowl...). It only took a few days for them all to get in the habit of where the food was, and to wait in the bowl rather than on the glass.
But new problem, Charlie is extremely aggressive and violently tried to eat Fred (they are the same size). He actually tried to eat my finger once, and swallowed it down past the first knuckle before I could gently get him off (thank goodness they don't have teeth!) So now I'm back to one at a time outside the tank. They actually don't seem to mind coming out of the tank to eat, and it is easier to monitor who's eating what and calcium/vitamins, etc. The only thing I don't like about it is trying to corral them all when I open the door.
I feed them around the same time each night, and wait for them all to wake up first.
Any suggestions?
Also recently switched from crickets to dubia, and I'm feeding them about 4 each every night. Is that too much? Not enough?
clockwise from back left are Charlie, Fred, George and Ron. This was before the violent attack.
Bellies! Left to right; Ron, Charlie, Fred and George waiting impatiently for dinner.

[Bombina Bob]

To ensure that your frogs get their fair share of food, i woul feed them from tongs or hand feed them (by what happened with your finger, it dosent look like a great option) what you are doing so far is excellent for feeding in the bowl and your agressive frog (Charlie?) can be fed seperately, and to avoid them all trying to jump on you for food, exo terra terrariums are great for acess and you can probably keep one door closed while you get your frogs fed to keep them in the tank. For the dubia feeding, it really depends on what size the roaches are, i have no experience with feeding roaches to any animals so i would maybe ask someone else for that.

Good luck with your frogs!

[kueluck]

I think your WTF's look GREAT!! I have 3 and tong feed each one to make sure they get their fair share and also get the right about of supplements. I'll also let a few free runner go so they can chase them down. I feed red runners and crickets.

[Bombina Bob]

Do you mean red runners as in the segal running frogs gail?

[kueluck]

LOL, No the red runners are Turkish Roaches a.k.a. red runners. I can just imagine what was going thru your mind.

[Sasha]

I'm having a similar issue with three frogs. They get along great except feeding time is a free for all. This is what is working for me:

I feed them very close to the time they wake up to ensure that I still have at least one sleepy frog not paying attention to the door but will wake up when they see crickets. I take the most aggressive frog out of the tank and put into a cricket keeper. I have a large bowl in the middle of my tank for two frogs to eat in at the same time. I watch the two for any sign of aggression and usually end up hand feeding one of them to make sure they get enough crickets. The frog in the cricket keeper then gets puts back into the tank but I put him up on a ledge where the other frogs don't see him so they think he's been there the whole time!

I've been doing this for a week and it is working pretty well. Although, I am working late tonight so they are all going to be wide awake and waiting for crickets when I get home!

One thing I used to do when I fed them all together, I put my crickets in a clear plastic sandwich bag and shake them into the tank. When the frogs hung out on the glass, I would hold the bag up to the side of the tank and get their attention. They would usually jump to that side of the tank allowing me to open the door.

[shatrar]

Good ideas Patsy! Your post prompted me to ask for help. I may try the baggie method to get them to move. I do tong feed them sometimes, they are fine with that or hand feeding, but only if I catch them while they are just starting to wake which is not always possible. That method doesn't work as well for Charlie though, he tries to eat the tongs. Last night when I was putting him in the pet keeper for feeding, he attacked my wrist. I think he was going for the vein! Charlie cracks me up though. This afternoon when they were all asleep I took out their water dish to change it. Apparently Charlie woke up just enough, and decided he needed to jump on my chest. He was still half asleep when I set him back on his ledge.

[Sasha]

Charlie sounds like a handful! I haven't had any frogs actually try to jump at me when I open their door. I know they are just lulling me into a false sense of security and one day they are all going to jump at me at once! My frogs get crazy with the tongs I'm afraid they are going to get hurt. I just recently started to just hold the crickets in my hand and feed them to Shrek and it's working real good. Surprisingly, Skitter had been real mellow about being handled and fed separate, I think he feels like he's the special one!

I started doing the baggie trick when I had a vivarium with one door and I would set the bag of crickets on top of the tank to get things ready for feeding and I noticed the frogs kept looking up and trying to get to the top of the tank. I realized they were trying to get the crickets, so when one frog would sit on the door, or my favorite, one foot on the door and the other on the side of the tank, I would hold the baggie on the side of the tank and he would go to it! They are so gullible!

Just watch that they don't get overly excited and lunge for the bag! I've had that happen a few times.

[shatrar]

I set the container of dubia to the side of the tank, and that kept Charlie's attention for long enough to feed Fred and Ron before he tried to jump on me. Let's hope this keeps working!

I'm still wondering if 4 small (3/8-1/2") dubia each per night is a good amount?

[Sasha]

I'm not sure about dubia roaches, I feed only crickets. I think it would be okay as long as you monitor their weight. The crickets I use are the same size as your roaches and I feed 4 every night but if the frogs are looking a little fat they get might get less.