Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: Good feeders for toads and frogs? Superworms? Nightcrawlers?

  1. #1
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Nationality
    [United States]
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    11

    Default Good feeders for toads and frogs? Superworms? Nightcrawlers?

    Hey guys, I was thinking of getting a frog or a toad. Now my questions are, I hate and refuse to deal with roaches and crickets- I know they're better but I just find them gross and who I live with wouldn't be happy with them. For crickets, I just dont like crickets. They're annoying, and they smell like fecal matter.

    If I got something like an american toad, or a cane toad, or a pacman, or some kind of predator like that. Could they do well on superworms and night crawlers? I was looking for feeders that are bulky and full of proteins to feed. I also don't like the idea of feeder mice- just oof.


    I was thinking I could breed the worms, but then again I wouldn't mind just buying them online and have them shipped to me. Just as long as they can live in a container for a week or so. I can't be going to the petstore constantly as it is too far from here.

  2. # ADS
    Circuit advertisement
    Join Date
    Always
    Location
    Advertising world
    Posts
    Many
     

  3. #2
    100+ Post Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Nationality
    [United Kingdom]
    Location
    Scotland
    Age
    27
    Posts
    1,134
    Blog Entries
    1
    Picture Albums: Member Photo Albums

    Default Re: Good feeders for toads and frogs? Superworms? Nightcrawlers?

    Locusts, crickets and roaches are the best staple diet, though, due to them being easiest to gut load or dust and being not too hard to digest. I doubt many people like dealing with these insects, but providing a variety of food is more beneficial to the frogs and I would have an open mind. Roaches aren't bad to deal with, though, and you should reconsider them. Roaches are extremely easy to breed, so you won't need to buy them often or at all, if you do. Superworms and nightcrawlers is not enough IMO. Pink mice also excellent food in moderation due to them naturally carrying vitamins in their organs. You can get prekilled ones which makes it easier. Maybe if you got a pacman frog, you could use one of the artificially made diets along with your worms and that might be fine, but a varied diet of real foods and insects is probably healthier.

  4. #3
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Nationality
    [United States]
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    11

    Default Re: Good feeders for toads and frogs? Superworms? Nightcrawlers?

    Quote Originally Posted by jasonm96 View Post
    Locusts, crickets and roaches are the best staple diet, though, due to them being easiest to gut load or dust and being not too hard to digest. I doubt many people like dealing with these insects, but providing a variety of food is more beneficial to the frogs and I would have an open mind. Roaches aren't bad to deal with, though, and you should reconsider them. Roaches are extremely easy to breed, so you won't need to buy them often or at all, if you do. Superworms and nightcrawlers is not enough IMO. Pink mice also excellent food in moderation due to them naturally carrying vitamins in their organs. You can get prekilled ones which makes it easier. Maybe if you got a pacman frog, you could use one of the artificially made diets along with your worms and that might be fine, but a varied diet of real foods and insects is probably healthier.
    Not really sure you can get locusts here.. but even with the cricket thing.. They're dumb they die easily, they drown easily, and they're annoying if they escape.

    Roaches I could never reconsider mostly because of my room mate wouldn't want to know or deal with living with roaches... Even if its in my room, its respect. That and I really do not want to under any circumstance deal with roaches. I am more willing to open with pre killed mice over roaches... Crickets are just annoying as I've said. I used to buy them and you have to constantly corral them if they do get in any water dish... and they are dumb so they will try to get into the water dish again...

    I don't live close to a petstore so going every couple of days to the petstore to pick up crickets seems a tad annoying as the closest pet store is about 20 minutes away....

    I know dubias are supposedly the king of feeders... I just remember being told by a gecko owner I knew long time ago that the geckos could survive and thrive on superworms, earthworms and pheonix worms as variations, and that if I can get my hands on those big green silk worms(the ones with the horns that dont breed in captivity) can be very nutritional. The caveat for the green worms is they're a tad expensive.

    With pinkies, don't they grow up fast? So wouldn't you need to feed them right as soon as you get them ? That and aren't pinkies still weaning so they will die from starvation if not fed to the frog/toad?

    Is there a list of all the feeders that one could feed amphibians?

    Would the pacman diet work on other frogs/toads? Could a pacman diet be used with american toads or cane toads? I know they usually go for moving things, but I've found that with carefully dangling things with forceps they will take just about anything if you make it move right.


    What about pipa pipa? What can they be fed?

  5. #4
    100+ Post Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Nationality
    [United Kingdom]
    Location
    Scotland
    Age
    27
    Posts
    1,134
    Blog Entries
    1
    Picture Albums: Member Photo Albums

    Default Re: Good feeders for toads and frogs? Superworms? Nightcrawlers?

    Crickets won't die if you keep them around 25C, using a heat pad under there tank and feed them well.They are bad for escaping when young but they're fine as adults. I need to order my livefood online and it's better, it's packed fresh rather than sat on a shelve at a pet store with half of the insects being dead.

    The problem with superworms is they are hard to digest and feeding them too often will cause impaction. They're not healthy either but can and should be gutloaded or dusted with calcium and vitamins to make up for it. Earthworms are better nutritionally without alteration, but you need a good few foods to make up a well rounded diet. I feed my animals crickets, locusts, roaches, superworms, waxworms, fuzzy mice and nightcrawlers. But other foods are fish (may be diseased or unbalanced nutritionally, so not the best), phoenix worms, fruit flies, bloodworms, woodlice, wax moths (pupated wax worms) and there's probably more. The pacman diet may work with other species, but it depends how tame they or the indivial frog is.

    Pinkies should ideally prekilled from the supplier and not by yourself or fed alive; so all you need to do is put them in the freezer, thaw them out and dip in them calcium.

    I really wouldn't recommend a Cane toad from past experience. There's a chance they'll be diseased or not adjust to captivity as they're often wild caught. They also need massive enclosures, at least 4ft long. If you do get one, go to store and inspect it before buying it. Ask the staff to offer it food. If it refuses the food, then this is a sign that it's diseased or heavily stressed (which then leads to disease). If it feeds that's a good sign that it may adjust to captivity but you're probably best taking it to a vet and getting it wormed anyway.

    I've not kept pipa pipa, so I cant offer anything on that frog unfortunately.

  6. #5
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Nationality
    [United States]
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    11

    Default Re: Good feeders for toads and frogs? Superworms? Nightcrawlers?

    Quote Originally Posted by jasonm96 View Post
    Crickets won't die if you keep them around 25C, using a heat pad under there tank and feed them well.They are bad for escaping when young but they're fine as adults. I need to order my livefood online and it's better, it's packed fresh rather than sat on a shelve at a pet store with half of the insects being dead.

    The problem with superworms is they are hard to digest and feeding them too often will cause impaction. They're not healthy either but can and should be gutloaded or dusted with calcium and vitamins to make up for it. Earthworms are better nutritionally without alteration, but you need a good few foods to make up a well rounded diet. I feed my animals crickets, locusts, roaches, superworms, waxworms, fuzzy mice and nightcrawlers. But other foods are fish (may be diseased or unbalanced nutritionally, so not the best), phoenix worms, fruit flies, bloodworms, woodlice, wax moths (pupated wax worms) and there's probably more. The pacman diet may work with other species, but it depends how tame they or the indivial frog is.

    Pinkies should ideally prekilled from the supplier and not by yourself or fed alive; so all you need to do is put them in the freezer, thaw them out and dip in them calcium.

    I really wouldn't recommend a Cane toad from past experience. There's a chance they'll be diseased or not adjust to captivity as they're often wild caught. They also need massive enclosures, at least 4ft long. If you do get one, go to store and inspect it before buying it. Ask the staff to offer it food. If it refuses the food, then this is a sign that it's diseased or heavily stressed (which then leads to disease). If it feeds that's a good sign that it may adjust to captivity but you're probably best taking it to a vet and getting it wormed anyway.

    I've not kept pipa pipa, so I cant offer anything on that frog unfortunately.
    Hmm I'll see what I can do. But no roaches, and I doubt I can find locusts anywhere. As for cane toads-- all toads seem to be wild caught. If I bought one I'd prefer it'd be captive bred as well. Because the last cane toad I bought died within the same day.It spewed out a white glob (a big glob) and died on the spot-- I watched it die.


    Id take it to a vet, but I don't think there are vets that actually would treat a cane toad... So I was going to try to dose it for parasites myself-- but it was too late when I got it.

    It was shy as heck though. In Puerto Rico we have them there and they're not shy at all.

    I'll look for other feeders as well - but I'd rather not have more than 1-2 dozen crickets in my house at a time. Should they escape it'd be annoying. also about adult crickets mellowing out-- that's not what happened with me. Everytime I ordered crickets they were adults (at one point I ordered younger ones too) and they all gave me problems escaping and dying.

    I guess ill try online. Id say if not a cane toad, maybe a rococo toad-- but I can't ever seem to find one for sale. I'd be luckier trying my luck with a colorado river toad. Too bad they don't like forest setups as I'd prefer a forest set up over a plains setup.


    By the way, I wouldn't buy pets from a petstore. I've had my fill of their screw ups and lies. They just dont care about their stock, and they lie about everything or dont know what they're talking about and lie to get me to buy it and stop talking to them.

  7. #6
    100+ Post Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Nationality
    [United Kingdom]
    Location
    Scotland
    Age
    27
    Posts
    1,134
    Blog Entries
    1
    Picture Albums: Member Photo Albums

    Default Re: Good feeders for toads and frogs? Superworms? Nightcrawlers?

    They look bold in the wild and can be in captivity, but the stress of being confined and taken from the wild can sometimes be too much. I'd never buy a WC again, just not worth it. Pacmans are probably your best bet. Youre best raising them to start with on crickets, then move up to superworms, earthworms and pink
    mice. As adults you only need to feed them once a week or less, so you can rotate with different foods, so you don't always have to keep crickets and roaches in your house, just once a month or so then.

  8. #7
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Nationality
    [United States]
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    11

    Default Re: Good feeders for toads and frogs? Superworms? Nightcrawlers?

    Quote Originally Posted by jasonm96 View Post
    They look bold in the wild and can be in captivity, but the stress of being confined and taken from the wild can sometimes be too much. I'd never buy a WC again, just not worth it. Pacmans are probably your best bet. Youre best raising them to start with on crickets, then move up to superworms, earthworms and pink
    mice. As adults you only need to feed them once a week or less, so you can rotate with different foods, so you don't always have to keep crickets and roaches in your house, just once a month or so then.
    So if people want them as pets.. why don't they just take the eggs, raise them in captivity and then breed them in captivity? Why don't they breed toads in captivity the same way they breed frogs?

    By the way, why is the forum sort of dead? Also, are there toads that have been sold accurately as captive bred? I'd personally like to start captive breeding toads-- but I sadly don't have the facilities for it or the money for such a large operation.

    I just think it would be a good idea, especially if they can make it to have color morphs. lol Could you imagine toad color morphs? Albinos, Black with white underbelly, completely black (like a lump of coal), green, reds, yellow. Etc. I dont know how color morphs go about, but it sounds like an interesting business.

    Futhermore how much do fecal exams, and treatment would cost for toads? My dog got a fecal done and it was 15-20bucks for it.

  9. #8
    100+ Post Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Nationality
    [United Kingdom]
    Location
    Scotland
    Age
    27
    Posts
    1,134
    Blog Entries
    1
    Picture Albums: Member Photo Albums

    Default Re: Good feeders for toads and frogs? Superworms? Nightcrawlers?

    cane toads are largely invasive, so collecting them is probably better than breeding more, as there's enough already and not everyone probably fancies them, more of an acquired taste. They also produce very large quantities of offspring, so there would have to be a large market for cane toads. The usual captive bred animals like pacmans, red eyes, whites tree frogs, dart frogs, are pretty and colourful, so attractive to most people and dominate the market. A few toads are bred in captivity, such as yellow spotted climbing toads, bumblebee walking toads, fire bellied toads, etc. You even get albino and blue fire bellied toad morphs, but yes I'd like to see a bright red or blue or multicoloured cane toad - that would be awesome. I guess the rococo toads are that, with some colours but still dull in appearance. Most likely any toad sold under captive bred probably is and has came from one of the several large breeding facilities in a country. Fecal cost depends, i paid £50 for mine and then £10 for meds. I haven't owned a dog myself so can't compare the bills, it's probably not much different, though.

  10. #9
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Nationality
    [United States]
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    11

    Default Re: Good feeders for toads and frogs? Superworms? Nightcrawlers?

    Quote Originally Posted by jasonm96 View Post
    cane toads are largely invasive, so collecting them is probably better than breeding more, as there's enough already and not everyone probably fancies them, more of an acquired taste. They also produce very large quantities of offspring, so there would have to be a large market for cane toads. The usual captive bred animals like pacmans, red eyes, whites tree frogs, dart frogs, are pretty and colourful, so attractive to most people and dominate the market. A few toads are bred in captivity, such as yellow spotted climbing toads, bumblebee walking toads, fire bellied toads, etc. You even get albino and blue fire bellied toad morphs, but yes I'd like to see a bright red or blue or multicoloured cane toad - that would be awesome. I guess the rococo toads are that, with some colours but still dull in appearance. Most likely any toad sold under captive bred probably is and has came from one of the several large breeding facilities in a country. Fecal cost depends, i paid £50 for mine and then £10 for meds. I haven't owned a dog myself so can't compare the bills, it's probably not much different, though.
    Well of course they're invasive, and they produce a large mass of offspring.. but one could cull the eggs to leave about less than 1/4 (I think they produce thousands- so a few hundreds is okay). I wonder if there's a way to selective breed them to the point they come in other colors, or if they can do that thing that messes with the eggs... Probably would upset PETA people-- but I never really cared for PETA or what they thought... considering they like to go extreme.

    I just think they should grab suriname cane toads, and then breed those in captivity and reproduce the conditions in suriname.

    The only problem I have with cane toads is they're deadly. If -SOMEHOW- the cage broke or it got lose and my dog (Which it would) decided to make the toad a chew toy..... She would die within seconds-- especially as she's a chihuahua mix and only weighs 12 pounds. Rococo toads are a different species of toad. They're not cane toads. They have four paratoid glands. I dont like the toads they breed. I also like the brown colors of the cane toads.


    You really gotta admire cane toads. They're almost as bad as cockroaches in the terms of doing anything to survive, strong to survive.

  11. This member thanks ToadStool for this post:


Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Good and nutritious feeders for toads?
    By Deku in forum Food, Feeders, Live, Frozen, Culturing, etc
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: February 29th, 2016, 12:55 PM
  2. African nightcrawlers as feeders?
    By ljr38 in forum Food, Feeders, Live, Frozen, Culturing, etc
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: October 27th, 2014, 02:17 PM
  3. Nightcrawlers as feeders
    By Xubby in forum Food, Feeders, Live, Frozen, Culturing, etc
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: August 31st, 2014, 06:12 AM
  4. Superworms and mealworms for GABF feeders?
    By Yikedaddy23 in forum African Bullfrogs
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: April 17th, 2014, 07:44 PM
  5. Replies: 0
    Last Post: November 4th, 2012, 08:34 PM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •