My First Winter... Nervous

[Poly]

So, my toad is doing great, I've been feeding him wild caught grasshoppers and worms (dusted with calcium) all summer, but it's now early fall, and winter is approaching fast. My closest pet store is 100 or so kms away (60 miles), so it will be once a week or every other week that I will be able to get into the store to buy crickets.

1. Can anyone give me tips (or links to arcticles, etc) on how to keeps worms alive? I have them in a plant pot filled with soil, and a small piece of rotting banana burried in the pot right now, I pour roughly 1 tablespoon of water in the pot every 3 or so days to keep the soil moist. They are being kept in my cool basement.

2. Crickets...? I have a 2.5 gallon kritter keeper, every week (or every other week) I will be buying 24 crickets, what should I use for substrate? Food? Is an orange slice good enough for water? How long will they last?

3. Potato bugs, wood lice, roly polies, etc. Whataver you call them, I think you know the insect I am talking about, what about these, does anyone keep these? I have 6 of them in an 2.5 gallon Kritter keeper (Sand substrate), I have been feeding them potatoes, apples and cut up worm, they are growing, but very slooooooowly, and I keep adding more that I find (mostly very small ones about 1/8" long). I just would like to know about keeping these insects because my toads absoultly love them!

Thanks, I might be able to find this info on the web, but I'd rather hear it form the experts.

~Royce

[John]

Earthworms from your garden should do alright in the fridge in some substrate for 1-2 months. You could also culture them like you described, but they will more likely eat leaves than fruit.

Crickets should be gutloaded with either fruits and vegetables, or, easier I feel, is to use a commercial gutloading product. If you set up the cricket container smartly, they could last for anywhere up to a month. If you culture them (we have an article in the Articles section) you could keep them going indefinitely.

Wood lice can be cultured pretty much as you describe - they like rotting cardboard a lot actually. I have never cultured temperate ones though. Keep them on some substrate with some sheets of moist rotting cardboard and you should be fine. They are slow at reproducing though, so don't rely on them as a food source.

[Poly]

Thanks for the info John!

Any suggestions at how to set up a good cricket tank?

Also, do the worms have to be kept in a fridge, or is a cool (60-75F) basement alright?

[John]

If you're just keeping the worms, not feeding them, then the fridge is best. If you're feeding them, don't refrigerate them.

Cricket tank - if you're culturing them then look at our article. If you just want to maintain them, then set them up in a well ventilated container with hiding places (such as cardboard egg crate), regularly changed food, and a clean water source in which they can't drown. They will do better if kept in a warm dark place.

[Poly]

Yes, well I'm keeping the worms in a 5 gallon pail, so I will be feeding them/moving the soil around quite frequently. You recommend leaves to feed them, I assumed they ate the soil?

[pac]

if you try to breed them i could help you out because i breed my own crickets pretty easy and breed pillbug isopods to very easy

[Poly]

I better get this all straightened out...

Here is the website I'm going to be getting my insects from: Canadian Feeders - Your One Stop Feeder Shop!

Canadain Night Crawlers-Check 100 for 16$ great price! Easy to care for/my toads main source of food.

Crickets-Check... BUT minimum ammount they ship is 250 for 14$!!! What am I going to do with 250 crickets that only last for 2 to 4 weeks!? What size of tank should I keep them in? How can they last longer? What do I do with their feces?

Waxworms-Check... again BUT minimum ammount they ship is 250 (but for 5$), but I think the toads will go through them a little faster, same boat as the crickets, what do they eat, how do I keep them, and in what do I keep them!?

Feeling pretty nervous for my first winter, the only thing I got down pat how to keep is the worms, so I feel a little confident. (I have a stock pile of 200 worms right now in a 45Gallon plastic tub with screen lid, how long will they live? I've been adding rotten leaves, apple cores and banana peels to the soil.)

Thanks Guys!

~Royce

[BG]

I'm happy for you poly. You are all set for the winter.

[Poly]

You are all set for the winter.

That...Was...The...Most...Reassuring...Thing...Som eone...Has...Said...To...Me...Yet... xD

Thanks!

EDIT: Not sure why it puts a space between "Som" and "eone" in the edit part there is no space, but when I post it, there is a space?

[UncleChester]

You can also breed mealworms very easily, a plastic tub with a ventilated lid filled with ground up oatmeal and bran with vegetable scraps thrown in every couple of days and they basically do their own thing. They are usually only recommended as an occasional food item, but they are so extremely easy to keep that I find them worth it.

Waxworms can be kept in the fridge for a few months or you can try Breeding Waxworms My breeding attempts have so far failed, I get moths (which can also be used as feeders, I'm not sure how easily a toad could catch them though), but so far no young.

Your eathworms should keep for the winter how you have them. Just keep them from getting too warm, 15C and above is getting to be bad (basement is good), keep them moist, and keep them fed (or in the fridge as John mentioned). Food scraps are fine, they'll also eat other decaying vegetable matter like leaves. They should breed but probably not fast enough to help you through the winter.

http://www.frogforum.net/care-articl...e-cricket.html should answer all your cricket keeping questions, even if you don't plan to breed them. However you might need to breed them if you want a supply over the winter, when the temperature gets too low live shipments usually come to a halt.

Hibernating your toads would be another option if you are really worried about food. It's not something I've ever done, but I'm sure someone can fill you in if you are interested.

[Poly]

Well actually, the website I provided a link for, ships live insects in the winter! Not sure how, I'm going to call the guy back today.

So, mealworms are similar to worms then, they have to be kept cool?

It's good to know the worms will last, because they are going to be my toads main source of food.

I think Hibernating is never really an option I have considered, if you want them to grow, can't get any better way than feeding them over the winter!

Thanks for the much needed info!

~Royce

[UncleChester]

Mealworms are the larva form of the Tenbrio molitor beetle, they like it hot. 25C-30C is ideal for breeding, but I keep mine at room temperature which is about 15C-20C. Hotter will make them grow and breed faster. I use them sparingly as they are supposed to be harder to digest, so I'm fine with a slower growth rate. They can also be stored in a fridge, but I believe you have to warm them up every few weeks and feed them to keep them alive. They are low enough maintenance that I don't see much point in keeping them chilled.

[Tori Savage]

I know I may be jumping in at the wrong time, but I do have my own colony or whatever ya want to call it of mealworms. My frogs, which I have 2 adult american green tree frogs, 1 amgtf froglet, 3 adult grey tree frogs, 1 grey tree froglet and 3 that are still unidentified. I have my mw in one of those 3 drawer containers, one of the small ones. I had to put then in my cabinet (dark and room temp), before they would pupate. I kept the pupating ones seperate from the beetles and worms (ill explain in a bit). I feed mine the orange Cricket cubes and carrot slices. Also gave my beatles a slice of apple as an experiment...... Within minutes it was covered. Within about 2 days, it was gone and just the peel was left. I use a metal strainer looking thing to shake the good "bedding/food" out, and get the sheds/dead worms out. Now, I do know that if the worms are kept in the fridge, or too cold/cool, they die faster. They say this helps keep them alive, but how can they eat if they never move or anything? It took my colony a while to esablish, BUT its paying off, mainly for my froglets and gecos. My frogs seem to love the mw compared to the crickets, or they just may be too lazy to hunt! LOL. But no joke, at one time i had almost 30 pupates, atleast the same in beatles. Heck, Ive even had the chance to catch a few doing the deed, and looked darned funny........ But all that is besides the point.......... We keep my house around 70 degrees and my mw do fine out in the open. I also read about putting a paper towel into the drawer with the beatles. Gives hiding space, and more space to lay eggs. When I open my beatle drawer they scatter to the paper towel.

On a side note, I had my own trial and error with keeping all of them together. Sometimes it was horrible, the beatles ganged up on the newly turned and still soft shelled beatles and ate them alive. Some of my beatles shells have been damaged by keeping them together like that. So wait untill the shells are atleast a tan/brown color. They go from white which is very soft, to tan which has hardened a little bit, to a reddish/brownish, which is almost completely hard shelled, then black, the final stage.

Now it does take a bit of patience for the mealworms to start producing, just have to be patient. VERY patient. I wish the best of luck to ya!

[ConVexity]

My first winter too....
I'm kinda nervous...

[Poly]

Alright Guys,

Well, this week (most likely Monday ) I am ordering 200 Canadian Nightcrawlers and 200 Meal Worms (made a mistake before, I meant mealworms, not waxworms).

I'm kinda stuck because my one toad now looooves worms and my other toad still wants grasshoppers, so I am ordering the mealworms, hoping that seeing the (sorta) quick moving meal worms, she will eat them, and then I'll mix mealworms and worms, until I can get her started on worms

Will my toads have any problems with mealworms? I plan to feed them every other day to the stubborn toad who (at the moment) won't eat worms. No crickets for me, she she's simply going to have to start eating them!

Thanks,

~Royce

P.S. I'll order waxworms for a treat, I read that there too high in fat to feed as part of a normal diet, but again, I made a mistake before.

[Tori Savage]

Royce, have you ever raised your own mealworms before??

If you haven't, (please keep in mind im no expert, but has raised mealworms before) I could give you a few pointers if you want. But I do wish you the best of luck with everything!!!

[gundam009283]

careful the temperature for earthworms since you get the canadian one, they like it cold unlike the rest. it's said their temp needs to be under 65 otherwise they die off very fast.

[Poly]

Royce, have you ever raised your own mealworms before??

If you haven't, (please keep in mind im no expert, but has raised mealworms before) I could give you a few pointers if you want. But I do wish you the best of luck with everything!!!

Hahaha! Thanks! But I'm not raising them Just keeping them in the fridge...

[Tori Savage]

I've heard of so many people putting them in the fridge to keep them longer. With my own trial and error, every meal worm that I put in the fridge, died. My mom works at a pet store/pet pharmacy. They use mw for the store animals, as well as selling them. Every time they've put any in the fridge, every worm has died. I've stopped putting mine in there as well as my moms work, and we haven't had any die, besides being eaten of course. So with the fridge idea, I really don't trust in it. I just don't want your whole shipment to die and then have less food for your frogs. Good luck with that. We haven't had any success rate with the mealworms and the fridge. I'm against it. But I do wish you the best of luck!

[Poly]

careful the temperature for earthworms since you get the canadian one, they like it cold unlike the rest. it's said their temp needs to be under 65 otherwise they die off very fast.

Will have to look into that, but to be honest, I can't see worms dieing off due to a little elevated temps.

I've heard of so many people putting them in the fridge to keep them longer. With my own trial and error, every meal worm that I put in the fridge, died. My mom works at a pet store/pet pharmacy. They use mw for the store animals, as well as selling them. Every time they've put any in the fridge, every worm has died. I've stopped putting mine in there as well as my moms work, and we haven't had any die, besides being eaten of course. So with the fridge idea, I really don't trust in it. I just don't want your whole shipment to die and then have less food for your frogs. Good luck with that. We haven't had any success rate with the mealworms and the fridge. I'm against it. But I do wish you the best of luck!

Well the guy I'm buying them off of keeps them in a fridge, but brings them out once a week, for 24hrs to let them warm up and eat.

Thanks for all the info & suggestons guys!