Will my frog find the crickets?

[Camymom]

A tadpole that I got for my daughter just turned in to a frog! It has lost it's tail and I've ordered pinhead crickets for it. It's a leopard frog and less than an inch long. I read that I was supposed to put it in a 10 gallon tank with water dish, a place to hide, and substrate. I used forest moss. I'm realizing that the pinhead crickets are just so tiny that they get lost in the moss and end up under the water dish. Is my frog even finding these little guys and how can I tell if it's getting enough to eat? I'm so new at this, any advice on how to keep the frog alive would be helpful. It was so easy as a tadpole!

[Whistly]

Is the substrate loose? If it is the frog could swallow some when going after the crickets this could cause impaction.
I'm sure the frog will find them as frogs see something move as long as it can fit it in their mouth they will go for it.
You could try removing the frog and putting it somewhere safe and putting a few crickets with it, some members here do it.
Small flies will be good as the frog will be able to see them clearly.

[LazyEyedFroggie]

When it's older and capable of eating larger foods, that should be alright, but crickets drown very easily. The moss could cause impaction, as Luke said. For now, especially when it's young and can't aim it's tongue with great ease, you should probably put it in another clean container, slightly smaller than it's current enclosure, and watch it eat, so you know exactly how much it eats. Don't worry if it doesn't eat right away, it may still be using nutrients from it's absorbed tail.

[Camymom]

Thanks for the help. So, I have the frog's original container I can put it in. (currently holding the crickets which I can put into a recently emptied butter tub) Do I put the water dish in there? She still likes to sit at the edge of it. It would take up a lot of the space, but I don't think the crickets can climb it very well. Or maybe a tupperware lid with very shallow amount of water? And then nothing else except the crickets? How long do I want to keep her in that environment? Until she is big enough to eat the big crickets?

[LazyEyedFroggie]

You can keep her in the current set-up for a long time, you could simply pick her up gently everyday and give her 15 minutes of all you can eat time with the crickets in the other container. the feeding area doesn't need a water source, as long as she's watched and it's for no longer than fifteen minutes per day.

[DonLisk]

You can also use a smaller bowl, usually glass similar to a cereal bowl, and sink it into the substrate. Place the pinheads into the bowl and they can't escape usually. Any that do will eventually fall back into the bowl and be stuck in there again.
The bowl needs to be kept clean since the crickets can't get traction unless the bowl is dirty or has substrate in it.

This works great for monitoring how well your frogs is feeding too.

[Camymom]

ok let me recap what I've learned. The moss is ok and the 10 Gallon tank is ok as long as there are no crickets hiding in there. Just in case the frog eats the moss. I just need to find a safe place for the frog to eat and monitor the eating. I don't know if we will remember to take out the frog daily and feed her, so I might try the bowl idea once I can tell she is eating well. About how many crickets do you think she should be eating?

[wesleybrouwer]

You're frog will find the crickets without any doubt.

I always wonder where it has come from lots of people advicing to pick the frog up to put it in a feeding container,
or that putting crickets in an enclosure can only be done inside a bowl.

The lights are already out now, but if you like, tomorrow i can take some pictures of my tanks, crickets and all.

I even use the smaller crickets for my poison dart frogs, sometimes i find one that managed to grow adult size, to big for them to eat.
Only catch them out because they eat my plants and destroy the backwall.
Never experienced any problems at all, nor did i experience any problems using loose substrate and different kinds of moss.
Whenever i see a frog taking some substrate with it's prey, i see them sticking their tounges out to scrape of most of the dirt,
the little bit that is left shouldn't pose lots of troubles.
I believe in nature they will ingest some material as well, the worst i experienced was a prolapse, but that heals itself quit nicely.
In my opinion, the hard exoskeleton of some insects will cause impaction more easily then some dirt

Getting you're frogs out, sterilizing you're tank, and so on, is only causing stress to the frogs.
A frog will thrive best when left alone as much as possible.
When i see the amount of threads about sick or dying frogs i wonder why it keeps continuing keeping frogs in sterile tanks getting them out to feed.
Stress is a strong factor in bad health, if not number one.

A frog not feeding will loose weight.
Stressed frogs will sometimes refuse eating as well,
see the path we're taking here?
(Help, my frog won't eat! Help, my tree frog dug himself under the substrate! Help, i think my frog is sick, My frog died what happened? etc.)

When you know you're frog, you'll see it soon enough.
I never keep track on how many bugs are eaten, counting the fruitflies i give.
I throw in an amount, when it's taking to long to get eaten, next time i feed less and/or put in new feeder insects when most of them are gone.
Far less troublesome for yourself, and less stress moments for you're frogs.
As long as you're frog looks healthy to you, he mostly just is.

Just have some faith in yourself, after all, you know you're frog best.
After all, you raised him/here from being a tad already

[LazyEyedFroggie]

A small bowl would work, absolutely, as long as the frogs themselves can get in and out with success. Wesleybrouwer, I do agree that the dirt will likely not cause impaction, especially with adults, but the frogs are very young, and will not be able to perfectly use their tongues to catch food alone. If a young frog that size ingests the moss, it may cause harm. Not saying it will, but it's a greater risk with froglets.

Also, because this frog has been caught as a tadpole, he will be more calm and accepting of the fact that his owner is a person. Especially once he figures out that the soul reason for his handling is to get yummy crickets Once he's older, and has more control and coordination, it will be absolutely fine to feed him in the tank. The greatest problem with that is the water, and drowning crickets. He will get used to a bit of human handling to get food, as I said before.

This is, of course, just my opinion on the issue. Either method is effective.