White's tree frog - is he too skinny?

[rosaphile]

We've been feeding daily, and dusting each feeding. The crickets we can get locally from Petsmart tend to vary widely in size - the "small to medium" can be anywhere from 1/4" to 5/8" it seems. We feed 4 crickets per frog but I've told my son (who does the actual feeding most nights) to "double up" the wee crickets, i.e. feed an extra for every tiny cricket there is. I'm not really sure how big the crickets should be for these frogs but I know the "medium to large" variety that Petsmart has goes all the way up to adults which look enormous. The frogs are about 3 inches from nose to rear end.

Here is "Cody," waiting for his dinner:



The other frog ("Viper" - my son named them ;P) seems to be a bit plumper than Cody.

Oh, and we have two glass bowls in the enclosure like the one you see Cody in. Each feeding my son puts a frog in each bowl before feeding them - if they are not already waiting for him! They do eat eagerly, in fact they eat right from his fingers much of the time. I suppose I should also mention that I haven't been able to get a glass cover for the terrarium yet, and the humidity does tend to drop to about 30% except for right after I spray.

[DonLisk]

Cody looks like he can use a little more fattening up :-)
Does Cody soak in a water dish often? When they do they absorb a lot of water which makes them look chubbier.

Crickets should be no longer than the distance between the frogs eyes.

[rosaphile]

I never see them soaking in the water dish during the daytime. Occasionally I will see one or both of them in there at night after the lights are out.

I will tell my son to start feeding more crickets. I am frustrated with the inconsistency of the supply from Petsmart but I'm not really prepared to set up a whole "cricket culture" yet. I would love to supplement with some different feeder insects but all that Petsmart has is superworms, which don't seem like an appropriate choice. I would order some waxworms, but from Josh's it would cost almost $20 to ship 50 waxworms costing $2.99 (which we couldn't use up in a week anyway) so that hardly seems practical. Would Phoenix worms be a good choice? They seem to have less demanding shipping requirements and wouldn't cost too much more than crickets all things considered. Any other suggestions?

[Sunshine]

I am in no way an expert but from what I have read Phoenix worms seem to be pretty healthy for frogs. I would also suggest nightcrawlers (cut to an appropriate size) as well. I have been researching a lot and I have learned that variety in their diet is good for frogs. Also Waxworms, Mealworms, and superworms should only be fed sparingly as treats due to their lack of nutrients and the amount of chitin. If I am wrong feel free to correct me as I am still learning! Hope this helps!

[DonLisk]

If you have a local small pet store, check on pricing of small wingless crickets by the 500 or 1000 count. I pay about 15 bucks for a 500 count box of crickets. I think its 26 for a 1000 count box.

I dump them into a large plastic storage container that I have a screen top built into. On the bottom of the box I have a layer of crushed corn to reduce the smell. You have to have the screen top or they will stink bad. I don't culture them but its cheaper and lest trips to the pet store for crickets.

I only fed mine crickets but others feed roaches and night crawlers. I would do some research on the night crawlers or hopefully someone will pipe in who is feeding them.

[rosaphile]

Thanks both. Sherry, that is my understanding too, regarding the mealworms and superworms... I don't think the waxworms have chitin but they are not considered a good "staple" diet because they are high in fat. I'm by no means an expert either, but this is what my recall tells me!

Don, literally the only pet stores in my area are Petsmart, Petco, and one or two aquarium specialty petstores. It seems my only options are what I can get from the big chains, or what I can mail order. If I were to order a large batch of crickets online, and put them into a plastic container the way you suggest, wouldn't they grow and get too big before my frogs could eat them all? If we give the frogs 5 or so crickets a day, each, it would take about 7 weeks to go through a batch of 500. I guess I'm a little hazy on how fast the crickets will grow but my recollection is telling me that it only takes about 6 weeks to grow to maturity, is that right?

I'll see if I can find nightcrawlers around here. Not sure if they'll be available for bait seeing as how it's December, but then it hasn't really frozen here yet so maybe. ;P

[DonLisk]

That is true on growth rate so you may be better off with the weekly trip to the pet store.