Estivation Crisis....Please advise

[aceras624]

Im sorry Bridget passed. Id be upset if my budget frog (Rupert) had a problem. condolences aside, i wanted to offer my opinion as ive had quite a bit of good luck with Rupert and feel I may have come accross some helpful info in case you try another budget frog. After skimming through the processes' you went through im happy to LEARN that some honey or pedialite might get me out of froggie trouble in the future. Also, i feel that you should have skipped the estetation process sooner and maintained warmer water. I use an inline heater($50) with an external pump($30) that takes water from the bottom of the tank and goes through some filter floss and then back into the tank as a waterfall. this keeps my water nice and clean which allows me to feed goldfish. I know what youre thinking, "GOLFISH BAAAD" but Im very careful with them. they get acclimated properly and NONE of the water is tranfered into the tank AND I gut load them with high quality pellet food. my biggest problem tends to be that my water is too clear for Rupert to catch a fish in the daytime. I feel it was a mistake on your part to attempt to force feed Bridget. that would just be sooo stressful. I guess the best thing i think you could have done would be to maintain healthy water through water changes, keep the water warm with an inline heater(or protected submersible heater) so the frog never hibernates, and leave them with plenty of tasty gutloaded fish and bugs (i prefer crickets). Im sorry i wasnt able to help with this advice sooner. Im also sorry for this haphazard comment(im sure its kindof all over the place) I just joined and am looking forward to reading some nice frog stories and seeing some cool pics. Im currently renovating my 30 gallon so maybe ill have pics soon too best wishes
Ace

[Sandy Bear]

Hi Ace! Thank you for commenting.

I do plan on getting another Budgett's frog in the future, or a few of them. Next time I do, I plan on having a Canister Filter attached to the tank. I will get the tank drilled to accommodate a Fluval 105 or 205, or if the new '06 model is out, then one of those. These filters cost around $100-150. There is a plumbing specialty shop that has sells all the extra bits and pieces to do this, which will be an extra $40-60. Believe me, "next time" the tank will be set up better.

I have never seen or heard of an in-line heater before. So I looked it up. They look very interesting, and I will inquire at the pet shop if they can get those in. The model I checked out was by Hydor, and I think I've seen a few Hydor products at the pet shop.

I am not in the habit of force feeding any of my frogs, but I felt that she was emaciated and needed to eat something. It's been my understanding that the only time force feeding is acceptable is when it is a "last ditch effort" in order to save the frogs life.
I should have just put her back in her tank and tried to have fed her that way, it may have gone better, but you know what they say, hind-sight is 20/20 .

I try to only feed feeders that I breed at home. I bought a frog a couple of years ago and she was badly sick with parasites, she is all better now, but I worry that they can get sick from contaminated food sources, and I feel more comfortable knowing where their food is coming from and what their food has been eating. I do still buy crickets as I have a few fussy animals that won't eat anything but crickets. This fall I started a colony of "pill bugs". I think I managed to find about 8 bugs all together, but I have a bunch of tiny little babies running around their bin. It will probably be two years before I have a large enough colony though to start feeding them out.

I am re-doing Bridget's tank for my Leopard Frogs. I got some "frog-poles" from one of the pet shops in town this summer, they came in with their goldfish order.

I am interested to know about your Rupert. Is he full size? Is he sexed? And what is his weight? It is always wonderful to hear "nice" frog stories, as there are so many sad ones. You should take some progress pictures of your tank and post those. I always like posts like that, the ones that teach you new building techniques.

[aceras624]

sooo I happen to have an extra Eheim 2217 classic if youd like it. Its just been sitting here. I own an aquarium service company so I often find myself with extra "things". Eheim is a much better quality product than fluval(no affense if youre partial I was keeping it, waiting for a clients filter to break down but they never do! I guess thats a good thing but let me know if youd like it.
As for drilling, I usually drill my own holes with a Dremel and diamond bit and a nice flow of cool water in the bath tub. I drill a bunch of holes after marking the size for the appropriate bulkhead and when the center falls out, i grind the circle smooth with a stone sanding bit. I find it fun, but LOUD, so earplugs may be needed
The heaterI have is a hydor. I got it from foster and smith for 50 bucks. it works great so far so id recomend them(especially since noone else makes them yet
I love the idea of breeding food animals at home but its just too much for me. I have 2 reef aquariums and Ruperts tank.
As for Rupert, Im still somewhat new with him. I used to have maybe 10 different arrow frogs back in the day and couldnt help but take Rupert home when I saw his pathetic little legs sticking out of what seemed to be just a mouth! these things are so cool!! Ive always been pretty good with animals and seem to be doing well with him so far. I dont know how to sex him but i guess Ill study a bit to find out how Ill have to take some pictures. Ive hit such a road block as to what to do with his tank. being in the aquarium industry and being very handy. i can do just about ANYTHING to it so the possibilities are endless, which is why i have the problem to begin with! Im working on how to make a stoney backround with real stone. ill need to figure out if limestone will make the water too acidic. maybe i should take a pic of this drawing i just drew up and see some opinions. hmmm

[aceras624]

btw hes just about 100 grams hes a pretty fat little froggle

[Sandy Bear]

At the moment, I am partial to the Fluval Filters. We have two of the 405 models, a 105 and an FX5. The FX5 is on our South American Cichlid/Arowana tank and one of the 405's is on my work tank. The other 405 is not being used at the moment, and the 105 is for my dart frog tank (D.auratus) that is sitting in pieces waiting to be assembled. Our local pet shop doesn't carry Eheim products for whatever reason, but it's something that I would look into getting some day when our Fluvals die on us.

You should do something with that extra filter! Get some of those Suriname Toads, "Pipa pipa". They are an aquatic frog, and very unusual looking, they are flat, have long fingers and have a prominent "T" mark across their chest. They basically look like they have been run over and had an autopsy done and the coroner stitched them back up. Very neat aquatic frog, I would love to have some of those in my collection one day.

When I do go about drilling the tanks, the first one I am going to get done at a glass cutter in town. They charge around $12 a 1" hole, but it depends on the size. I checked out some drill bits at our local Home Depot, and they had one or two diamond drill bits (larger ones anyways), and I think that they started at $50 each for about a 1" size.
I'm not exactly sure what size I need, so that's why I'm going to get it done there for at least the first one.

[aceras624]

as for the pipa pipas, WEIRD! hahaha... most LPS's dont carry Eheim. Theyre a high end brand that doesnt sell too well in america except amongst more serious aquarists(hope that doesnt somehow sound condescending
thats a great price for drilling holes. Id probably use the guy if he was local to me! they charge like $50- $75 here! for the size, just measure the outside diameter of the bulkhead/s you plan on using for the pipe size. most of them also come with a sticker that has the dimensions on them. these are the ones I use
Slip Bulkhead Fitting Kits

[Sandy Bear]

If you are interested in breeding feeders at home, but aren't able to "baby sit" them because you are busy, there are other feeders out there that require little care/effort.

Vermicomposting worms, such as Red Wrigglers (small worm) and European Nightcrawlers (medium worm) are great choices. I feed these to my frogs and my cichlids and they love them. I keep them indoors at room temperature in Rubbermaid tubs. They are fed paper/cardboard and table scraps (like bread, veggies, fruits, used coffee grounds/tea bags, etc...). I feed them maybe once every two weeks, and I change out their bins maybe every 6 months or when it is getting full.
The other up side to them is that they make the BEST all natural fertilizer and you are doing something good for the environment. You can also make some money off of the castings. The red wrigglers breed pretty fast too, they will double their population every 90 days. I'm not sure how fast the European Nightcrawlers breed, I've only had them for a couple of months.

My pill bugs are doing well too, I only feed them fish flake food and rotting lettuce, and I make sure that their substrate stays wet. My colony is starting to take off, I noticed a new batch of babies last night. I probably only check on these guys once every 2-3 weeks. I'm keeping them in a sterelite shoe box at the moment, but I think I might get them a bigger tub eventually.

Mealworms are also really easy to breed, not my favorite feeder but they're good to have as a back up. I think I neglected my colony for almost a year, and there was still lots of mealies alive. I am taking better care of them now, but they are tough little guys.

Roaches are also great feeders. They like heat and you have to make sure that they don't run out of food or water as some species will cannibalize each other or their young. A cat/small dog gravity fed feeder filled with water gel crystals and one filled with food like cat/dog food, dry cereal, chick egg laying mash, etc..., would be a good way of making sure that they don't run out of food.
Dubia is a good starter roach and comes highly recommended by many keepers. They are very nutritious, they don't bite, they don't smell, they don't climb glass/smooth plastic, they don't make noise, they also don't run fast like pest roaches do. Females give birth to 20-30 nymphs every month. Tubs should be cleaned out once every 6 months or so.

Cardboard egg carton is a must have when breeding feeders. You can buy the large flats on line, but you can also get these from restaurants. Anywhere that serves breakfast or bakeries will have tones of these, and will probably appreciate people taking them off of their hands, that way they do not take up space in their dumpster.