What food for my whites tree frog??

[Clarabell]

Ok so complete newbie!
I live in the middle of nowhere in devon, uk, and unfortunately am limited on pet shops.
I don't yet own my tree frogs I'm currently setting up their home and researching.
Went into my local store to ask advice on food, the people in the shop have no idea about tree frogs or food and so I wrote down what they have and thought I'd ask you guys what you would buy, so here's my choices,
Locusts
Hoppers
Silent crickets
Brown crickets
Black crickets

Is one better than the other or should I mix it up and feed them all?
The store also has wax worms and meal worms and apparently I can order in pinkie mice,

Also they dont sell gut loader or calcium dust so can u rev come d any good Internet sites for these? Preferably uk.

Thank you in advance!

[DonLisk]

Hi ClaraBell
Thanks for doings your research before bring home a new frog :-)

Your Whites Tree Frog will need to have a main diet of crickets. The silent crickets are just wingless and will cause less hate and discontent in your home at night :-)
You need to have crickets that are no longer then the distance between the frogs eyes.
Your also going to need to dust the crickets every other day with a calcium supplement. your pet shop will have this.

You can occasionally provide a treat such as a mealworm (not a fan of unless you remove the head) and earthworms are a common item to give them. Some folks also feed their frogs a main diet of roaches and many of the food items can be mail ordered if your having trouble getting them.

Once your frog becomes large enough, a pinkie can be given occasionally also.

[BlueisallIneed]

Crickets only for my White's, I can't do the pinkies. They are too cute lol..My White's been on crickets only for a little over 15 years now..Hes all good, just don't forget to dust them every other feeding with calcium powder!!!

[Clarabell]

Thank you peoples
So it doesn't matter if they are brown/black/silent?
I would never get anything without tons of research, not fair on the animal else

[DonLisk]

Nope, you can use what ever but just keep in mind the size since you don't want to give then things too large to swallow.

I buy the wingless locally for my frogs.

[Kristen87]

Ohmigod... There's such a thing as silent crickets?????????? This info would have saved me weeks of sleepless nights!!! lol

[RAAV]

Ohmigod... There's such a thing as silent crickets?????????? This info would have saved me weeks of sleepless nights!!! lol

you learn new things ech day lol at least your home will not be as noisy now

[DonLisk]

Ohmigod... There's such a thing as silent crickets?????????? This info would have saved me weeks of sleepless nights!!! lol

Hahahaha Yeah, our local shop gets them but places like Petco only get the winged ones.

[GrifTheGreat]

I actually don't mind the sound of Cricket chirping. I lived in the country for the better part of my life so doesn't bother me. The Brown crickets aren't very loud compared to Ohio's native black crickets. They get huge, fat, and have very large heads. A really loud extended high pitched chirp. It would echo through the house. They're a very pretty gloss black too. I always thought they were cute. They're the only cricket I thought was Lol

[Kristen87]

I hate the sound of the little brown ones! On the weekend we caught some massive black ones - probably like the ones you're talking about Grif. Their chirp is louder but I think its a prettier sound lol. May not get them again for a while though, they were a little bit big for my 12month old white's... One of them left the head and two front legs thrashing about out of his mouth for ages (she's not very good at shovelling food in when she misses her target a bit). It was one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen next to the time she ate a Christmas beetle which we thought had been swallowed until she opened her mouth and it tried to climb out like something out of Aliens vs Predators haha.

[Small Pet Feeders]

We like to feed our Red eye Treefrog 1/2" crickets and small dubia roaches. Hydei fruit flies make for an interesting scatter game too!

[Clarabell]

Well I got my tree frogs today, let them settle in and traveled the 16 miles to fetch the crickets and.................... they had none!! all they had were mealworms, so gave them a few meal worms tonight, they seem rather happy with them but tomorrow off to a friends house to have some crickets off him whilst I wait for the store to get some more in stock, which wont be for 3 days.

Oh and want to know the real downer of the situation?? I asked "well what are you feeding the pet store reptiles? Can I not have a few of their crickets? As I have 2 baby Whites tree frogs that really need feeding..." The Girl looked at me and replied "the reptiles have just got to eat the dead crickets in their tanks until we get more"

Yeah so they are being reported in the morning and Il be writing a few angry letters!

[mim]

right ill try again-just did this on my fone for the battery to die before i could post it lol
i feed my whites crickets, mini mealworms (not that they seem bothered by these) and wax worms. u can get all of these delivered by pets at home and even tho they use royal mail they get here pretty quick. theres quite a few sites online that will deliver but u have to pay postage (as with p.a.h). failing that u could always breed them.
u can also feed whites locusts, roaches, i think theyll eat most bugs. i just got some calci grubs for mine today. well have to see if they like them. they seem to prefer crickets. u can feed them earthworms from the garden-make sure no pesticides etc!! these will need cuttin up (hence i have not tried these on my frog, just cannot face choppin up a worm).
tip: when u do buy crickets give them some lettuce or somethin else to eat (lots on here about it) and itll keep them alive longer. saves u using just half a tub and the other half dying.
make sure that whatever u r feedin them that it is no bigger than the ditance between their eyes and that u calcium dust them.
good luck

[Cronopio]

Mim and others, I'm curious that not more of you mention or use Dubia roaches -- from reading, I understand that they are higher in protein to shell ratio? Currently we have Fred on a diet of primarily roaches, with a treat of crickets about once a week or so -- he likes the crickets better because they are easier for him to catch. We like the roaches better because they don't die off so quickly and they don't smell.

Thoughts on the dubias? Is there a downside that I'm overlooking?

[JeffreH]

Dubias are excellent feeders, and most species of roach contain almost identical nutrional composition at a glance (percent protein, fat, etc). Even Madagascaran Hissing Roach nymphs yield similar nutrional data to that of B. dubia and Blatta lateralis, etc.

The problem is, many people cannot keep roaches, have difficulty obtaining them at their location/country, or they wish not to for whatever reason (initial cost, phobia, etc). It is illegal to keep a large variety of common feeder roaches in Florida for example; with a few exceptions like the Surinam Roach or Blaberus discoidalis.

Additionally, some frogs and species that rely more heavely on visual stimulation and movement can be uninterested in B. dubia. They are a slower species, they will bunker down when they feel threatened, and nymphs may even lightly cover themselves in loose substrate. This can be frustrating - I have noted many of the Rhacodactylus geckos do not like B. dubia very much and a friend of mine with a Milk Frog only has success with species like Eublaberus posticus (Orange Head Roach) nymphs, Blatta orientalis, Lobster roaches, and of course, Blatta lateralis (Turkistan Roaches). These are all faster moving species, and tend to have unique coloration as well that entices the animal.

But you are absolutely correct - generally roaches have a great meat: shell ratio, relatively decent calcium : phosporous ratio, and very high calorie from protein content vs calorie from fat. This makes them a very lean and quality feeder all around for most any species of insectivore, but a specific roach species may need to be obtained depending on the needs. Example: Bearded dragons will eat virtually any roach, but my Rhacs will only touch Blatta lateralis, E. posticus, and Lobsters due to movement and appearence.

[mim]

. I did say roaches! iv never personally used roaches, plainly coz I can only just about stand the crickets lol. Plus in not sure how small the smallest R and my froggies R still quite young. I did consider it but I don't think my frogs R big enough yet, plus I gotta find somewhere to get them.

[Cronopio]

. I did say roaches! iv never personally used roaches, plainly coz I can only just about stand the crickets lol. Plus in not sure how small the smallest R and my froggies R still quite young. I did consider it but I don't think my frogs R big enough yet, plus I gotta find somewhere to get them.

Thanks, Mim! Yes, I think many of us would be happier if we could call them beetles

[mim]

Thanks, Mim! Yes, I think many of us would be happier if we could call them beetles

haha I think even callin them beetles I couldn't handle them lol.