Help with feeding red eyed tree frogs!

[Punkchick]

Tonight was my first time attempting to feed my three red eyed tree frogs and I feel like it was a total failure. Of course crickets ran all over the tank hiding under, and behind everything and burrowing in the substrate. One figured out how to get behind the cork bark background. I don't feel comfortable just putting the crickets in there and walking away, I won't be able to know if the frogs are getting fed or not. I grabbed some crickets with pairs of tweezers and tried to get the frogs interested but they weren't. I think it's because the light was on in the tank, and or my light was on in my room. I'm having some issues because I want to watch my frogs but when ever I turn a light on it's immediately night night for the frogs. or so it seems. They immediately settle in and start closing their eyes. So, crickets ran all over the tank, I have a 24x18x24 tank. I'm a little easily stressed and this little issue of the feeding not going as smoothly as I imagined in my mind has got me pretty driven up the wall. They are pretty new, they arrived yesterday morning. They are adults but they were claimed to be C.B. Any tips on what I can do? Or any reassurance that I don't need to worry? oh and tips on the light issue would be helpful as well. Thanks.

[Cocinecro]

Welcome to the keeping of red eyes. I found them to be kind of a pain at first, but after you get the basics down, they're not that difficult.

If you''re not comfortable with the crickets running around the tank, you could try using a food bowl. Crickets can't climb smooth surfaces well, and for some reason are too dumb to jump out. A small smooth sided bowl will work. It also will give you a better idea on how much they're eating as you can see how many are gone the next day. If you don't want to use a feeder bowl but want to make sure their eating right, there is another very easy way to tell- poop. If you see droppings in the cage the day after feeding them, they're eating.

Lighting your frogs so you can watch them at night is a subject that seems to be a bit of a debate here. Red eyes sleep for around 18 hours a day, and are only active at night. Unless you watch them at night, you'll never see them do anything besides sleep. I personally use the red night lights/heat bulb for nighttime viewing. Red Eyes can't see this light wavelength so they don't know the difference. I've heard other people say to keep them in complete darkness and that the night lights do disturb them. I personally have not had this problem. The red lights work well, you can use the "moonlight" bulbs that are blue, but they don't give as much light as the reds and make the colors of everything in your tank a little strange. I've heard other people have used black lights, but I cannot give any advice on that since I've never used one.

Good luck with your new pets.

[Heatheranne]

Cocinecro is right... A food bowl works great. They'll learn to come to the bowl to eat. Mine is sunk down into the substrate a bit so it's almost level with their ground. It took a few days for them to catch on. I use a black moon light and it never bothers them. The red light I had prior never bothered them either . I get everything ready for the night: water change, misting, crickets in the bowl...then turn the lights out.