cricket eggs and baby crickets in tank with RETF

[rej]

Hi, I'm new here...
I have two juvenile red eyed tree frogs. Today I noticed that there are cricket eggs in the moss at the bottom of the tank (exoterra) and a couple of tiny white crickets running around.
Should I be concerned or remove the rest of the eggs? Or can I just let them be and if any survive to adulthood the frogs will eat them?
I appreciate the help and opinions!!
Thanks!

[Rae]

I'd be a concerned personally I have read about putting to many crickets in at once and leaving them can stress frogs. Also will your frogs over eat? or get impacted my moss trying to get them. Not too familiar with Red eyes, as well as what moss you use or how your frogs are used to feeding... so these may not be a concern..

[Heatheranne]

I had an outbreak once too. Mine were in my Eco earth and eventually died due to lack of food. I started using a feeding bowl and don't have that dilemma now.

[GrifTheGreat]

The crickets can become an infestation very quickly. They can bite your frogs too, which will then in turn increase their risk of infection. If you want to culture crickets, do it in a separate enclosure.

[Heatheranne]

I would recommend changing your substrate and moss. Take your frogs out while you do it and run hot water through it, let it sit until they all die. Clean them out. Rinse your plants and then put new substrate in. It's a pain but it works.

Try using the glass bowl feeding method.

[mrzoggs]

funny... i tried breeding crickets for a few weeks and got nothing but fruit flies... :P


not sure of the breeding cycle of crickets, but you should be feeding your red eyes small crickets...And i didnt think they could breed. I would think they would have to be an adult to breed.

I second Grif and Heather. Dont leave crickets running around your red eyes. I would use a feeding bowl. Its simple and effective. PLENTY of plus sides to using a feeding bowl.

[KingCam]

Dump the substrate with all the baby crickets into a tub, add some carrots and some dry baby cereal in a corner. Now you have a bunch of free crickets to raise and feed your frog! Put new cricket-less substrate in your frog tank, and you're done


...I mean, I guess you could kill all the baby crickets instead, but that seems wasteful to me :P I'm all about saving a dollar here and there when I can.

[mrzoggs]

Dump the substrate with all the baby crickets into a tub, add some carrots and some dry baby cereal in a corner. Now you have a bunch of free crickets to raise and feed your frog! Put new cricket-less substrate in your frog tank, and you're done


...I mean, I guess you could kill all the baby crickets instead, but that seems wasteful to me :P I'm all about saving a dollar here and there when I can.

ooooo im liking that idea!!!

[rej]

"I second Grif and Heather. Dont leave crickets running around your red eyes. I would use a feeding bowl. Its simple and effective. PLENTY of plus sides to using a feeding bowl.[/QUOTE]

Thanks so much for all of the advice...
Newbie question alert! How do you get the crickets to stay in the feeding bowl??

[Heatheranne]

Great idea! FYI, baby cricket larvae love warm, moist substrate. Keep some in a corner .

[Heatheranne]

If you get a glass or ceramic bowl they can't climb out .

[lilblack94gt]

How deep does the bowl have to be?

[anderson405]

No dude your fine.. You dont have to remove the eggs or anything let the frogs take care of them.. The frogs will eat them when they are ready.. Red eyed as I read dont indulge themselves so you dont have to worry about over feeding.. The only thing I would look for is if the crickets die and start to mold (they really stink) and they can cause bacteria to grow.. That is the only thing that I would look out for..

[anderson405]

Now I do agree with the feeder bowl but you dont have too.. I have one just cause I want to be sure my frogs are eating.. A glass bowl 2 to 3 inches deep sometimes the crickets will jump though.. but all in all crickets running around wont hurt anything

[mrzoggs]

they sell small glass bowls at the dollar store. at mine, they come in 3 packs or 4 packs. the 4 packs are a little smaller. cant beat 4 for a dollar. I would get small crickets for them, and they wont jump once they are in the bowl. The only way mine get out, is if there is a bunch of calcium powder in the bowl and it gets wet. Then once the powder dries all over the sides its sticky enough for them to climb out. Since you will have 3 or 4 bowls, just keep a clean one around to exchange once it gets dirty...

And he is right, red eyes will pretty much eat until they are full. Im still wondering how you got baby crickets in your substrate. You should be using small crickets and i dont think they lay eggs. I always thought only adults lay eggs and adults are too big for your frogs. I would still change your substrate though. You dont want a bunch of crickets running around in your tank stinking it up. Also, crickets CAN bite your animals. It will cause infection in some cases. Its best not to leave a ton of extra crickets running around... So go the bowl method

With the bowl, it might take them some time to get used to it. I suggest keeping a few outside of the bowl and also some inside. Also, put a piece of driftwood or something next to the bowl so the frogs can sit ontop of it and look down into the bowl. Some people say their frogs cant figure out how to get inside the bowl. With driftwood next to my bowl, i would catch them in there every night chowing down on crickets with calcium powder all over their noses :P

[Heatheranne]

Yep, mine too. That way you can monitor how much they eat and it easy to remove any. I got mine at the dollar store too. No sense in getting anything expensive.