American Bullfrogs - Calcium and Vitamin D3

[Gnag the nameless]

I know, I've already made a thread about dusting crickets, and yes, some of you may be grumbling, but I felt I needed to be more specific. Now, onto my questions:

MBD: The ominous possibility

I currently feed my crickets lettuce/salad and bran, occasionally with cucumber, carrot, bread, and fruit. However, my frogs seem to never eat calcium-dusted crickets. I've little idea why. However, I do have a UVB lamp that stays on for about 10-12 hours daily, giving my frogs vitamin D3. I've done the thigh test [Hard=MBD/Soft=Normal] although I am not sure if it applies to amphibians. Gnag came out fine. As for Bumpy, she hops, and swims as fast as a bullet, so I honestly doubt she has MBD. Gnag will hop sometimes, but not really high. She'll swim, but kind of glide over the water, whilst Bumpy just shoots through the water. I usually don't see her when she shoots into cover, I just see the ripple of water afterwards. Both frogs eat; I rarely see them do it, but most crickets have dissappeared by the morning, perhaps 1/10 have drowned, and another 1/10 escaped into the leaves on the land section.

Now here are my questions:

Do juvenile/bullfroglets need lots of calcium supplements, or would gutloading crickets and keeping the UVB light on regularly suffice?

Thank you in advance

[demon amphibians]

It will suffice, gut loading is better than dusting. They absorbed very little powder. It does help to give them powder but it is not as essential as gut loading. If they won’t take the crickets with powder on them don’t waste your money. Just make sure that you do find something that is high in calcium and vitamin D3 to gut load your feeders with.

[Gnag the nameless]

Thanks for the advice. I will definitely find something high in Calcium and Vitamin D3 to feed the crickets. I'll even begin searching now. Once again, thank you. You've just relieved me of a lot of stress

[Gnag the nameless]

Update: I have placed water-soaked spinach in with the crickets. Is this a good food for the crickets to be eating. I'd assumed it was high in calcium.

[tgampper]

Be careful about high levels of calcium and Vita D3. They can cause serious harm to the frog. Use the calcium supplement about 2-3 times a week if the frogs are mature. Excessive calcium will lead to nutritional metabolic bone disease. Also, many frogs in captivity has hypovitaminosis A(low levels of Vita A) which cause "short tongue syndrome" that prevents the frog from catching its food. Think about using a variety of foods with carotenoids (color-enhancing and good source of Vita A) to gut-load your crickets: carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, spinach, kale and collard greens. There are supplements with beta-carotene which you can substitute for the carotenoids.

[demon amphibians]

Be careful about high levels of calcium and Vita D3. They can cause serious harm to the frog. Use the calcium supplement about 2-3 times a week if the frogs are mature. Excessive calcium will lead to nutritional metabolic bone disease. Also, many frogs in captivity has hypovitaminosis A(low levels of Vita A) which cause "short tongue syndrome" that prevents the frog from catching its food. Think about using a variety of foods with carotenoids (color-enhancing and good source of Vita A) to gut-load your crickets: carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, spinach, kale and collard greens. There are supplements with beta-carotene which you can substitute for the carotenoids.

This is a good post, the main thing to always keep in mind is that a varitey is always best. Try not to only concentrate on one food item. And the list of veggies above are exactly what I gut load my roaches with. My roaches are healthy and all the animals that eat them are healthy. Also you can use oranges, apples, and melon rindes.