Feeding (and plants)

[mpmistr]

Petsmart does carry them, though I've only seen them carry San Francisco brand mysis. It's not as high quality as PE Mysis (smaller shrimp, less shrimp density per cube) but it will do. I actually have to drive 45 minutes to find PE Mysis around here so I'm using the San Fran stuff right now myself.

If you have a LFS they may carry it though. I wish the LFS around here did. You could order it over the internet from Dr Fosters & Smiths ($$$ pricey) site or ask your LFS to carry it if you have one near you.

BTW, when your frogs are small feeding them mysis shrimp directly isn't bad either. It's a really good food to add variation, in nature african clawed frogs do eat a lot of small arthropods such as these though as they get larger they tend to outgrow them as adults (hence why I mix with reptomin).

[reptileszz]

OK, so it is now Thursday. I dont think this frog has eaten since Monday. I have been putting in a couple of reptomin pellets every day and when I come home at night they are either stuck to the filter or sitting on the bottom bloated and untouched. When I offer one on long tweezers the frog gets excited and goes thru the motions of shoving nothing in his mouth. What is wrong with this frog? Does he want to starve to death? I just dont get it. Everyone says what pigs they are... I finally get one that stays in the tank and its the most difficult one to get to eat. Ugh.

I got the shrimp but I really dont want to have to give this thing special food every day. The tank maintenance is time consuming enough. I dont want to have to prep food every single day. How long do I wait him out?

Carole

[mpmistr]

4 days seems a long time for a juvenile frog not to eat, growing frogs should be fed daily. He has to be hungry, if he does not eat reptomin today I would feed him cut up earthworm or try my mysis+reptomin trick.

[rodsboys]

You can try to put him in a small container with food. I have done it in the past with these guys, dwarf frogs, newts, and sick turtles. One he is eating with gusto you can start feeding in his regular tank.

[Jenste]

Actually, this is the time to be tough.

Please try what I suggested and DON'T feed him for a few days. The way you are doing it now, he knows it is available pretty much all day every day so there is no rush to try this "new" weird food.

Do not put food in for a few days.

Also, how large is the reptomin compared to the frog? If too big you should be breaking the sticks or using the smaller ones.

Don't let the food sit there all day. Feed when you are around to monitor then take it out after 15 min or so of him not eating.

I have had to deal with many stubborn frogs and this has always worked for me - - fast a few days, try feeding a small amount, if he doesn't eat then fast a few more days and repeat. These frogs can go a few weeks with out food so 4 days is not really worrying yet.

If you give in now and offer him a ton of stuff again, you are going to have a harder time getting him to eat the sticks later.

[mpmistr]

Try this. It's my bamboo skewer and reptomin method.

It's quite simple, it works with adult and baby reptomin, though I think in your case the baby reptomin would work better (it clumps a bit better).

Here I am taking 4 adult sticks and wetting them in tank water so they clump, I then stick the clump on the end of the bamboo skewer ***NOT THE SHARP END***. Reptomin will usually 'stick' to the flat end of the skewer quite easily. (The baby ones stick better)



Okay now you have a nice clump o' reptomin on a stick. Now my frogs know what's up when I do this, they come to the surface. As you can see below my albino frog is pretty smart and the second I open the tank he's ready to pounce!!



It was too fast to take a picture of but let's just say a half of a second after this picture the reptomin was in said frogs belly and he was a happy camper.

Since your frog is still learning about the magical bamboo feeding stick, you can dip it in the water, move it around near him. Make it seem like prey, movement attracts them, let him see it, move it around in front of him.. he will take a bite. After a few times of this he'll learn that bamboo stick + reptomin = food!

Worked for me, hopefully it it works for you. Let me know if this helps.

[reptileszz]

I think Jen is right, now I have to buckle down and not cave in. It's hard tho. I want him to eat and get big. He is certainly not as fat as he was when I got him (pet store owner said he was feeding fish flakes but I have no idea how long this frog had even been there). He hasnt grown at all. If anything he looks smaller. Of all the frogs to not hop out of the tank, its the one that wont eat. Alvin and Norm were eating like champs. This one is afraid of everything. He freaks out when the tweezers get near him half the time. If I can get the reptomin near him he just doesnt eat it. All of the reptomin from today is still in there completely untouched. Very very very frustrating. I feel like I cant win with these guys. Frogs I love and eat well die on me. Now I am plagued by this one. Ugh. No fun now.

Thanks, will go the tough love route for now but by the end of the weekend if he isnt eating maybe the store will take him back. This is very stressful.

Carole