Emergency Food?

[BlueKiwiOca]

Hey everyone,

I recently ran out of wingless fruit flies for my Litoria aurea froglets/subadults. I've been calling in to various pet stores every day to try pick some up for about three days now. Yesterday I managed to snag their only tub, but the flies haven't hatched from the larvae yet. I feel awful for neglecting my frog's diet for the past few days, but I have tried to catch some from our organic compost heap (failed unfortunately).

I am aware of the risks of feeding wild-caught food (parasites, insecticides, disease etc), but would it be alright to feed my froglets (1/2 to 1" SVL) some chopped up bits of earthworms from our garden? It's not been fertilised or sprayed, and I'm worried about the frogs starving while I wait for the flies to hatch.

They go for anything that moves, including my fingers, so I'm not concerned about them being attracted to them.

Thank you,

Gabby

(Also I apologise if this is in the wrong area of the forum!)

[flybyferns]

Gabby,
You could try small night crawlers from a bait shop / or sport section of a big department store.. (be sure they are not dyed)

What else do you see the compost bin?

[Mentat]

Do you have stores selling small crickets? At your frogs size they should be able to eat the smaller ones after pinhead stage. Can size them same as distance between frogs eyes. If the garden has never been sprayed and you are far from other neighbors you could try to feed those earthworms. Good luck !

[flybyferns]

You could modify small crickets if they are too big, by eliminating some limbs They will still wiggle.
It's very sad though (I'm a big baby)

[UncleChester]

I've been using garden earthworms for a few years. No chemicals in my garden either and I'm far from neighbours. Not all frogs will eat them due to taste. Young enough worms will be very thin and even your 1/2" froglets should be able to handle them without chopping, though thin enough worms can be hard to handle without accidentally splitting. Chopping up larger ones is fine if the froglets will still eat them.

[BlueKiwiOca]

Hey guys, thanks for the awesome answers

Our pet stores at the moment are out of pretty much all food incl. crickets, which is disgraceful. Ordering crickets from the BioSuppliers here in Auckland costs $30 for 40 crickets, plus tax, plus shipping... So all in all about $50. I've had a look in at some fishing shops and none of them sell live bait like night crawlers... It's so disappointing how hard it is to buy food here.

Other insects I find in our compost bin are mainly restricted to ants and gnats, along with the usual big fruit flies. I'm 90% sure our compost is pest proof so the flies haven't been eating decomposing rats or something >.< yuck

Our vegetable garden is pretty neglected and therefore I'm sure there's no spray pesticides. It has been fertilised with sheep pellets and compost at some stage though.

[BlueKiwiOca]

Forgot to add I live in a suburb, and although it's not cramped we have neighbours next door on each side.

[aegillesp]

Can you order crickets online? I order 500 for $20 shipped but I use FedEx for secrecy reasons. With USPS it's about $13 shipped. I get mine within 2-3 days with ordering. I use Flukers but I'm sure you can use others. Just for though.

[aegillesp]

I just realized you're not in the US. you could use the earthworms just cut them up small enough.

[Heatheranne]

Did everything work out? We're you able to find any options?

[BlueKiwiOca]

I fed them each a couple of small earthworms, after rinsing them in de chlorinated water they seemed to enjoy them and a couple of days on they seem absolutely fine.

I've started my own fruit fly cultures so hopefully we won't have that situation again!

[Heatheranne]

I fed them each a couple of small earthworms, after rinsing them in de chlorinated water they seemed to enjoy them and a couple of days on they seem absolutely fine.

I've started my own fruit fly cultures so hopefully we won't have that situation again!

Good to hear .

[Heatheranne]

Any new photos?

[BlueKiwiOca]

Yes, quite a few I'll upload them to an album when I have the time. They're so much fun to photograph!