Cold and feeder problem

[UncleChester]

Have you tried looking online for nightcrawlers? You can try breeding them as well.

How cold are we talking in the shed? I've kept house crickets at around 10-15C with little problems, but there was no breeding going on at those temperatures. Too cold will kill them, but I'm not sure just how low they can handle. If you hope to breed outdoors in your shed you can set up a little insulated box with a 40 or 60 watt bulb as a heat source.

If you can get it past your housemates, I'd also suggest you keep a mealworm colony going. A little one in a shoe box sized tupperware container would suffice. They aren't a good staple food, but a small colony of them is really easy to maintain and good to keep on hand as occasional feeders or in case of a temporary food shortage (hence a small colony is fine).

[elly]

The shed's pretty well insulated and I could bring the boxes in if it got seriously cold as long as they don't smell. (Though I'm not so sure dubias in the house would be accepted at all.)

I don't really need that many bugs for one (maybe two) frogs, but if I had car trouble for longer than a week right now I'd have to resort to wild insects.

I'll look into mealworms. I haven't considered them before because of impaction risks.

Edit: Nightcrawlers could work though, didn't see that earlier. Not a bad idea.

[Xubby]

If smell is an issue, just go ahead and cross off crickets. They take a lot of space and while they smell isn't overpowering, it's downright unpleasant. I think people underestimate how much space and work it can take to keep a cricket colony going.

Dubias are awesome, but expect to spend a pretty penny if you want to start feeding from your colony right away. Red runners are another option, but are almost TOO prolific and suffer from the whole "box of cockroaches" issue in a way dubias do not. They're great feeders, though. If you can't do a roach species, I think Brian is right on track with the worms approach.