What to feed froglets

[acceberbex]

I've taken spawn from our garden pond and have now got a mixture of taddies and froglets in an old guinea pig cage.
I've secured the edges to stop the froggies jumping out..but it also means bugs can't get in (unless they fly down the top). And I can't have any "pathway" leading in, otherwise my froglets can escape. The froglets have 3 bricks as "land" along with 4 slopes of bark/wood, stone pyramids to climb on and upturned flower pots as shade. I've also put some grass and reeds down on the bricks to stop the froggies sticking (had loads dry up the other year).

But what do I feed them? I was thinking ants and small bugs (e.g thunderbugs). I live in England but don't want to buy anything. Any good methods of catching live bugs that I can then put on the "land" for my froggies? Obviously anything that flies could fly out the top but very little will fly in because I've blocked off the sides of the cage.

Currently have an old herb jar with a little fruit in it laying in the garden in some dirt to try and get some ants. They are just frogs out the pond (nothing special) and I'll be releasing them back into the pond when they are bigger (we have fish)

*oh yeh, my froglets are smaller than a fingernail at the moment. So looking for small bugs

[Sunshine]

I think you should put them back where you found them. The food should have been your first consideration before removing the frogs and tads. Froglets that small will feed on springtails. small fruit flies. aphids, etc. Tadpoles eat vegetation and can be fed bits of fresh spinach leaves. I don't know about the housing either... Seems like they may still be able to escape? Not sure. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me will be able to help.

[monster]

You may also want to rethink using ants. Yes I imagine they eat them in the wild but if there becomes to many ants for them to handle they can escape. a lot of ants actually sting you and the bite is only to hold on to the prey. I know you probably would only throw a few in at a time but if you don't know this all female ants in certain species are able to produce babies. Just when they are in the colony the workers and soldiers wont let her lay them, in your tank there wont be a bunch of other ants to stop this from occurring if one chooses to tunnel and lay eggs. And if those eggs hatch they will be hungry and I have owned numerous ants farms of a few different kinds and you would be amazed and what some of these ants will try to kill or kill to eat. And if the froglets are that small a few stings from a soldier carpenter ant or something around that size would probably kill the froglet. Another thing if these are wild caught you have to take into consideration is that they will more then likely be carrying some sort of parasite or something with them and even though they can live with them in the wild once in captivity these things end up getting out of control very fast and end up making the frogs sick. And if you don't want to spend money on food are you going to want to spend money on vets or other things to help them if they do come down with something. I don't say this a lot but I think it may be in the best interest of the frogs if you put them back were you found them.

[acceberbex]

Thanks for the suggestions. They are just common frogs.
Unfortunatly I can't have them seperate since I only have 1 container for them. But the froggies do have lots of land space. It's just the food issue.

I guess I'll have to stick with the fruit in a jar and see what I catch.
Do froglets ever eat dead food? I have frozen bloodworm and frozen daphnia that I give to the taddies.
Also - just now (so within the last 4 hours since I last checked on my froggies) I noticed some black bug things floating around. They are quite thin, have a bobble head with a thin slightly spirally tail (it's straight but it looks like a thread that is spiralling downward). Will my taddies (or better still, my froggies) eat whatever these are?

I would upload a picture of them but for some reason, it wont let me (not a valid image)...http://s331.photobucket.com/user/acc...?sort=3&page=1 (hopefully - 3 photos on there of the setup, the weird black things (bad quality though) and a cute little froglet)

[monster]

Hey, I went back and looked at some of my notes about ants that I had took while keeping them and I just wanted to correct myself on something. The carpenter ant wont sting, when it bites it injects formic acid into the wound to make it feel way worse. So please if you do decide to try some ants you may want to not put to many of these in there, if the froglets are that small and they don't get the ants they will fight back if threatened and if there is a few from the same colony they will defend as a team. I have seen them do it, I put probably a 1 inch junebug in my fire ant colony and the next morning its head was on the ground and they were crawling in and out of it eating its insides. And fire ants sting forsure, that's one of the reasons they are so bad when you step on a nest, they sting and release a toxin into the prey and they release pheromones to attract the others. Im just letting you know this because I know you want catch feeders and don't want anything to happen to the froglets. Even in small numbers some small insects like ants can pack more of a punch then we think. hope every thing turns out for ya.

[acceberbex]

Thank you. I only had 2 ants in there the other day off the grass I'd put in. But certainly worth noting not to put many in at all.

*Update - the black things with the thin tail are mosquito larvae I've decided. Do taddies or froglets eat them at all? Looking online some sites say they do, others say they don't. My froglets spent most of their time out the water now so will they eat something that lives (currently) in the water?

[hydra311]

I might be able to give you a little help on this. It took me almost 4 yrs. but have about got a handle on it. First off, do you know what kind of frogs you're working with? Mine have been Cope's Grey Tree Frogs. So if you're dealing with aquatic frogs it's gonna be different. I have hard shelled plastic kiddie pools set up for my 'guys' (and their girlfriends) water plants and a pump. I let everything be from egg up until the tads get pretty good size but no back legs yet. That when the separation process begins...I use plastic dish tubs and combine a 1/2 & 1/2 mix of the pool water (which has some algae, tadpole food, etc. in it) and distilled water. You don't want to completely disrupt the environment they've been in up to this point. Then, into the tubs they go, about 15 to a tub. I'll put in a couple water hyacinth/water lettuce (they like to nibble on the roots) and some tadpole food with about 3 inches of water. Remove some of the water and add a little distilled water every few days. Then I start keeping an eye out for little back legs starting to pop out. When that happens they 'graduate' into another tub. You will start to notice the back legs getting more prominent and 'stronger' and conversely the tad will go from pretty 'chubby' to smaller and thinner. You will then start to notice what looks like little 'bulges' on the sides of their heads. This is the sign that the front legs are getting ready to emerge. That's when they get transferred yet again into another container. This one is clear (so I can see what's going on) it also has higher sides and I cover it with a screen. (I stapled screen material to a picture frame) It needs to fit pretty securely over the top. I lower the water to about 1/2" and place smooth stones and a shallow dish in the container. Tree Frogs are not great swimmers so when the front legs emerge this gives them a solid surface to rest on. It helps if you let the container have a little 'tilt' to it (not much!!) but enough to where there's a little more water at one end and a little less at the other. After they have all their legs they're gonna start climbing up the sides of the container. They will still have a little bit of their tadpole 'tail'. I usually wait about 24-36 hrs. from this point before I take them out. While they are in this container I continue feeding the tadpole food. When I take them out of that container they go to the 'Nursery'. This is more of a small vivarium. I put in small plants (umbrella plant, jade plant, etc) that I like to refer to as 'trainer trees', a small shallow dish with a small amount of water, and stuff like small 'fairy garden' mushrooms for them to sit on as well. I mist the inside a few times a day and once a day feed them flightless fruit flies. I love them, feed them and look after them for about a month or so then let them go in an area next to the house that has a lot of hosta's (where they like to sit, plus they provide some good bugs) and is next to the woods and a creek when they finally decide to venture off. Last year 130 got released. There are 6 so far in the graduating class of 2015 but I've not released them yet and that's just the TIP of the iceberg!! I would separate the tads from the froglets. The flightless fruitflies are best because they can catch them easily and they are SO tiny. The thing here is...mine are Tree Frogs, so they are primarily 'dry land'. But if yours are aquatic they're going to need a good deal more water. And yes, when mine first 'emerge' they are about the size of my pinkie nail. VERY tiny! Last fall I had 5 that were about a month old and ready to be released when the first 'cold' hit. I just couldn't let them go under those conditions so....from the end of October until the day after Mother's Day Bertha, Lulu, Clara, Bert and Earnie had a nice place to live and plenty to eat. Broke my heart to watch them hop off but as my daughter said..."It's the cirrrrcle of liiiffffeeee". I know this is REAL long, but hope it helps.