WTF Feeding strategies

[zoiiy]

Hi all,
i currently have 8 whites tree frogs and I'm wondering how does everyone feed them. I've had frogs for ages and when I had just that one, I would hand feed him and he did great. Obviously with 8 now, it's a lot different. I've tried to:
1. Remove them into a separate container to eat. That is not working well as they seem stressed to be removed and don't eat much anyway. Judging from my old one who ate quite a bit at each sitting, these only eat one each at the most.
2. Letting the crickets go in the vivarium was also a bust as they tend to hide (I have a lot of deco) and died and stank it up. Not to mention the live ones burrowed through the foam background. Also I want to know who has eaten and who hasn't. They don't come out to hunt, and I don't know why!
3. In a bowl which solved the dying crickets and accidental bedding ingestion but then I don't know who ate how much too.

So what does everyone else do? I see so many YouTube videos where the frogs come out to hunt but mine just hides the whole day. Maybe I should switch off the lights to fool them and then feed when they come out?

[elly]

I'm not sure how to separate them effectively. You could remove every frog except one and feed that frog in the cage, then continue switching them around. They'd still be stressed, they still might not eat but there might be a greater chance of them eating in familiar surroundings. You might even have to permanently separate them into smaller groups in different tanks so they could all have a better chance of getting crickets.

With that many frogs in one tank you're probably going to have to hand feed. Yet if the frogs are skittish it's probably going to take a while to get used to you. You can do little things like leave your hand in the tank and sit there quietly, but it's still likely going to take a while. Permanent or temporary separation into smaller groups seems like the best solution to me.

[irThumper]

You're trying to feed with the daytime lights still being on? There's one of your problems. I have done bowl feeding, loose feeding, and hand feeding, but whatever method I almost never feed my frogs until the lights are out, the red nightlight on, and the frogs wake up and come out to soak and be ready for nom noms. My current schedule is lights on 7 a.m. and off 7 p.m., and that works best for me as I have time for everyone to wake up, become active, and be fed before my ideal bedtime at 11 p.m.

I have very simple setups with either a bare bottom tank (not my ideal), paper towels, or reptile carpet. Décor consists of everything easy to clean and disinfect: Square short glass (thick) containers with rounded corners (think they originally held a candle) to make a "hide" and a sitting shelf when placed on its side, one or two 2.5 gallon aquariums (INSIDE my Exo-Terras) for second level sitting shelves that give living space inside when sitting on end or on their side, white PVC fittings make hides the frogs love, and of course soft plastic aquarium plants (the realistic looking kind). That being said, if crickets get loose it's usually easy for the frogs to track them down, but if they don't I can just as easily move things and get the crickets out myself.

My WTFS (5 of them) usually hand feed, though I will occasionally turn the crickets loose so the frogs will get some exercise hunting them down. Average is 2 small-medium crickets for my smallest WTF and 4 mediums for the others every other day. My two Milk frogs will bowl feed but they seem to prefer being waited on, and will sit staring into the bowl, doing nothing, until I open the terrarium door, then they look up and often crawl or hop toward me until I feed them 4 medium crickets by hand. Spoiled froggies, lol. I also alternate crickets with waxworms, dubia, butterworms, and they have also eaten hornworms... the Milk frogs do NOT like the butter worms or roaches though.

[zoiiy]

I think it's cos I have them in the living room, so I don't have a proper day/night cycle as I suppose I should. Maybe I shall take that into consideration, and have the lights off before releasing crickets into their enclosure? I do have a lot of plants for them to hide as I have so many, and I feel it reduces stress if they can get away easily from the others.
My first ever frog was solitary and he never hid, was always hand fed cos he accepted it very well.

[elly]

I think a day/night cycle would help signal to the frogs when they're about to be fed. Although my frogs sometimes come out with the light on, they seem to know when the lights in the tank are about to go off and they come out maybe about an hour before. It's a signal that there's about to be food.
Mine don't seem to mind other lights in the room being on as long as the ones in their tank are off.