Biol. teacher from the Netherlands

[MichielB]

Hi,

My name is Michiel and I'm a biology teacher from the Netherlands. I'm in the process of buying and setting up a vivarium for White's Tree Frogs. I also have an interest in botany so I'm planning to add plants from northern Australia to the tank.

At the moment I'm also researching how easy it is to raise Dubia as a food source and how big/small the risk of infestation would be if they ever got out.

[jasonm96]

Hi Michiel

If you haven't got it already, I'd recommend you get AVS Tree Frogs as it is a great read. Note that in the book it says Whites can be kept without any lighting (UVB), however since then the author has suggest that they UVB is the best source of D3.

It will take a while for a roach colony to be established enough to feed out to hungry whites but otherwise easy to set up. Roaches do best at warm temperatures and with humidity for breeding, however I have found a large roach in my house months after feeding my toad one, so they're pretty hardy. You can keep them in plastic rubs, with a heat mat on the bottom connected to a thermostat, moist coir or moss substrate and some cardboard egg crates, food etc. Crickets are my favourite source of food and will die quite quickly if they don't have access to food, water or moderately warm temperatures.

[elly]

Hi and welcome
It took a long while for my dubias to become ready to breed but they are a good secondary source of food for my two White's. If I had more of them they might be a good primary source. The dubias have been easy to supply with food though.
I had some bugs escape on my back porch, but now that it's winter I've found several of them dead. So while they might survive in a house at least they might not do well outside.

It's true they can't climb well at all but be careful how you feed them to the frogs. Dubias are fast and they can escape easily if you drop them.
I keep my dubias in a plastic bin. I don't have coir or moss on the bottom, but I do have egg cartons for them to hide in.

[MichielB]

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll see if I can find a copy of AVS Tree Frogs at a reasonable price.

Concerning UV(B, or any at all) I hear a lot of contradictionary opinions, none of which seem to be based on comparitative studies. I guess I will provide UV-B. Maybe later on I'll set up a study on the subject.

Crickets were my first choice for food, but I was told that they escape more easily, and they are more likely to breed at room temperatures (in my case 19 deg Celsius or 66 deg Fahrenheit).

[MichielB]

Thanks for your reply. You say you'd need more dubias if you'd want to use them as a primary food source. How many is more in this case? How big would a container/dubia colony need to be to feed two White's?

I was told dubia doesn't breed below 25 deg Celsius (77 deg Fahrenheit); so that would mean the critters could reproduce for +/- 2 months a year in the Netherlands.

[jasonm96]

I'm glad you'll provide it. Most information on UVB is outdated as most people assumed because most frogs and toads are nocturnal, they would not be exposed to it. However, frogs and some lizards such as leopard geckos have thin skin which allows them to absorb a great amount of the Rays in a short period of time. Whereas thick skinned lizards like bearded dragons can handle it for most of the day. Tree frogs sleep exposed on leaves or branches and will therefore be exposed to UVB and so even if they didn't need it should still be provided as good husbandry, to recreate the natural habitat. Truth is there's lots of research to be done and there is going on at zoos but some information now is pointing to a lot of amphibians do use or partly use UVB. Arcadia reptile lighting are very forward thinking and I'm sure you'll read a lot of cool articles on their website or from John-Courtney smith.


Crickets wont escape aslong as you are careful and adults are usually easier to deal with and less likely to, which at one point you'll be using. I doubt you'll be infested with crickets, I've never had a problem and I have loads of crickets.

There are several articles online that will probably advise on how big of housing you'll need for them but with the breeding, just put a heat mat under and it will keep them warm cheaply.

[Shakudo]

Hi,

And welcome
Welkom op het forum!


gr,

Joey

[elly]

Apologies for not replying sooner, the holidays got in the way.

You could put a heat pad or something on the dubias to prolong their breeding.
I'm not sure of the exact amount of dubias you'd need but it would be more than twentyfive adults/ near adults. Ideally you would have more females than males. Also you'd probably need a container larger than 36cm x 25cm