First post

[tadpole]

hi john, a greenhouse becomes a necessity as these guys require fairly large pens with very good drainage so they can be hosed down daily. frogs need a very, very clean environment. you simply cannot keep them for very long in glass tanks, unless you don't mind spending hours upon hours of tank cleaning. if i lived in florida, i still wouldn't put them outside without the protection of a greenhouse, due to raccoons, etc.

[tadpole]

i am going to keep this blog going, if for no other reason than to keep track for myself what i am doing with frogs. kind of an online notebook.

i went to the mars herp show in balt md, sept 18 and brought back 2 budgetts, 1 ornata, and 2 albino acf's.

the wierdest thing, i went to show my 16 yo pixie to a new neighbor the next day, and it was missing out of the enclosure! i was speechless as it sunk in the frog was actually gone. i have marauding raccoons which come every night, they are at the top of the suspect list. those dam things can break into everything. i thought my frog was safe as i have used the same set-up for years with no problem. the real weird part is this was on the 16th anniversary of when i got her, at one of the first mars balt. shows. it's a shame, she was doing excellent. (this forum prompted me to take a few pictures of her, otherwise i'd have nothing. you can click on "my albums" to see her.) so if you keep your frogs outside, they really need to be locked up tight.

anyway, these budgetts seem to have doubled their size since then, they almost seem to be adults. i forgot how fast they grow! here are some photos of the newbies:

[Jace]

So sorry to hear about your Pyxie!! I would be devestated if I lost one of my three. I hope you're doing okay.

Thanks for sharing your pictures of the new additions. I hope to one day have a Budgett's frog myself so I really enjoy seeing other members and hearing their stories.

[tadpole]

wow i didn't think anyone else would ever see this thread again. there must be some feature i don't know about that shows all the new posts regardless of how deeply buried they are.

anyway, thanks jo-ann. i do feel sorry for the frog, and have only my own stupidity to blame. it seems a frog will live until murphy shows up. i posted earlier about what happened to my first bunch of budgetts. (they froze to death on the 4th of july.) well, these lessons certainly leave an indelible impression. you just cannot leave anything to chance.

for instance, this AM i collected a half dozen nice big fat black crickets on my walk, fully intending to gorge the budgetts on them. i wanted to try giving them live food as i had justed discussed with another budgetts owner here on the forum.( i normally feed raw beef, but have read negative things about that as a food item, regardless of the fact my pyxie had done well with beef as a staple for all those years) he said he fed yard crickets, and his frog is 14 yo.as i walked along, it occurred to me crickets feed on animal feces as a staple. then i thought what parasites they must pick up from that disgusting habit. then i found myself releasing those crickets back into the brush. why take that chance?. i'll stick with the beef for now, although fish might be a better choice.

anyway, the budgetts are growing like crazy right now, i don't think a little fat makes a difference at this stage. perhaps when they are sedentary adults they can go on a lower fat diet. and perhaps people are prone to overfeed their frogs and that is the problem. i know i let the pyxie go a week or two between meals, and that may be why she was doing so well. it's all a grand experiment for now anyway. someday we'll have everything figured out. or not....

[Jace]

I also give my Pyxies a rest period. Not being active, I don't feel they need to eat as much. They are all doing well and eat when food is offered and molt as necessary, so why mess with a good thing?

Do you not buy crickets? I have honestly never heard of feeding beef. I loved your pics-they definitely looked like happy frogs!! I have yet to come across a Budgett's for sale where I am, but when I do, I will snatch it up in a heartbeat!!

[tadpole]

every frog/salamander i ever had ate stew beef (do remove obvious fat veins), even fire belly toads. in their case, i would use chopped earthworms as a fuse. the toads would gather round the food bowl and feast on the wiggling worms mixed with bits of beef, eating the beef as well. ambystomid salamanders go crazy over a plate of raw beef, as do box turtles. its so rich, you have to be careful of over feeding. i can just take a look and see if the animal is too fat and know when to reduce the meal frequency.

in your pyxies case, simply offer a chunk on the end of a forceps, and blam, down it goes. use very smooth rounded tip as sometimes the animal will bite the instrument. with a little care, you can point it away from the animal and reduce the chances of this.

crickets are a huge mess compared to the convenience of going to the freezer for frog food, although i used to buy 1000/ a month from fluker farms for years when i had my tarantulas and scorpions. i even raised them when my firebelly toads spawned and had dozens upon dozens of frogletts to feed. i had 7 tanks staggered a week apart with cricket eggs so i would have a continuous supply of pinheads.

i would advise anyone who entertains the thought of breeding their frogs to realize it is a very bad idea. they will be saddled for life with frogs they can't even give away(in the firebelly toad case) and can't release in the wild. i didn't breed mine on purpose, it just happened. its best just to siphon away the eggs with the water changes. besides, there is a crustacean they eat in the wild that gives them the red color, which captive bred will not develop, even if you gut load pinheads with color food.