2 years without using supplements

[vince]

Fist of all the article on culturing crickets is excellent, it was reading about feeder insects gut loading supplements that I had an idea to try and keep my stuff without gut loading or supplements and I have had no problems. My main food stuffs are maggots then the flies they turn into ,waxworms, lesser wax-worms ,roaches banana,dubai ,surinam cave, fruitflies and beanweevils.Other foods used but not as often bloodworm the red larvae placed on damp kitchen roll will be taken by many small frogs even my poison arrows if the larvae are kept in a shallow dish they turn into midges loved by tree-frogs,midge larvae from my rain water butt in shallow water dish turn into midges Mantids some times I have a couple of egg cases that hatch at the same time so I feed one lot to my frogs.Free food aphids worms slugs grasshoppers moths bugs foliage sweepings.I try to put a lot of my stuff out side in the summer, my tree -frogs are in a south facing vivs and will spend hours sat in the sun they become a vivid green. Go to bug shows and pick up net cages they are great for tree-frogs and can be hung up outside with a bit of foliage in. Give it a go

[Greenlove]

So, you have never used a multivitamin or calcium supplement to dust your feeders? I was wondering about that, because I didn't know if it was necessary to use that stuff. I figure, if you give a varied diet that they would be ok without all the extra stuff. The jury is still out whether or not I will use it, but it's nice to know that there are people not using it and it turns out ok.

[bshmerlie]

Although I agree that a varied diet is by far the best way to go not many people have the time or simply the desire to culture that many food items for our frogs. Also it should be clarified that not all tree frogs should be hung up in a mesh container and kept outside for the summer. There are alot of new members who may unknowingly put their Red Eyes outside in Palm Springs in the summer time to come back in a few hours and find dried up frog raisons instead. I would only suggest an outside enclosure for the very experienced frog owner or when someone is keeping frogs native to that particular area and again only under certain monitored conditions

[bshmerlie]

Just one last point I would like to make...Sorry to be so long winded about this. But everytime I post something I always think about "what if" a brand new frog owner read this post what would they walk away with. If you google "net cages for frogs" this post comes up and tells people to "go to a bug show and pick up net cages, great for tree frogs and hang them outside". That kinda scare me. They may not do anymore research beyond that. Thus the desire to clarify.

[vince]

Just one last point I would like to make...Sorry to be so long winded about this. But everytime I post something I always think about "what if" a brand new frog owner read this post what would they walk away with. If you google "net cages for frogs" this post comes up and tells people to "go to a bug show and pick up net cages, great for tree frogs and hang them outside". That kinda scare me. They may not do anymore research beyond that. Thus the desire to clarify.

You are missing the point the idea is to use your initiative , what are flexariums but on a big scale , if people are reading this posting then they are researching for ideas. you can hang net cages inside as well but the point is to try and give your animals the best you can afford.No matter how good fluorescent tube is it wont beat exposure to the sun for a short while.Do give people out there a bit of credit they are not morons who have to be spoon fed every step of the way

[bshmerlie]

You are missing the point the idea is to use your initiative , what are flexariums but on a big scale , if people are reading this posting then they are researching for ideas. you can hang net cages inside as well but the point is to try and give your animals the best you can afford.No matter how good fluorescent tube is it wont beat exposure to the sun for a short while.Do give people out there a bit of credit they are not morons who have to be spoon fed every step of the way

I do understand your point and I agree with you in the "right" circumstance an enclosure outside woud be fabulous. But what you did not understand by my post was that I felt it was of upmost importance to add some "Clarification". When you say "tree frog" (which ones) and outside in the summertime (which parts of the country or world). And also you don't mention that it would depend at all upon the temps or humidity outside. If I'm not mistaken many parts of the world had extremely hot temps this last summer and sticking their frogs outside would not have been a good idea for a lot of people. Now there are many places, for example, Florida or many parts of the South, Washington, New Zealand, Austrailia, of course any country in the tropical regions, that would do great with an outdoor type enclosure as you suggested. Assuming it is the right species of frog for that climate. "Clarification" was my only point.

[vince]

Yes I know what you are saying in England we dont have any tree frogs native to us but people I know keep various ones outside in greenhouses all year round. I have kept Whites t-frogs outdoors in a flexarium for a few weeks during the summer you just have to use common sense fill them with plants and put a water dish in they can look quite good. You cant spoon feed people all the time. Give them an idea of what they can do .You're going to be 2 buns short of a picnic, if you want to put your frogs outside at 90f in full sun with no shade and no water

[vince]

So, you have never used a multivitamin or calcium supplement to dust your feeders? I was wondering about that, because I didn't know if it was necessary to use that stuff. I figure, if you give a varied diet that they would be ok without all the extra stuff. The jury is still out whether or not I will use it, but it's nice to know that there are people not using it and it turns out ok.

I used to, but have you tried dusting pin heads or fruitflies the small ones you end up with more powder than creatures going into the viv, so I try to use aphids foliage sweepings and little things I can culture myself but without constantly using the same things for feeding you can culture a lot of stuff in sweet jars and it adds to the fun.A lot people constantly use crickets without ever changing ,I wouldn't have thought that my poison darts would take bloodworm but they do it is amazing what frogs and toads will eat,the bigger the variety the better the animals. I still use crickets but they are not my main food item and I try to use them maybe once or twice a month at most.