Results 1 to 6 of 6

Thread: American Bullfrogs - Calcium and Vitamin D3

  1. #1
    100+ Post Member Gnag the nameless's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Nationality
    [Canada]
    Location
    Vancouver, BC
    Posts
    574
    Picture Albums: Member Photo Albums

    Question American Bullfrogs - Calcium and Vitamin D3

    I know, I've already made a thread about dusting crickets, and yes, some of you may be grumbling, but I felt I needed to be more specific. Now, onto my questions:

    MBD: The ominous possibility

    I currently feed my crickets lettuce/salad and bran, occasionally with cucumber, carrot, bread, and fruit. However, my frogs seem to never eat calcium-dusted crickets. I've little idea why. However, I do have a UVB lamp that stays on for about 10-12 hours daily, giving my frogs vitamin D3. I've done the thigh test [Hard=MBD/Soft=Normal] although I am not sure if it applies to amphibians. Gnag came out fine. As for Bumpy, she hops, and swims as fast as a bullet, so I honestly doubt she has MBD. Gnag will hop sometimes, but not really high. She'll swim, but kind of glide over the water, whilst Bumpy just shoots through the water. I usually don't see her when she shoots into cover, I just see the ripple of water afterwards. Both frogs eat; I rarely see them do it, but most crickets have dissappeared by the morning, perhaps 1/10 have drowned, and another 1/10 escaped into the leaves on the land section.

    Now here are my questions:

    Do juvenile/bullfroglets need lots of calcium supplements, or would gutloading crickets and keeping the UVB light on regularly suffice?

    Thank you in advance

  2. # ADS
    Circuit advertisement
    Join Date
    Always
    Location
    Advertising world
    Posts
    Many
     

  3. #2
    demon amphibians
    Guest

    Default Re: American Bullfrogs - Calcium and Vitamin D3

    It will suffice, gut loading is better than dusting. They absorbed very little powder. It does help to give them powder but it is not as essential as gut loading. If they won’t take the crickets with powder on them don’t waste your money. Just make sure that you do find something that is high in calcium and vitamin D3 to gut load your feeders with.

  4. #3
    100+ Post Member Gnag the nameless's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Nationality
    [Canada]
    Location
    Vancouver, BC
    Posts
    574
    Picture Albums: Member Photo Albums

    Default Re: American Bullfrogs - Calcium and Vitamin D3

    Thanks for the advice. I will definitely find something high in Calcium and Vitamin D3 to feed the crickets. I'll even begin searching now. Once again, thank you. You've just relieved me of a lot of stress

  5. #4
    100+ Post Member Gnag the nameless's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Nationality
    [Canada]
    Location
    Vancouver, BC
    Posts
    574
    Picture Albums: Member Photo Albums

    Default Re: American Bullfrogs - Calcium and Vitamin D3

    Update: I have placed water-soaked spinach in with the crickets. Is this a good food for the crickets to be eating. I'd assumed it was high in calcium.

  6. #5
    Moderator tgampper's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Nationality
    [United States]
    Location
    Bellevue, NE
    Age
    72
    Posts
    1,676
    Blog Entries
    2
    Picture Albums: Member Photo Albums

    Default Re: American Bullfrogs - Calcium and Vitamin D3

    Be careful about high levels of calcium and Vita D3. They can cause serious harm to the frog. Use the calcium supplement about 2-3 times a week if the frogs are mature. Excessive calcium will lead to nutritional metabolic bone disease. Also, many frogs in captivity has hypovitaminosis A(low levels of Vita A) which cause "short tongue syndrome" that prevents the frog from catching its food. Think about using a variety of foods with carotenoids (color-enhancing and good source of Vita A) to gut-load your crickets: carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, spinach, kale and collard greens. There are supplements with beta-carotene which you can substitute for the carotenoids.
    Terry Gampper
    Nebraska Herpetological Society




    “If we can discover the meaning in the trilling of a frog, perhaps we may understand why it is for us not merely noise but a song of poetry and emotion.”
    ---
    Adrian Forsyth

  7. #6
    demon amphibians
    Guest

    Default Re: American Bullfrogs - Calcium and Vitamin D3

    Quote Originally Posted by tgampper View Post
    Be careful about high levels of calcium and Vita D3. They can cause serious harm to the frog. Use the calcium supplement about 2-3 times a week if the frogs are mature. Excessive calcium will lead to nutritional metabolic bone disease. Also, many frogs in captivity has hypovitaminosis A(low levels of Vita A) which cause "short tongue syndrome" that prevents the frog from catching its food. Think about using a variety of foods with carotenoids (color-enhancing and good source of Vita A) to gut-load your crickets: carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, spinach, kale and collard greens. There are supplements with beta-carotene which you can substitute for the carotenoids.
    This is a good post, the main thing to always keep in mind is that a varitey is always best. Try not to only concentrate on one food item. And the list of veggies above are exactly what I gut load my roaches with. My roaches are healthy and all the animals that eat them are healthy. Also you can use oranges, apples, and melon rindes.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Calcium and vitamin supplement together
    By HerpDerp in forum Tree Frogs
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: October 12th, 2012, 11:53 PM
  2. Calcium & Vitamin Supplements Question
    By TeeRiddle in forum Pacman Frogs
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: July 24th, 2012, 04:10 PM
  3. Calcium and Vitamin Supplements
    By HerpDerp in forum Pacman Frogs
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: April 19th, 2012, 03:29 PM
  4. FLUKER'S CALCIUM wth vitamin D3
    By FLUXCORE in forum African Bullfrogs
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: December 19th, 2011, 03:34 PM
  5. Toad calcium & vitamin supplements
    By kueluck in forum Toads
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: November 23rd, 2011, 08:38 PM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •