Feeding problems - white's tree frogs

[janer1114]

Hello there -

i'm having problems feeding my white's tree frogs. the crickets at the store are the right size when i very first get them, but after a few days get too big for my frogs. (my frogs are so tiny - and inch and a half maybe) also, they have a hard time catching them - so they do not eat as much as they should for being baby frogs. one of the frogs will eat off a pair of tweezers, but the other won't.

is there anyone else who's had this problem? is there something else to feed them besides crickets?

i'm worried because it's been a while and one isn't looking so good. please help!

[ViperJr]

If the crickets grow too big, try buying smaller sizes. I'm quite certain that they can eat hatchling/pinhead sized feeders.

To easily monitor how much they are eating, try adding a glas bowl. The crickets can not get out of it, so you can see if they have eaten or not. A full thread on the topic can be found here:
http://www.frogforum.net/vivarium-te...owl-trick.html

You can also modify a good looking bowl to make it unclimable. I'm quoting my own post in the Valuabe advice-thread.

1. Get yourself a good looking feeding dish (e.g. from Exo-Terra)
2. Get yourself a plastic box
(I used http://www.mathem.se/images/products...l-gb-glace.jpg )
3. Get a glue gun and a knife

Just cut out enough plastic to cover the insides of the bowl with it. It needs to be approximately as high as the glass bowl needs to be (it works in the same way, the crickets can't climb the plastic either). Then just glue the plastic to the inside of the bowl (and be sure it's completly dried and ventilated before putting it back, if you have frogs in the terrarium while doing this), and tadaa! A nice looking, escape-proof feedish dish!

[John]

The glass bowl trick really works. You may also find that keeping them in a small vivarium when they are young will make it easier for them to find food, and should help them grow faster.

[mrk]

My 5 WTFs were also this small and we had the same problem at first. I fully agree with keeping them in a small vivarium at first can help them find their food (we put 2 or 3 each in 2- 10 gal. aquariums with screen lids for a month or 2. Also, we tried the glass bowl trick but it didn't work for me because one of the babies was 'piggy' and would jump into the bowl and eat ALL the crickets. Someone on this Forum suggested 'Spot Feeding' so, for awhile, I would remove my problem eaters one at a time from the tanks every evening and put them in a small Kricket Keeper (with the tube ports closed off) with a bunch of tiny crickets and watch to make sure they would eat a few, then switch frogs. I also put small crickets in the aquarium at night so that they could catch more if they were still hungry while also practicing their hunting skills. This seemed to do the trick as they are all hunting on their own now. They wouldn't always eat in the Kricket Keeper but it made me feel better to at least give them the chance. As for the cricket sizes, I got tired of going to the store that often, but I would buy just a few nights crickets at a time because they would grow so fast! Now we are breeding our own which works much better. Four of our babies doubled their size in just two months and we are getting ready to put them in the hugh (150 gallon vivarium this week). Sadly one died- no idea why. The fifth will have to stay in the small tank for awhile longer- he must be some sort of runt because he hasn't hardly changed size at all and I was worried he would die also. I have now witnessed him catching crickets in the aquarium so I am not spot feeding him anymore, just watching to make sure he doesn't start to look skinny again. Hope this helps!

[janer1114]

thanks - spot feeding sounds good and glass bowl should do nicely - strange the crickets don't jump - i'll have to try it for myself.

the spot feeding may be tough if the one tricky eater won't eat in light . . . but i'll see how it goes.

i bought some mini- mealworms too, thinking they'd be easier to keep in a shallow dish. what do you all think about meal worms for white's tree frogs.

(really helpful to hear about someone's experiences with tiny baby tree frogs!! - thank you!)

[mrk]

You're welcome! This forum has helped me so much, its nice to pass it on! The mealworms sound like a good idea but I've never tried it. Are those the kind of worms you have to cut the head off of first so they don't bite the frogs' insides? I know I've seen that mentioned somewhere, so find out for sure first! Also, I forgot to mention that I had good luck using an appetite enhancer spray (sorta like liquid garlic). It seemed to help some but is hard to find and a little bit sticky, so douse the crickets in a different container before spot feeding so it doesn't get all over the baby frog's skin. There was a recent discussion about this topic as it is somewhat unproven and new. You might search for 'garlic appetite enhancer' and see if it comes up.