Good feeder insect in addition to cricket?

[Crystal6]

I'm looking for something I can breed besides the house cricket for a White's Tree Frog. I don't want my froggy to be lacking a balanced diet but where I live it is cold for very long periods of time and the nearest insect-selling store is quite a few hours of driving away. (I do have calcium supplement and gutload.)

I'm not usually squeamish about insects except for things involving the Diptera Order. (Only exception might be the dragonfly.)

Any suggestions?

[Kurt]

Cockroaches.

[John]

Dragonflies are not Diptera, they are Odonata.

[Kevin1]

Like Kurt said, Roaches are a good choice.
They are very nutritional.
Very easy to breed.

[Crystal6]

O_o Cockroaches? Really?

Hm...


Uh... it only appears to be better then the cricket by its calcium. (And if I use calcium powder it's probably not that big a difference) and it has more than double the fat. I'm probably missing something so please don't think me rude for asking... how's it better?

[SludgeMunkey]

No noise. No stink. Most species are much easier to farm than crickets.

And just like crickets, a properly supplemented feed and dusting makes them viable staple diet items. Personally, I find roaches superior to crickets.

[Crystal6]

No noise. No stink. Most species are much easier to farm than crickets.

And just like crickets, a properly supplemented feed and dusting makes them viable staple diet items. Personally, I find roaches superior to crickets.

In that case I guess I'll just stick with the crickets. (I was just wondering if i needed some other species. I wouldn't want my froggy to have an unbalanced diet living on only crickets.)

[Ebony]

What about Locusts. They are easy to breed, they don't smell and make noise. Here I don't use lighting as they just need a bit of sun. Their breeding cycle may not be as fast as Crickets though, not sure. Just a thought.

[Crystal6]

I live in the USA. I read I can't have locust here due to their plague like capabilities.

I probably COULD breed grasshoppers hypothetically but they sounds a little difficult due to their tendency to jump up very high and possibly hurt themselves in the process by hitting their heads on the top of the cage. (I also don't understand fully how they breed. Perhaps I've never seen a female grasshopper or I just didn't notice the tail-like thing they have.)

So if I were to go through all that effort of capturing the grasshoppers and breeding them and such, I'd have to know if they're much better then crickets or if the difference is only slight. (Once again I just want to make sure it has a complete diet. If they'll be okay with just crickets I guess I'll just do that.)

[Kevin1]

Also the cockroach species listed is the american cockroach.
Not many people use them as feeders.
And I imagine different species have different nutritional values.
Not to mention roaches are a much better feeder insect if your gutloading.
Good luck finding your insect.

[cgpetey21]

How big is the risk of escaping cockroaches? Are all species of cockroaches as adaptable as the american cockroach (or whatever kind of cockroach does so well in US)?

I guess what I'm really asking is this: If I use cockroaches as feeders, will my house be infested with cockroaches? Obviously, this would be less than ideal.

[John]

There are cockroaches and cockroaches. As far as I'm aware, there is only one species of cricket sold in the US as a feeder, 2 species in Europe and I'm not sure elsewhere. There are many different types of cockroach, with variations on the nutrition info you've posted and different chitin:meat ratios. Unlike crickets, it's hard to pigeon-hole cockroaches, not to mention that I doubt anyone would feed an American cockroach to their pet.

[Crystal6]

There are cockroaches and cockroaches. As far as I'm aware, there is only one species of cricket sold in the US as a feeder, 2 species in Europe and I'm not sure elsewhere. There are many different types of cockroach, with variations on the nutrition info you've posted and different chitin:meat ratios. Unlike crickets, it's hard to pigeon-hole cockroaches, not to mention that I doubt anyone would feed an American cockroach to their pet.

In that case it would be hard to shop for a good companion to the crickets. (Speaking foodwise not habitat wise) Unless someone had the nutritional values written in bold print on their sign. XD

So my question now becomes...Is it safe to raise a frog only on crickets provided they have calcium supplement and the gut load first?

[Kurt]

The simple answer is yes.

[Tom Highum]

Also cockroaches like dubias cannot climb glass so with them there is usually not quite the risk of an infestation.