Is this normal?

[Guenhwyvar]

i'm watching him closely. What worries me at the moment is I'm going out of state for a week and my mom will be watching him. She wasn't able to see the mites until I showed her the pic. Her eyes are just that bad. I found the source of them is the crickets I got from a petstore I'm now boycotting because of puppymill/BYB deals. The crickets are covered in them. I'll redo his tank again when I get back. He may not be calling just yet because of the stress the mites caused him. He's eating like he's trying to make up for lost meals now. He's loving his earth worms, which is good because I couldn't get my mom to touch the crickets, but she'll catch worms and in the summer katydids. We have a pot outside for the worms. Why not have them benefit our plants then my froggy?^^

[GrifTheGreat]

i'm watching him closely. What worries me at the moment is I'm going out of state for a week and my mom will be watching him. She wasn't able to see the mites until I showed her the pic. Her eyes are just that bad. I found the source of them is the crickets I got from a petstore I'm now boycotting because of puppymill/BYB deals. The crickets are covered in them. I'll redo his tank again when I get back. He may not be calling just yet because of the stress the mites caused him. He's eating like he's trying to make up for lost meals now. He's loving his earth worms, which is good because I couldn't get my mom to touch the crickets, but she'll catch worms and in the summer katydids. We have a pot outside for the worms. Why not have them benefit our plants then my froggy?^^

He's probably so relieved the mites are gone that he wants to show off his appetite Lol! Watch feeding wild caught foods though. They can have fertilizers/other chemicals/and parasites. Better off to buy night crawlers. Rather than catch them yourselves. Or do you mean she will catch them from a store bought container?

[Guenhwyvar]

UPDATE!!!
I went to so cal for a week and left Jr in my mom's care. She was too afraid of the crickets to feed him any of those, but she went worm hunting in her plants(which are in pots). We grow our own worms outside in big pots, they help our plants grow big and strong then they get fed to my big and strong pac^^ He loves his worms now and has even denied his crickets. Mom gave him tap water and let his tank dry out almost completely even though I gave her instructions and showed her all his stuff. He's fine now, but he's not very happy with me. I took him out and gave him a warm soak in treated water. I boiled his tank and got rid of his old bedding, so far the plants seem to be coping just fine after their hot soak too. I needed to make sure the mites weren't in the plants too. I'm using a new coco fiber and I'm not sure he likes it very much because it's not as fine as the stuff before. Those mites were hard to get rid of, if they come back now I have no idea what to do next....
I almost forgot! his weight is up to 2 and 1/8 oz now. When I got him back in August, he weighed less than .5oz

[GrifTheGreat]

I don't think he likes it when you leave him with your mom Lol! That's probably why he is unhappy with you. I'm glad he is doing ok though. You can buy earth worms and night crawlers to use as his staple food source. I use Night crawlers for a staple for my frogs and they won't eat crickets anymore either.

[Guenhwyvar]

He was mad about that >< He stopped eating a couple days before I got back and my mom got freaked. His tank was so dry the soil was drying him out. I had to dump a gallon of water into his tank before it was moist enough for him to feel better. My worms are all natural, not plant food other than worm poop and decaying leaves. once it starts getting dry around again, i'll have to buy them to provide enough food through summer. I was thinking of trying hornworms to add a bit more variety too.

[GrifTheGreat]

He was mad about that >< He stopped eating a couple days before I got back and my mom got freaked. His tank was so dry the soil was drying him out. I had to dump a gallon of water into his tank before it was moist enough for him to feel better. My worms are all natural, not plant food other than worm poop and decaying leaves. once it starts getting dry around again, i'll have to buy them to provide enough food through summer. I was thinking of trying hornworms to add a bit more variety too.

Hornworms are excellent treat feeders. They are extremely nutritious and filling. I bet he will love them. Just make sure he doesn't over eat on them because when I say filling I mean very filling. A mature caterpilar is 4 inches long and as big around as a finger. They can mature in less than 2 weeks.

[Guenhwyvar]

that's what i was thinking. I hate eating the same thing over and over, so I'd like to give my animals different things too. he loves his worms, so they're staying. I found a site that just started selling baby hornworms, like tiny ones and they say if you put them in the fridge they stop growing.