Quote Originally Posted by Elsie W View Post
Is it harmful to feed flightless fruit flies to my frog directly on the substrate? I've read other places substrate can cause impaction if consumed. I'm using compressed coconut fiber as his substrate.
My opinion on substrates in general is that they're too hazardous to make them worthwhile. I tried a few before determining that they're not necessary, but I have Gray Tree Frogs which makes substrate less necessary to begin with. If you can find an otherwise harmless substrate that they can't inadvertantly ingest go for it but if they aren't burrowers they're probably better off without it.
When I kept native Toads a long time ago, I just used the local soil so they could burrow into it. It started out at least halfway up the tank and I put moss-covered treebark slabs on top of it. They never had any problems eating the dirt as it was slightly packed on top aside from where they burrowed and they stalked and ate on top of the mossy bark slabs most of the time. I maintained them without any health problems for a little over 10 years then released them around the house and tracked them for about 4 more years.
KP