Survey of live food use - for conservation research

Hi everyone

I would be very grateful to anyone who would complete this questionnaire – the results will go towards ex-situ amphibian conservation research at the University of Manchester, where I am just starting a PhD.
In many respects, the 'amateur' (I don't like the word, really) community of amphibian keepers has more experience with a broad range of species than the zoo community, which are limited to a smaller range of species (although the ones they keep can be used for direct release) and, until recently, haven't really bothered with amphibians. I want to involve both communities in getting information for my research and so would be very grateful for any input, such as answering this questionnaire.

1. Which invertebrates do you culture to feed to aquatic amphibians?
2. Which invertebrates do you culture to feed to terrestrial amphibians?
3. What do you use to feed your cultures of each species listed above as a basic food? (E.g. bread to feed white-worms)
4. Do you gut load any of the above, and if so, which nutrients do you gut-load (i.e. calcium, carotenoids, vitamins etc.) and what foods do you gut-load with?

Thanks very much

Chris

Well I use black crickets usually to feed all my fire salamander, fire bellied newts and fire bellied toads. I've used brown crickets before, and occasionally I give my toads and salamander waxworms as a treat (but not too often as to get obese).
Also use bloodworms for my newts as a treat, they like those.

I feed the crickets a variety of vegetables and fruit and grains, anything from potato to oranges to carrots and corn.
Don't usually need to feed the waxworms as they're gone pretty quick.

I sometimes gut load with a multivitamin, and every few feeds I dust the crickets with calcium.

Best of luck with your research.

1. Daphnia [also whiteworm, waxworms]
2. Fruitflies, whiteworm, (lesser & greater) waxworm
3. Daphnia: gram flour/yeast/spirulina
Fruitflies: fruit waste
Whiteworm: oatmeal
Waxworm: oatmeal
4. No, though I do add a multivitamin supplement to culture media, and I hope that the spirulina has some effect on carotenoid content of the Daphnia.

On the subject of carotenoids, I've been researching this recently, and my notes are at:
Carotenoids and amphibian colouration
if anyone's interested.

Thanks to both of you for your replies, they are very helpful.
The carotenoids page is very interesting, Caleb -thanks, and sorry I couldn't get that paper for you, again...

C

1. Which invertebrates do you culture to feed to aquatic amphibians? Daphnia, earthworms, grindalworms.
2. Which invertebrates do you culture to feed to terrestrial amphibians? Drosophila, bean weevils, woodlice, springtails, earthworms, waxmoth larvae.
3. What do you use to feed your cultures of each species listed above as a basic food? (E.g. bread to feed white-worms) RedyBrek.
4. Do you gut load any of the above, and if so, which nutrients do you gut-load (i.e. calcium, carotenoids, vitamins etc.) and what foods do you gut-load with? No, rely on the RedyBrek & dusting for Drosophila (Nutrobal).

1. Which invertebrates do you culture to feed to aquatic amphibians? Currently none. In the past I have cultured Daphnia magna and D. pulex, as well as scuds
2. Which invertebrates do you culture to feed to terrestrial amphibians? Currently none. In the past I have cultured white worms.
3. What do you use to feed your cultures of each species listed above as a basic food? (E.g. bread to feed white-worms). Usually wheat bread, occasionally oatmeal/carrots.
4. Do you gut load any of the above, and if so, which nutrients do you gut-load (i.e. calcium, carotenoids, vitamins etc.) and what foods do you gut-load with? I dust my earthworm containers (which I do not culture myself) with powdered egg-shell calcium.

Thanks very much for the input!

1. Which invertebrates do you culture to feed to aquatic amphibians? Earthworms, whiteworms, daphnia, water louse (Asellus), lesser waxworms
2. Which invertebrates do you culture to feed to terrestrial amphibians? Earthworms, whiteworms, lesser waxworms, drosophila
3. What do you use to feed your cultures of each species listed above as a basic food? (E.g. bread to feed white-worms)
Earthworms – compost bin, vegetable scraps and bread.
Whiteworms - as above, more bread, sometimes soaked in milk.
Lesser waxworms – oats, honey, ready brek, glycerol.
Daphnia – green water, spirulina
4. Do you gut load any of the above, and if so, which nutrients do you gut-load (i.e. calcium, carotenoids, vitamins etc.) and what foods do you gut-load with? Drosophila are dusted with nutrobal.

1. Which invertebrates do you culture to feed to aquatic amphibians? Earthworms, whiteworms, Daphnia, Streptocephalus sp., red cherry shrimp.
2. Which invertebrates do you culture to feed to terrestrial amphibians? Earthworms, waxworms, Trichorhina tomentosa, springtails, whiteworms.
3. What do you use to feed your cultures of each species listed above as a basic food? (E.g. bread to feed white-worms) Earthworms: cardboard, vegetable scraps.
Whiteworms: bread, fish flakes, wheat germ.
Daphnia and Streptocephalus: yeast, Chlorella powder, bacteria.
Red cherries: pellets, fish flakes, dead leaves, home-made vegetable
cookies, bloodworms, algae.
Waxworms: honey, wheat germ, wheat bran, yeast, potato puree flakes.
Trichorhina: fish flakes, wheat germ, vegetable scraps, meat.
Springtails: cultured with the earthworms.

4. Do you gut load any of the above, and if so, which nutrients do you gut-load (i.e. calcium, carotenoids, vitamins etc.) and what foods do you gut-load with? Calcium supplements for the earthworms, waxworms and the Daphnia. Carotenes/Calcium for Trichorhina, red cherries and whiteworms.

Thanks for all the replies!

I assume that everyone who is culturing earthworms are using Dendrobaena species - is that correct?

Azhael -what do you put in your vegetable cookies (or is it a secret recipe )

C

froggy said:

Thanks for all the replies!

I assume that everyone who is culturing earthworms are using Dendrobaena species - is that correct?

C

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Dendrobaena is no longer a valid genus name. The common compost worms are Eisenia fetida and Eisenia hortensis.

Oh, sorry, not much of a secret recipe, the cookies are just dehydrated puree xD. I mix as large a variety of vegetables as i can manage (carrots, lettuce, peas, pepper, brocoli, leak, spinach, etc, and also rice, wheat germ, and some bread) cook them and process thoroughly, then add some yeast and carotenoid/calcium powder. Leave it to dry, break into pieces and into the freezer. My red cherries love it and cluster around to devour the "cookies" as they rehydrate.

I for one use D.hortensis/E.hortensis.

1. Which invertebrates do you culture to feed to aquatic amphibians?
Daphnia (mixed-species culture)
Scuds (unknown species)
Compost worms (E. hortensis)
2. Which invertebrates do you culture to feed to terrestrial amphibians?
Tropical woodlice (Trichorhina tomentosa)
Springtails (two species)
Fruit flies (D. melanogaster)
3. What do you use to feed your cultures of each species listed above as a basic food? (E.g. bread to feed white-worms)
Daphnia - yeast, spirulina, soy powder
Scuds - tree leaves
Compost worms - kitchen scraps of fruits/veg
Tropical woodlice - fish food flakes marketed as color-enhancing
Springtails - baby cereal (vitamin fortified)
Fruit flies - commercially prepared mix
4. Do you gut load any of the above, and if so, which nutrients do you gut-load (i.e. calcium, carotenoids, vitamins etc.) and what foods do you gut-load with?
In addition to the above, I buy commercial live blackworms which I gutload by adding reptile vitamins powder and calcium powder into their soaking water.
And I feed my store-bought crickets with color-enhancing fish food.

1 aquatic food - microworms, white worms, artemia, daphnia, Eisenia hortensis, other earthworms, bean beetles, isopods, cherry shrimp, scuds.

2 terrestrial food white worms, E. hortensis, other earthworms, bean beetles, dwarf tropical isopods, dwarf temperate isopods, fruit flies, springtails.

3 food for inverts. microworms - oatmeal, artemia - hatch and feed, daphnia - green water, fish food, live yeast, E. hortensis - lots of scrap vegetables, zuchinni, watermelon rind, sweet potato, oatmeal, corn meal, newspaper, eggs shells..., Bean beetles - adzuki beans, black eyed peas, garbanzo beans, isopods - carrot slices, leaf lettuce, potato, fruit flies - carolina fruit fly medium, springtails - live yeast, cherry shrimp - fish food and live plants, scuds - fish food, and live plants.

4 Gut load. I rarely gut load. I do dust with Nekton Rep, calcium, and naturose. I rarely use naturose. I occasionally add paprika to earthworm cultures and use it for dusting when out of naturose.

I purchase lots of blackworms for food and occasionally purchase crickets.

At one time I raised 7 types of springtails and about 7 types of isopods. That's nuts. I do raise microworms, walter worms, and banana worms. Fish keepers make the distinction. I think they could all be called microworms. I raise the 3 kinds in case one kind fails.

Thanks for all the replies. The cookies sound interesting!
Jen, thanks for the head up about Dendrobaena not existing any more.

Thank again for replying

Chris

froggy said:

H
1. Which invertebrates do you culture to feed to aquatic amphibians?

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Daphnia, microworms, grindal worms, whiteworm.

2. Which invertebrates do you culture to feed to terrestrial amphibians?

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Whiteworm, temperate springtails (co-cultured with the whiteworm), Eisenia fetida/hortensis.

3. What do you use to feed your cultures of each species listed above as a basic food? (E.g. bread to feed white-worms)

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I harvest daphnia from a pond in my garden, where they feed on a natural diet of algae and other suspended organic particles.

Microworms are raised on a porridge of oats.

Grindal worms, whiteworms and temperate springtails are raised in coconut fibre bedding and fed with rolled oats, wheat flour and small amounts of coarse fish pellets. The cultures quickly begin to smell bad if they're given too much protein.

Eisenia fetida/hortensis are fed with pulped newspaper and kitchen waste.

4. Do you gut load any of the above, and if so, which nutrients do you gut-load (i.e. calcium, carotenoids, vitamins etc.) and what foods do you gut-load with?

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If I don't immediately feed out Eisenia fetida/hortensis after harvesting them, and I'll be feeding them directly to my amphibians, I add some coarse fish pellets to the tub they're in to gut load them. It also marinates them, and makes them more attractive to my amphibians. I rinse the residual pellet mush off of them before feeding them out so that it doesn't pollute the tanks.

If I'm going to add them to tanks to burrow into the substrate and be hunted down over days/weeks/months, I don't gut-load, since it would just end up as extra poop in the tanks, except for the few worms that get eaten straight away.

froggy said:

Hi everyone

I would be very grateful to anyone who would complete this questionnaire – the results will go towards ex-situ amphibian conservation research at the University of Manchester, where I am just starting a PhD.
In many respects, the 'amateur' (I don't like the word, really) community of amphibian keepers has more experience with a broad range of species than the zoo community, which are limited to a smaller range of species (although the ones they keep can be used for direct release) and, until recently, haven't really bothered with amphibians. I want to involve both communities in getting information for my research and so would be very grateful for any input, such as answering this questionnaire.

1. Which invertebrates do you culture to feed to aquatic amphibians?
2. Which invertebrates do you culture to feed to terrestrial amphibians?
3. What do you use to feed your cultures of each species listed above as a basic food? (E.g. bread to feed white-worms)
4. Do you gut load any of the above, and if so, which nutrients do you gut-load (i.e. calcium, carotenoids, vitamins etc.) and what foods do you gut-load with?

Thanks very much

Chris

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1. Tubifex worms, earthworms, daphnia, midge larvae (bloodworms), wild caught bugs, usually small green caterpillars, the species of which I am not aware.
2. I have no terrestrial species at the time
3. I feed my daphnia strictly on yeast, although I am now in the process of switching to a spirulina, yeast, and soy protein powder diet. I will also attempt to culture green water in the future for them.
4. no

Sorry I misread the original post and listed food items I do not culture myself. The only item I culture is daphnia.

Daphnia
cherry shrimp
N.A earthworms

1. daphnia sp.
2. white worms, fruit flies, Eisenia fetid
3.daphnia - greenwater, white worms - cat food and oatmeal, fruit flies - fruit fly medium Eisenia fetida - compost
4. I don't gutload anything