Dusting food items

[oregon newt]

Are crickets the only food item that needs to be dusted when being fed to amphibians? If so, what types of vitamins do they need?

 

[flyangler18]

Crickets and Drosophila (melanogaster and hydei) are commonly dusted with both calcium and vitamin/mineral supplements. What you are trying to acheive by dusting is adjusting the calciumhosphorus ratio to be around 1.5:1. I use Repcal and Herpivite to supplement, but rarely do so with the salamanders as worms form the bulk of the captive diet (they are nearly perfect foods, high in protein with ideal calciumhosphorus ratios). The dendrobatids, however, get supplemented regularly as Drosophila form the staple, supplemented by springtails, bean beetles and various field sweepings.

See: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods2.shtml

 

[robkeulers]

Some of my salamander-friends in Holland had the experience that juvenile salamandra's developped non-functional back legs, probably to a lack of calcium and vitamins. So I dust the red mosquito larvae I feed them too every 2-3 days.

 

[Daniel]

Rob - is dusting aquatic food useful? I thought that the biggest part of the dust would be washed away in the water and gut loading / injection would be the supplementation of choice for aquatic food (what might be difficult for bloodworms).

 

[robkeulers]

I feed the worms to my morphlings on land, there I dust them. On a wet paper towel they stay alive for days, depending on the quality of the food.