food for pint sized frog

[Bill]

Excuse the off topic question; this site is the best place I know for amphibian info. We just morphed a p. crucifer and I need to quickly move it to its own habitat, before this evening when the hulking 1/2" wood frog comes out for his evening prowl and enjoys the new peeper in all the wrong ways.
This is an extremely small creature, and I do not know how to present it with food. There is a Petsmart nearby.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[katebutton]

I had one morph a few weeks ago- mine has fattened up on fruit flies. They have colonies for about $9 at the petsmart here, and they last a few weeks. I bought one and then started my own cultures using recipes I found online, and I've never had to buy more since.

 

[Mark]

It looks like it's still absorbing it's tail so it may not feed for a day or two.

Fruit flies are you best commercially available option. If you have access to a garden (or yard as you call it state side) you can collect aphids in good numbers at this time of year. If you fancy the challenge and have patience you could even make a pooter to catch springtails and other tiny bugs. There are probably a million and one ways to collects bugs from leaf litter but one option is to put it in a plastic bag, shake it and then carefully remove the leaves. The bottom of the bag should contain any unfortunate bugs which fell out during the shaking. Finally, another option is to get a fine mesh net and go crazy in a field of long grass. After a few sweeps you should have a good selection of tiny insects, although you'll need to pick out the larger ones.

If you keep the froglet in a small container it won't have to travel far to find food.

 

[bewilderbeast]

yes, I just had some Pacific treefrogs morph and they have done pretty well on fruit-flies. I would recommend that you keep him in a small container so that you can monitor his feedings... they are not very graceful hunters at this stage and seem to use their hands as much as their mouths to grab prey... I had the problem of having the oldest and most developed froglet dominate the rest and keep them from getting enough food... so I put them all in seperate little containers with moist paper towels.
good luck

 

[Bill]

Yes, thank you all for that excellent help. We do have a yard, Mark, and you suggest something that may have the added benefit of giving my (until now uninterested) Better Half a way of actually beginning to like my quirky little hobby: she's got an aphid problem on her marvellous roses and hibiscus

 

[Bill]

On second thought, the recent thread on aphids, I noted the pesticide risk. I am extremely stingy with chemical apps in our yard, and we have had enough rain the last few weeks to drown Noah. But we recently had some serious damage to the bleeding hearts because of a drifting 2-4d app from the neighbor; so it is a real risk from other sources outside my control. Cultured fruit flies sounds like the way to go.

 

[Kurt]

You can also buy cultured springtails. Personally I have never seen fruitflies for sale at Petsmart, but I have seen and bought them from Petco.

 

[merk199]

I would start with springtails, while you get your fruit fly cultures up and running. Where in the US are you? That would help us help you....

 

[John]

Call Ed's fly meat and ask them if there's a petco near you that stocks their fruit flies - not all petcos have their flies (labelled "The Fruit Fly Company". The cultures are a little expensive but they would be exactly what you need. I have Gray Treefrog froglets growing quite well on them.

 

[Bill]

I would start with springtails, while you get your fruit fly cultures up and running. Where in the US are you? That would help us help you....

Southeast Pennsylvania

 

[Bill]

It looks like it's still absorbing it's tail so it may not feed for a day or two.

Fruit flies are you best commercially available option. If you have access to a garden (or yard as you call it state side) you can collect aphids in good numbers at this time of year. If you fancy the challenge and have patience you could even make a pooter to catch springtails and other tiny bugs. There are probably a million and one ways to collects bugs from leaf litter but one option is to put it in a plastic bag, shake it and then carefully remove the leaves. The bottom of the bag should contain any unfortunate bugs which fell out during the shaking. Finally, another option is to get a fine mesh net and go crazy in a field of long grass. After a few sweeps you should have a good selection of tiny insects, although you'll need to pick out the larger ones.

If you keep the froglet in a small container it won't have to travel far to find food.

Mark, the pooter looks easy to make, a challenge to use. Patience, yes, and eyesight. I'm well past the bifocal age. Reminds me of one I made years ago to feed my anolis sagrei. Instead of lung suction, I used a shop vac and would sneak up on flies sunning themselves on the wall. Extremely effective in catching flies, my recollection is that the incoming flies achieved hypervelocity were macerated at the intake screen. Back to the drawing board.