Many Newb Questions

[Malaki33]

Hello Folks,

I am writing regarding the possible venture of being a frogger so I wanted to give you all some background first. I was a very serious Herp person in my day and used to raise and breed snakes...problem is I got married and she is terrified of them and as the result decided to get out of the hobby (I couldnt do it like I wanted to anyway with her being afraid all the time that snakes were going to get her!). For many years I have been looking into frogs and my wife says I can because she has no fear of them and she thinks there "pretty" So I am now trying to decide weather or not I really want too (probably because I only know what i have read), so now it is question time.

1) Is it a necessity to feed fruit flies I have read that they can eat baby crickets?

2) How many frogs should I start with and what kind? ( I live in VA)

3) Now dont laugh but let me ask this my reptiles used to use reptical and other suppliments just like frogs but it was a pain to be dusting the prey all the time so what I started doing was putting the supplimets in there water and it WORKED! can I do the same for the frogs? Maybe put the suppliments into the mist water?

4) do you use lights to warm the tank or stones(Like i did with my snakes) I have heard all kinds of different ideas but am curious to what you froggers think is best?

5) how many tadpoles are you all getting in a year? and what do we feed them and keep them in if we have them?

6) Breeds to stay away from ( i need to know this ASAP so I dont make a mistake)

7) Health issues.....Most common ones you all see

ok thats it for now!

Thanks

[brettlt]

1. See your other post. Baby crickets are OK, but fruit flies are much much easier.

2. I would say start with 2 to 4, depending on species whether or not they are compatible in groups. Two is probably the best answer.

3. Supplementing with calcium w/D3, and multivitimans is not hard at all. Just put some supplement into a container, toss some flies in, shake it, and serve.
This is a link to show a video about feeding. There are also more videos about frog keeping on the expertvillage site.
http://www.expertvillage.com/videos/poi ... nsects.htm

4. Heat stones are not needed. The lights do heat the tanks some during the day. Most frogs like mid 60s to high 70s, so rarely is extra heat needed. Most people keep their houses in this range, if you do not then you can look at things like space heaters, or aquarium heaters if you have a lot of water, but few people use either of those. Most frogs do not like temps below 60, or above 80, so you need to have a plan to keep them in this range. There are many more posts about keeping frogs from getting too hot, then getting too cold. (Unless you are talking about power outages in the winter. I am speaking here from experience last week.)

5. That is a large subject that is very dependent of type of frog. There are many threads about how to handle tad poles. I will not cover it here.

6. For a beginner stay away from pumulios, and most all of the smaller thumbnail frogs. They are more delicate, tend to pickier eaters, are faster, and squeeze through smaller openings. They also tend to be more expensive. Some of the best beginner frogs are Auratus, Leucs, and Tincs in pairs. (I would stay away from the blue Auratus as they tend to be very shy.) There are more good beginner frogs, but these are the most common.

7. I do not have enough experience to really answer this one. I never had a health problem.

I hope this answers some of your questions. Please remember all of my answers are my opinions, some opinions may vary.

Brett

[Avarax]

Expert Village rules! thank you so much for posting a link to this wonderful site I can tell already it will be a go to resource for information.

[talanyth]

From what i have read on the forums, the biggest problem with pfd are parasites. ALWAYS go through quarantine will all new frogs. Get fecal work done and treat as necessary. This helps prevent contaminating all that hard work in your new terrarium and existing collections.