feeding frogs while away

[Emg]

I'm going to be going away in a couple of weeks....how long can darts go without eating ? We'll be gone for 10 days. Is there someway to set something up that will allow flies to get out at a reasonable quantity each day, without just letting out a whole bunch into the tank all at once and then have the frogs gobble them all up in one day ?

[pastorjosh]

Frogs (even in a well seeded tank) shouldn't go ten days without food. The best option is to get a neightbor or friend to help you out by frog-sitting.

If that isn't feasible, there are various methods to feed while away. One simple method is to put a culture in the tank (with the lid on) and then poke a pen/pencil size hole in the side of the cup so flies can get out as they please and frogs cannot get in. The majority of the flies will stay in the cup, but some will venture out.

[Cindy Dicken]

Emg,
how many frogs are you feeding?

Are they all in the same tank?

[Dancing frogs]

The age/size/amount of fat on the frog will come into play as well...
A one year old frog that is usually fed very well could obviously go for longer without food (all else being equal) than a newly morphed froglet.
Also a solitary frog usually will eat a little less than one in a pair/group situation, due to increased activity.
Also, plan ahead, and start some cultures before you go away, so you have something to feed them when you get back.

[955i]

Personally, I would be VERY wary of leaving my frogs for that long without someone at least looking in on them. What if the culture you leave in there fails?

If you have a shop near you which you trust that sells PDF's, you could try asking whether they would board them for you while you are away. I know of a few places in the U.K. that offer this service for a range of species.

[Rad3Dad]

You might try setting up some mini cultures(baby food jars?) over the next couple of weeks every other day, if you made one tomorrow, you should see flies buy the time you leave, and the others should be hatching accordingly. You should have a new hatch every other day. You could cover the tops with reg, window screen or something similar to keep the frogs out, but let the flies through.

Just an idea, never tried it though. Finding someone to care for them while your gone wold be best though.

[Emg]

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. These frogs are about a year old and they each have thier own habitat. Letting them go that long without eating isn't something I would want to do so I was glad to read the suggestion about leaving a few cultures in there with them.

I think I'll give Rad's suggestion a try. I do have someone who will come to care for the fish and she can check up on the frogs while she's here. I just didn't want to ask her to have to chase down fruit flies on top of all the fish she'll be feeding....lol....(did I mention, I have ALOT of fish ?)

Black Jungle is the nearest "FrogFarm" around here that I know of and that's about an hour and a half from me.....with gas prices as they are and all........although, I do need some supplies....lol....

Thanks again folks !

[mack]

be careful with putting a lot of small cultures in the tank/s. i know of one frogger who had frogs die because of the CO2 produced by the yeast in fresh cultures which were put in tanks. i have no idea what safe levels are or how to correct for it, but before you put ten cultures in a tank you should consider this. i know that folks put cultures in tanks for vacation, so one culture should not be a problem, but i'm not sure about using a lot of small ones. maybe your 'babysitter' could swap out cultures so they don't all go in the tank at once?

[zaroba]

some fans on vents would solve the co2 build up problem though. woulden't it?

then just need to adjust for heat and humidity.
an extra heat lamp and a small fogger could possibly take care of that.

[Emg]

Wouldn't the CO2 also kill the flies ?? If there was enough of that produced in a culture, I think the flies would succumb to it....no ?

I will consider having my friend change out the cultures...that would probably be a good idea.

[mack]

actually, just last week i made a new culture with too much yeast which killed all of the flies the day i added them, even though i let the culture sit several hours before adding flies. it can happen. and i was more worried about the cumulative CO2 from many small cultures at once.

[Rad3Dad]

Good point on on the co2 Mack. It is something that I didn't think about. They will be about a week or more into production though, and I think the major yeast bloom would have settled down by then? but I'm not positive on how long or strong it is produced.

It would probably be best to make the mini's without the added bakers yeast. The flies will bring enough with them to get the cultures going You should be able to get by with just using about 4 of these per tank? And I was picturing about a teaspoon of media with about 10 flies each. That should produce a lot less co2 then a full size culture would.

Feed heavy up until the day you leave, Time the 1st one to hatch on the 2nd day gone, 2nd on 4th, 3rd on 6th, 4th on 8th. Then you will be home on the 10th day. I would start experimenting on media amount/fly amount to see what kind of production they will yield. You may need to scoop out some of the larva/media, or double up the cultures, before you place them in the tanks, depending on the out come.

[Philsuma]

Yep....high temps, low humidity and CO2 buildup are much more of a "vacation killer" than lack of food.

Large sized adult frogs can easily go 1 week to 10 days without food, provided you give them a good going away buffet before you leave.

Smaller frogs and froglets cannot go quite that long.