Alright, so now that I have this tank setup situation figured out, my next question would be feeding procedures. It's easy to look this stuff up on all these web care sheets, but sometimes you just don't know where the information's comming from, and I think its better to get opinions on things like this someplace where someone has had experience raising these ACF's...

I know thru research and videos that once these guys get bigger, they eat anything from earthworms and guppies, to pinkys and crickets. The two clawed frogs that I have are still pretty small frogletts, measuring roughly no more than 1 1/2 to 2 inches from butt to snout, but seem to be eating hearty and growing a gut. My question is this, when is it the proper time to "ween" them off of pelletts and move them into living things like guppies and earthworms which they will have to chase, and will they know to eat something thats moving after theyve been bottomfeeding this entire time? Id also like to know if anyone still feeds their adult ACF's the pelletts and if theyre still effective with the pelletts being so small and the frogs so big.

Any advice or first hand experiences on rasing these guys from froglett to adult, and how to introduce feeding habbits would be awsome.

Thanks in advance, and I gotta say this is quite the Forum!

- Jethro

I think nature would kick in for the hunting thing.

As for food, they can eat whatever can fit between their eyes. So as soon as they are big enough, try them on live prey. What are you going to spend? $1 on a bunch of guppies? Worth a try when they are the right size.

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My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

They seem to take well to the guppies...theres a pet store near me that sells the really little ones since my guys are only an inch and a half to 2 inches right now...I do have another concern though...I wanted to start using the oversized tweezers to start feeding these guys insects and such (theyve never fed on the surface, always been bottom feeders) instead of sticking my whole arm in. But the only kind I can find is the metal ones. I know these guys are HIGHLY sensitive to metal and im not sure if itll effect them in anyway...does anyone have any experience with using metal tweezers to feed these guys...is it really that harmful?

- Jethro

i would stay away from metal. There have GOT to be plastic ones out there.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

If you can find the plastic tweezer things, I used them to train the frogs to feed off the surface. One word of advice, quarantine the guppies prior to feeding, feederfish tend to be full of bacterial issues, most of which won't hurt your frog, but some may. I have a small tank set up and keep the guppies there for a week so that they have time to display any problems they may have. I would also keep up with the pellet food, mine moved to sun-dried bloodworms and repta-min pellets, but that way you can be sure the are getting the right nutrition. (feeder fish always make me nervous, I have had problems before)

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- Isaac Asimov



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Can you wrap the metal in tape or rubber? I don't know much about the frogs, but if covering the metal would keep them from being effected, that might be a good solution.

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"Let's eat, Grandpa!"
"Let's eat Grandpa!"

Punctuation. It saves lives.

Not sure if its safe or not but there is a product that you dip tools in that covers them in rubber.
Like I said I don't know about their toxicity.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I know what you are talking about, as far as I know it is non toxic once it is set. It is called Plastisol, I have seen it used on boats and to seal everything from benches to dock grips; I think it is basically just plastic but I am not totally sure.

About VynaFlex Plastisol Coatings

They have it at Home Depot, I have used it for re-coating my Canoe Gunnels, and I used it to regrip the paddles.

__________________
“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ (I found it!) but ‘That’s funny…'"
- Isaac Asimov



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Hmmm, the Plastisol was a thought...you guys don't think it'll be toxic or anything like that? And as far as the Guppies go...quarentineing them wouldn't be a bad idea. Altho (and i'm just relaying what i was told...not saying its true) I was told by the gal at the pet store that i was concerned about the spread of disease...and she claimed that even if the guppies did have a problem, they wouldn't be able to pass it on to the frogs when they ate them...not sure if that statement holds any water or not...sounded a little weird to me, and i know that the petstores are out to make a buck...but this chick seemed to be the only one in my area so far that knew anything about these guys...so the question is...should i continue with the live feeding or stay with strictly pellets. Do cricketts and earth worms carry any deadly diseases or is it just the guppies? I also don't run a filter or anything, change the water weekly...so do you think that hightens the chances for disease to be triggered...?

When it comes to quarentineing the fish...what kind of issues do i look for...them just dying, or discoloration or something?

I prefer not to feed my clawed frogs anything but blackworms and "red wigglers," basically just very small earthworms. When you quarantine you need to look for several things, most of which are not necessarily harmful to the frog, but some can be. If the fish are dropping dead then there is obviously something wrong, and I would not feed them to the frog, there is also external parasites that could arise, as well as fungal infections that can transfer to the frog. Look for dark spots on the operculum or swelling from underneath it (suggesting gill irritation). Also look for any unusual body swelling, or fin rot, fin rot will not hurt your frog, however if it develops white wool-like edges there is a fungal infection that can transfer to the frog, this goes for white marks on the body also. The pet store lady was right, the guppies are harmless once ingested, however until that time they have all kinds of things that can be passed, once inside the body, the diseases shouldn't (not can't, but it is highly unlikely) be able to survive the digestive process.

I have not heard of any diseases that crickets or worms carry that can hurt your frog, however there is a big difference between them and feeder fish, you feed the feeder fish by allowing them to swim in the water so they expose the water to whatever they are carrying for a much greater time span, crickets and worms are fed directly and will not be able to spread whatever they are carrying especially since most of the small parasites they can carry die under water.

The feeding of any aquatic animal is always a highly debated subject so the majority of what you here is documented somewhere by someone, I always find it to be better safe than sorry however.

The plastic coating once it is dry is insoluble in water so it should not affect your frogs.

__________________
“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ (I found it!) but ‘That’s funny…'"
- Isaac Asimov



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