Which is the best food for growing frogs, pinhead crickets or fruit fly ?
I can honestly say that it was an accident but I have found an easy way to breed crickets and keep alive the 1000's of pinheads that hatch out 
The last batch that hatched out, I estimate easily to be 10,000 plus  hock: and i seem to have hit it right with the FF (hydei) as well because I have so many that i am throwing away at least 75% (well freezing )
As I thought that I was going to have problems with the supply of small food for my PDF's this is great.
I understand that a varied diet is the best thing but out of the two (pinheads and FF ) which is the better food ???
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Hi Peter,
Welcome.
It would depend on what you feed you crickets. Some foods are too high in certain Vits.
I do not feed pinheads for two reasons;
1. They turn into full sized crickets , if not eaten. This can be very bad because a sleeping Dart can turn into a nighttime snack for a hungry cricket.
2. Crickets in the house....nah.
FFs dusted with Repcal Herptevite and Calcium and springtails fed brewer's yeast and the same sups will work fine.
Rich
Darts with parasites are analogous to mixed tanks, there are no known benefits to the frogs with either.
If tone is more important to you than content, you are at the wrong place.
My new email address is: rich.frye@icloud.com and new phone number is 773 577 3476
I feed the pinheads a mixure of cereal based pond sticks and a few different types of breakfast cereals.
If I cant use the pinheads, what am i going to do with them all ?? 
I was so proud of myself for working out how to breed them and more importantly keeping them alive 8) 8)
Ah well, who ever said life was fair or easy :wink: :wink:
It must need a lot of springtails to feed adult darts !!!!
Thanks Peter
ps I have 2 mint terriblis and 2 brazilian tincs
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Peter,
I did not say you could not use pinheads. Many froggers use tons of them. I simply stated why I do not use them.
FFs are fruitflys, they get to a decent size for feeding adult Darts.
Rich
Darts with parasites are analogous to mixed tanks, there are no known benefits to the frogs with either.
If tone is more important to you than content, you are at the wrong place.
My new email address is: rich.frye@icloud.com and new phone number is 773 577 3476
Quote:I did not say you could not use pinheads. Many froggers use tons of them. I simply stated why I do not use them.
Ooops :oops: :oops: :oops:
Damn...I actually have to agree with Rich. :lol: I will never use pinheads again...especially with thumbnails! I have a tree fern panel background that allows the pinheads to hide and grow to adult size. Now I am in a bind to get rid of them. :evil:
Ok, point taken, pinhead farm now scrapped :twisted: :twisted:
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you know, i have never had the problem of pinheads growing to adult. my frogs never let them get out of hand. i do have several froggie food disposals however. if it moves it is gone. if your frogs are big hunters, then you wont have a problem. if they do not really prefer pinheads, or are very small, or hunt flys more than them, you might have an issue. i also find pinheads easier to dust.
best, ~Lauren
1.1.1 Hawaiian Auratus (reticulated), 1.2.2 Leucomelas, 3.2.1 Cobalt Tincs, 1.0.0 Kauluha & Creme / Camo Auratus, 2.0.1 Yelloback Tincs, 0.0.4 Azureus, 1.1.0 Spotted Auratus
The problem with pin head crickets is if they have a place to hide. I have never had a problem with them in my tank.
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I found a neat trick for feeding pinheads. I grew a small picture plant and that takes care of any crickets that don't get eaten the first night this allows me to feed them at least once a week. I find them the easiest to dust.
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Jay Why Wrote:PeterUK Wrote:If I cant use the pinheads, what am i going to do with them all ??
Depends on if you are the vengeful type, and have an enemy you want to mess with. ;P
...If said enemy has a convertible...problem solved! :lol:
Just kidding, I'd never do that!
Froglets are said by many to grow faster on crix than on ff's.
Dmartin...thanks for mentioning the problem with pin's and tree fern panels...something I overlooked, though if you had a intense dripwall, you could probably flush them all out once in a while.
Brian T. Sexton
PeterUK, Maybe you could tell us all the easy way you found to get so many pinheads. I know pinheads are a problem for many people, myself included.
Yes I would love to know this 2
Hmmm...looks like it will remain a secret hock:
well the secret is this......
nearly every petstore in the UK sells crickets from pin heads to adult. un like the USA crikets are packed in containers and sold as is where as the US stores sell them buy the criket in most cases.
pin heads get sold in the same way, another thing i missed about the Uk live food suppliers is the fact they sell Locust (not for dart frogs) and i have never found locust for sale in the US.
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Besides the "stink factor", if I'm not mistaken, crickets are also carriers of coccidia.
Cindy Dicken
Vivarium Concepts
www.vivariumconcepts.com
www.rainforesthabitats.com
www.texasdartfrogs.org
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That's true Cindy. They also can carry tapeworms and other nasty stuff too.
Rich
Darts with parasites are analogous to mixed tanks, there are no known benefits to the frogs with either.
If tone is more important to you than content, you are at the wrong place.
My new email address is: rich.frye@icloud.com and new phone number is 773 577 3476
Posts: 1,119
Threads: 118
Joined: Jun 2004
Hmmm....kinda makes you wonder if eating that live cricket for the "free" t-shirt is really worth it!
Cindy Dicken
Vivarium Concepts
www.vivariumconcepts.com
www.rainforesthabitats.com
www.texasdartfrogs.org
kaybee Wrote:Hmmm...looks like it will remain a secret hock:
I used to grow them for baby old world chameleons....pretty simple. Here's how I did it.
You can use a substrate but I didn't bother.
1 container. I like the large plastic critter keepers or a 5 gallon tank. something small but tall enough that the adults can't leap out. You need to use vaseline (sp?) around the rim as pinheads and below can climb just about anything.
You need a few adults. I buy mostly adult females (ovipositor sticking out of the back) and a couple of males which I keep in a separate Rubbermade tub and then put them (the females only) in the critter keeper with a substrate (I don't use it as the pins are to hard to "liberate" for feeding) or a container of moist, loose, right outta the bag (not soggy) potting soil or garden soil. The Container being a low butter tub, onion dip, or something of the like. Be sure to place some twigs on the tub to allow the females to climb up into the tub to lay eggs (you will see them sticking their ovipositors into the soil). Mist the soil daily to keep moist. In a few days you will have "dust" crickets that become pinheads in a couple of days. You will have LOTS...but they don't stay small for long. I use cricket keeper gel (they'll die in it) to hydrate them when they get older... at first I use a halved baby carrot or piece of potato changed daily. I feed them fish food (flakes are easier for them at this stage) and gutload and or a mix of flakes, vitamins, calcium, Minerall as they get older. I use 3 Critter keepers started about a week apart. I remove the females after a couple of days and change out the whole thing after the eggs hatch and I have collected and fed the pins or dust crickets to the Chams. I've also had people put the females directly into the Viv or habitat but I find this too dangerous with baby chams and I would imagine, Darts. You could leave them in for a few hours and then remove them I guess. They will lay quickly if they are "true" adults and not just 3/4". when the pins hatch the Darts can hunt them in the viv substrate. I wouldn't do it however as you have no control.
Man.... figuring out how to type this is harder than hatching them out.
If any of this doesn't make sense... ask and I'll try to explain it better.
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