Introducing / Gut Loading / Supplements

[jm87]

Hi,

So i have had a few posts, but to be clear my plan is thus: build viv over the next month, in about 4 -5 weeks buy two D. Azureus and hopefully introduce them successfully to their new home.

Is there a "best" way to do this - the same as buying fish and floating the bag in the pond for a few hours so the temp. diff doesn't shock them into dying?

Also i bought a Dryopteris affinis:

Dryopteris affinis

is this safe to use?

I also need advice on gutloading...we have tortoises which are fed only on greens - dandylion leaves, lettuce as a treat, fruit etc which are all dusted with Calcium Powder - Nutroball i think is the brand. Im assuming this is much too course for darts, so what is the alternative? should i dust the crickets (small sizes) or feed them something aswell?

Thanks again

James

[beckdg]

there are stickies and threads galore on this site about this... yes you'll still want to dust even after gutloading... natural ingredients are a much better choice, so you have the right idea... i know a lot of people use repti-cal for dusting... you should really check out the stickies and discussions on cricket breeding... a few members are real sticklers on what goes into their feeders... to name a few: heweshort, kyryah and froggsong (that should help you in your searches if you don't find things farely quick)... also search diet, cricket diet, etc. ... you should get good results that way.

[RecycledAgain]

Most defiantly , supplementing the food will be a requirement for the frogs health. Most of us use Repti-cal and Rept-vite.

I would suggest you look into Fruit fly cultures, Pdf arnt like most frogs eating habits, in that if they can fit it in their mouths its gone.The Azureus when adults can be big enough for very very very small crickets but crickets that small can be unreliable at best to obtain. The fruit flies will be your best reliable feeder, especially because the frog you buy will generally be only 4 months old.

Dan

[rollei]

I wouldn't go with crickets either. They're simply too big for PDFs.

[beckdg]

omg... so sorry... did not notice affinis... yes definitely smaller feeders... a few cultures would be great... still feed as natural as possible and dust though.