Feeders

This is the most difficult thing about owning reptiles and amphibians is providing enough food ...
without having to spend a fortune buying it.

Mealworms - Tenebrio molitor

Let's start with the easy one first ... the mealworms. Mealworms aren't really worms but just the larval stage of the Darkling beetle. We utilised an old ice cream container and filled it with bran along with a couple of tablespoons of wheat and rolled oats . To that we added approximately 20 mealworms and a small piece of fly wire for a cover to stop any intruders entering. The mealworms can't climb the walls and neither can the beetles, so escape is impossible.

Every second day we add some more wheat, carrot and apple slices and remove the old ones. From there on the colony is self perpetuating so long as you don't extract too many for the colony to survive. Every now and again we use the fly wire cover to sift out the mealworms and beetles so a new batch of bran/wheat/oats can be started.

The tiny, white, bean-shaped eggs are about 2 mm long by .9 mm wide. Larvae (mealworms) are dark yellowish with brown bands; they are up to 35 mm long, have a segmented body, six legs (towards the front of the body) and two antennae. The pupa is white/cream with a large head and a pointed tail (it darkens as it grows). Like all insects, this beetle has a hard exoskeleton. The adult is from 12 to 25 mm long and is black.

At room temperatures it takes between 5-20 days for the eggs to hatch. The larvae (mealworm) stage can last anywhere from 1 month to 6 months. Then comes the pupal stage, again this can last anywhere from a week to 6 months. Then finally the Darkling beetle emerges and this final stage and egg laying lasts approximately 2-3 months.

Mice - Mus musculus

We don't really do anything here except feed and maintain well being. The furry little creatures will do the rest of the work for you.

We keep our rodents in Lab boxes just because they're cheap, approximately $30AU (Nov 2007) and easy to clean and maintain.

The bedding is wood shavings and their daily feed is a seed mix  we purchase at city farmers for approximately $5AU (Nov.2007). They also get mixed in with the seed mixture rolled oats , wheat (whole), crushed bran, rat pellets  and Pedigree dog biscuits.

Males excrete a small musk like scent that 'some' people find offensive (da wife!). We've found that by adding a couple of drops of imitation vanilla essence to the water bottle each time it's refilled, this scent can be minimised. Females don't leave this scent or if they do it's undetectable to us.

Our mice eat (per 24 hour period) about 6 grams of the seed mixture and 3 of the small dog biscuits which are great for gnawing on. They also have a 50ml water bottle of which decreases about 5ml over the course of the day. Before giving birth the females feeding drops off about half. But she more than makes up for it after giving birth, sometimes more than doubling her daily intake of food and water. Sunflower seeds contain a lot of fat and should be fed in minimal amounts. After birthing we feed our females about 8-10 extra sunflower seeds, this helps them recover quickly.

Keep males and females separated after 3-4 weeks if you want to avoid unexpected pregnancies. At 3-4 weeks sexing is usually possible and all the pups should be weaned by now. Females can but shouldn't be mated from 4 weeks, males take a little longer around 5-7 weeks of age.

When mating the litter sizes are usually around 7-10. Once the female is visibly pregnant we usually separate them from the rest; as the pregnant females seem to rest a lot more, especially just before birth. Gestation is around 17-21 days and females can become pregnant again within 24 hours after birth, so keep the mother and pups away from any males.

Females of any age or breeding status can be housed together. To minimize fighting, weaned males should be group housed only with their litter mates, and only until they are exposed to females. Males from different litters can be grouped together only if they are no more than 4-5 days apart in age. Even litter mates may have to be separated as they age, to prevent fighting. Males that have been used as breeders must ALWAYS be housed singly, because they will kill each other.

We usually start a new breeding group (1 male / 2-3 females) at about 8-10 weeks of age. The males will produce well over 12 months but after 8-9 months the females will taper off in litter size.

Common Australian Brown Cricket - Gryllidae Lepidogryllus spp.

Keeping crickets is the easy part getting them to breed may take a little longer. Crickets don't like high temperatures and die on mass if temperatures rise above 38c. We've found the best temperature seems to be from 20c-28c. As you can see from the photographs below we store the main group and the breeding group in 90ltr tubs without lids and we've never seen any escape as they can only jump about 50cm high. The pinheads (new born <5mm), small nymphs (5-9mm), nymphs (10-15mm) are all housed in 50ltr tubs with a screen top mainly for their protection from predators like spiders and such.

We feed them carrots for the water content and our own cricket mix of rolled oats, wheat, bran, protien fish food, fish food flakes and dried shrimp. To make up the mixture we add 1 teaspoon of rolled oats, 1 teaspoon of wheat, 8 teaspoons of bran, 1 teaspoon of protien fish food, 4 teaspoons of fish flakes, 1 teaspoon of dried shrimp and then blend well. Some of  this mixture is added daily and lasts about a week between all the tubs. They also get the small Pedigree dog biscuits for protein. We used to give a variety of vegetables but found it waterlogged the crickets and many died, since then we've removed all veggies from their diet except for the carrots.

Once a week the crickets are moved to their appropriate tubs and each tub is cleaned and refilled.

To breed we use old cricket boxes with about 1-2cm of dirt/sand mixture (wetted down) and a small hide with some dog biscuits and gutload for food. Then we add a couple of males and females and place them in a small dark cupboard and leave them alone for a day. Then move the crickets back to the colony and place the breeding box in a 50ltr tub with a non ventilated lid and keep the moisture and thus humidity levels up. You can place a bowl of water in the tub to provide humidity. We place a small piece of cardboard egg carton in the wet soil to the bottom of the tub to act as a ladder. Within 3-5 weeks you should see the pinheads emerging. Place an egg carton and some carrots on the tub floor so they all exit the breeding box for it's next use. Continue cycling as many as you need to feed your collection.

Flies - Common House Fly - Musica domestica / Australian Sheep Blowfly - Lucilia cuprina

To catch them is hard but cultivating them is easy. The common house fly lays eggs which turn into larvae (maggots), then pupae and then finally a fly emerges. The Sheep Blowfly (shiny green back) lays maggots not eggs and they grow faster and change into flies a lot quicker. Using an old cricket box with a small piece of red meat or chicken (5-10 cent piece) will produce over 100 maggots if left outside for a day. We float our box in a tub of water to stop the ants and or crawlies getting at the bait. Place a lid on the bait before nightfall then wait a few days and release them into your frog habitat. Then sit back and watch the fun!

Photographs open larger in a new window

The Cricket colony	Breeders in action	Pinheads <5mm	Nymphs 8mm to 15mm	Breeding box
Three stages of life 1- Mealworm, 2 - Pupa, 3 - Beetle	Darkling Beetles	The Mealworm colony
1 day old mice	1 day old	5 days old	5 days old	8 days old