I've been reading again (very dangerous past time mi'thinks) and this author suggests that field plankton (insects collected from the wild) are better for your captive amphibians because they are already naturally gut loaded with a nice diet, whereas shop bought ones need their nutritional value boosted up before you serve them.
Just wondered though (I think I am just being wary because coming from a snake keeper view- we never feed wild caught mice to our pets because they carry disease and parasites but) is there a risk of passing owt on to your amphibians from wild caught insects or don't they carry things the same as wild mice do?
Plus, how do you know what insects are safe for your amphibians to eat? Can they eat anything insecty? Cliff and Richard would naturally come from Africa and Cyprus in the wild, so I'm sure their natural prey would differ from anything I could collect in sunny Barnsley.
yep,just try make sure insects are collected from a pesticide free area and you have some good nutritional food items for your amphib friends. Through the warmer months, small grey-white slugs collected from my garden are a favoured food of my fire sals, then when I have newly metamorphosed, terrestrial newts that Ive ive raised from eggs, I find wild caught insects an invaluable addition to the pinhead crickets , sprintails and fruitflies I use.
Field Plankton
Posted - 12/01/2009 : 05:31:32
