That Reptile Blog – Reptile, Amphibian and Exotic Pet Care and Information

Click: Caring for Reptiles and Amphibians: Useful Products from the Aquarium Trade – Using Frozen and other Foods for Turtles, Aquatic Salamanders and Tadpoles – Part 1 to read the first part of this article.

Frozen Foods for Tadpoles

Tetramin Staple Diet Flakes  and spirulina flakes have long been used by hobbyists and zookeepers as foods for poison frog and other tadpoles.  However, frozen tropical fish foods have been largely over-looked as regards tadpole husbandry.

I have found a number of frozen foods to be well-accepted by a wide variety of tadpoles, including most poison frogs, tomato frogs, golden bell frogs, various flying frogs and native species such as bull, green and gray tree frogs, and Fowler’s and Colorado River toads.  The consistency of frozen foods renders them very palatable to tadpoles…by utilizing a few different types, it is a simple matter to formulate a healthy diet for many species.

Suggested Frozen Foods for Tadpoles

Cichlid Vegetable Food contains a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, while Emerald Entree has spinach and other vegetables along with animal protein derived from mysids and brine shrimp.   Spirulina is always a favorite and is a fine food for nearly all tadpoles.

The tadpoles of most frog and toad species, even those described in references as “grazing upon algae”, usually consume a good deal of animal matter in the form of Daphnia and other tiny invertebrates and carrion.  I suggest you provide a mix of several foods containing both plant and animal matter to most species.  Please write in information concerning individual species that you might be interested in rearing.

Freeze Dried Foods for Tadpoles

As mentioned earlier, Tetramin Staple Diet and Spirulina flakes are tadpole-rearing standbys, and I continue to rely upon both.  For most tadpoles, I also make liberal use of freeze dried fish foods.  Many of the fresh water invertebrates favored by small fishes, and available in freeze-dried form, are consumed by tadpoles as part of their natural diets.

Be sure to offer your tadpoles a variety of these highly nutritious foods, especially Cyclops, Daphnia, and bloodworms.

Tablets and Wafers for Tadpoles

Sinking tablets and wafers are especially useful when rearing tadpoles.  They are dense enough to keep the tadpoles of bullfrogs, smoky jungle frogs, marine toads and other large frogs busy, yet are palatable to even the smallest species (I have used algae tablets for the tiny tadpoles of wood frogs and spring peepers).

I usually raise tadpoles in bare-bottomed tanks, especially where large numbers are concerned.  This eases cleaning and allows for close observations.  However, in zoo and public aquarium exhibits, I am sometimes faced with the task of rearing tadpoles on gravel or other substrates (please see photo).  In these instances I find tablet and wafer type foods to be a great help in maintaining water quality, as most of the food stays above the gravel bed.  Also, in well-planted exhibits, it is easier to keep track of how much is being consumed when using tablets as opposed to flake or frozen tadpole foods.

Recommended Tablets and Wafers

Tetramin Tablets provide both animal and vegetable matter, and are a good choice as a dietary staple for many species.  Algae Eater Chips are quite unique in containing several types of algae, and should be fed to any frog or toad tadpole that will accept them (most do so readily).  As with frozen and flake products, spirulina discs are a good basic food item for most commonly-kept tadpoles.

Many items marketed for tropical fish are of great value to reptile and amphibian enthusiasts. Please see: Caring for Reptiles and Amphibians: Useful Foods, Medications and other Products from the Aquarium Trade – Introduction and Feeding Accessories for background information and notes on other products.

Frozen Foods for Turtles

Frozen silversides, krill, beef heart, sand eels, mussels and similar foods provide a convenient means of increasing dietary variety for many reptile and amphibian pets.  They are readily accepted by nearly all aquatic turtles, including soft-shells, sliders, cooters, map turtles, snake-necks and musk turtles.

Diamondback Terrapins – Estuarine Specialists

Marine foods, such as sand eels, should not be used as a dietary staple for freshwater turtles, but rather as a supplement each 7-14 days.  However, diamondback terrapins, which inhabit estuaries and other brackish environments, should be offered mussels, krill and other such foods at most meals.

These gorgeous, variably-patterned turtles have an undeserved reputation as difficult captives.  Indeed, when kept in what is the proper manner for, let’s say, a painted turtle, a diamondback will usually fail to thrive.  However, when kept in brackish water and fed shellfish, krill, marine fishes and other natural food items, they make active, long-lived pets.

Other Salt Marsh Turtles

Snapping turtles often enter brackish environments…indeed some populations are specifically adapted to such.  I have had good success in raising snapper hatchlings on diets composed of approximately 50% marine-based organisms.

The eastern mud turtle (Kinosternon subrubrum) is another “freshwater” turtle that is often associated with estuarine environments.  In New York State, it occurs only on Long Island and Staten Island, where it is almost always found in salt marshes.  Mud turtles also fare well on a diet high in marine foods such as mussels and krill.

A Note Concerning Krill

Krill are shrimp-like creatures native to marine environments.  As such, I would normally recommend they be used in the diets of fresh water turtles on an occasional basis only (except for the estuarine species mentioned above).  However, some years ago a colleague raised a group of Blanding’s turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) hatchlings on a diet composed entirely of freeze dried krill and Reptomin Food Sticks.  The turtles grew quickly, matured into adults with perfectly-formed shells, and have, I believe, reproduced.

Since then, I have used frozen and freeze dried krill as a substantial part of the diet of spiny soft-shelled turtles, a number of Australian snake-necked turtle species, red-headed side-necked turtles, midland painted turtles, axolotls, tiger salamander larvae, red-spotted newts, sharp-ribbed newts, African clawed frogs and many others…with fine results in each case.  I heartily recommend that you include krill as part of the diets of your aquatic reptile and amphibian pets.

Frozen Foods for Large and Small Aquatic Salamanders

Amphiumas, mudpuppies and sirens will accept most of the aforementioned items, and newts of all types relish krill.

Beef heart was long used as a staple diet for laboratory colonies of Mexican axolotls and African clawed frogs, and countless generations were raised and bred on this food item alone.  Although I favor a more varied diet for these creatures, certainly frozen beef heart is a very useful food that should be offered regularly.

Click here to read the 2nd part of this article.

The Influence of Hobby and Food-Species Research

As compared to the aquarium hobby, the keeping of reptiles and amphibians in captivity is a relatively new development.  Far more time and research has gone into the development of products designed for fish and aquatic invertebrates than is the case for herps, and we know a great deal more about keeping and breeding them in captivity.  Also, commercially valuable species such as salmon, tilapia, clams and shrimp have generated a great deal of husbandry-oriented research, much of which has found application in the aquarium hobby.

Fortunately, the needs of many amphibians and reptiles parallel, and in some cases closely match, those of certain fishes.  Many of the fine products designed for aquarists are therefore of great value to reptile and amphibian enthusiasts.

Keeping Amphibians and Fishes Together

The Aquarium Fish Dish  is a valuable tool for those keeping African clawed frogs and newts along with fishes.

Fishes that feed at the aquarium’s surface and mid-water level nearly always consume blackworms and other live foods, as well as sinking pellets, before resident amphibians are even aware that it’s feeding time.  Live food specialists, such as dwarf African clawed frogs, rarely do well with fish for this reason, despite otherwise co-existing well with many species and making for an interesting tank.  The Fish Dish allows you to specifically target bottom feeding amphibians in mixed-species aquariums.

Limiting Choke Hazards

I came upon the idea of using the Cone Worm Feeder many years ago when raising axolotl and red-spotted newt larvae.  I fed them largely upon live blackworms, which always clump together, even when finely chopped.  I found that larvae of both species sometimes choked to death while trying to swallow the tightly-packed worm balls.

The worm feeder dispenses live worms individually, and has proven very useful to me in raising a wide variety of salamander larvae.  I use it with adult salamanders as well, especially the smaller species such alpine newts.

Certain fish medications work well with amphibians…please see my article:

Methylene Blue As A Treatment for Aquatic Reptiles and Amphibians

Browsing the pages of Herpetologica and other journals over the years, I several times came across field studies indicating that certain populations of savannah monitors consumed diets composed entirely of invertebrates.  In certain seasons, the lizards gorged on either locusts or land snails exclusively for months on end.  When some captives fed largely upon rodents showed evidence of kidney and liver damage and intestinal impactions, articles in popular magazines began calling for insect-based diets.

Canned Diets

Savannah monitors may approach 5 feet in length, and thus an insect-based diet is difficult to arrange…thousands would be needed weekly in some cases.  Zoo Med’s Canned Tegu and Monitor Diet provides a handy solution.  Formulated with these lizards in mind, it is readily accepted by most individuals.

After reading the aforementioned articles, I took a moderate position as regarded the savannah monitors under my care in public collections, using canned food as 60-75% of the diet.  I supplemented the food of adults

once weekly with vitamin/mineral powder  and that of juveniles 3-4 times weekly.

Invertebrate and Vertebrate Food Items

The easiest way to supplement canned food without using mice is to establish a breeding colony of Madagascar hissing roaches (even the well-armored adults are readily accepted) and nightcrawlers.  Crayfish, if available to you, are a great monitor food.  Other useful food items are land snails (available in seafood markets), tomato hornworms, hard boiled eggs (in moderation, i.e. once monthly) and canned grasshoppers , silkworms  and snails.  Pink and fuzzy mice (these are preferable to adult mice and rats) may be offered every 10-14 days.

My Observations of Wild Black and White Tegus

My observations of black and white tegus in Venezuela leads me to believe that, at least in llanos habitat, these lizards consume far more large insects, turtle eggs and frogs than rodents.  Mammals are taken when available, mainly as carrion or unearthed rodent nests.

I have kept tegus for lengthy periods on rodent-based diets but now counsel more variety…I suggest feeding as described above, but with canned food comprising a smaller portion (i.e. 25-50%) of the diet, and rodents, preferably pink and fuzzy mice, being offered once weekly.  If your tegu will accept whole fish (i.e. large shiners), use these in place of mice.

An interesting article on savannah monitor natural history and diet in the wild is posted at http://www.mampam.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=36&Itemid=76

Plastic turtle docks and basking platforms are wonderful innovations that I have found very useful both at home and in public exhibits that I have designed.  The models I mention here look quite natural right out of the box, and when covered with some live algae and surrounded by live or artificial floating or emergent plants, the effect is quite good.

Commercial Exhibits and My Own Collection

Please see the photos below to see how I put a Basking Platform to use in exhibits at the Maritime Aquarium and in my own collection.  The brackets that secure the platform to the aquarium’s glass come in quite handy as live plant supports.  By placing the brackets over emergent plants such as peace lilies, you can create the effect of a plant-backed land area.

Debilitated Turtles and Frog Metamorphs

Zoo Med’s Turtle Dock  slopes gently below the water’s surface to create a ramp for animals seeking to climb on board.  A debilitated Eastern painted turtle in my collection (it hatched with deformed rear legs, please see photo) makes great use of this and is easily able to leave the water.

I also like this model for use with transforming tadpoles and small newts that might otherwise have difficulty in accessing land areas.  In shallow water, the area below the dock serves as a cave-like retreat as well.

Shoreline Terrariums

Shoreline terrariums housing fish, aquatic invertebrates and amphibians have always been a great favorite of mine.  I use both of the aforementioned models in creating these habitats.  Unlike rock piles, the suspended platforms leave plenty of space below for aquatic creatures.

I’ve found that I can keep leopard and green frogs in quite deep water when their aquarium is furnished with a plastic platform.  This allows me to mix in a number of fish as well (in shallow water, the frogs prey upon the fish, but they cannot catch them in deep water).  As you can see from the accompanying photo, fiddler crabs use them as well.

The Hagen Turtle Bank also holds great promise…I’ll check it out in the future and report back.