Feeding with Xenopus

[hjelte]

well it´s a difficult subject...I mean...the only way to find out is probably by trying and feed them to the snakes, but that could mean seriously risking the health of our animals. But I found this article....wait..gotta google....

[hjelte]

Originally Posted by hjelte

well it´s a difficult subject...I mean...the only way to find out is probably by trying and feed them to the snakes, but that could mean seriously risking the health of our animals. But I found this article....wait..gotta google....

http://www.bioone.org/perlserv/?requ...O%3E2.0.CO%3B2


There! Seems like hammondii digs ém!

[Stefan-A]

It would seem that Xenopus is safe to use. Apart from the parasite issue, but I wonder how big a problem that really is with captive bred animals.

[hjelte]

yeah exactly! There shouldn´t be a greater risk than in using guppies and such. I think I am going to give this a go later this week.

[Stefan-A]

Can you get your hands on a Xenopus that size? The dwarfs don't belong to the same genus.

[adamanteus]

It'll be interesting to hear how you get on. Still seems like a pretty expensive option to me though, unless Xenopus are a lot cheaper in Sweden than they are in the UK!

[hjelte]

I believe so yes. Here in Norrköping there are 4 different pet-shops which all carry xenopus. But I take it that the dwarfes wouldn´t be of any danger either...or what do you think?

[hjelte]

Originally Posted by adamanteus

It'll be interesting to hear how you get on. Still seems like a pretty expensive option to me though, unless Xenopus are a lot cheaper in Sweden than they are in the UK!

Yeah well I´m only interested in using them as an occasional snack just to get some variation to the pinkie-diet they are on now. The frogs are about 75 SEK wich I have no idea how much it is in english pounds

[Cazador]

Hi guys,

I was just reading through this interesting thread. I think the threat of parasites is going to be severely reduced if you keep them in captivity. You could also drop some Flagyl into the tanks with your brood stock. As Stefan's pointing out, Xenopus laevis gets pretty big pretty quickly, so any froglets that aren't fed in time could be frozen and saved for later. The smaller the meal, the easier and quick it would be swallowed. I'm also impressed at how large the tadpoles are, but they're definitely small enough to be eaten. If you choose to feed Xenopus, I'd do it sparingly, since garters and Xenopus haven't co-evolved, or adapted to one another's defenses, being geographically separated.

Rick

[GarterGuy]

I also had to use the dwarfs for the hognose as well and didn't see any real difference....they both went down and stayed down with out any worries. As far as Bombina...these guys are REALLY toxic, even to the point where I've heard of people who've handled them having a reaction to there secreations.....think the same can go for the (Cynops...think that's the species...not as good with newts)newts as well. Don't know if I'd risk it.
Roy