Tomato Frog Questions

[Raiden]

I acquired a Tomato frog at a reptile expo last weekend; I've had a C. ornata for a while and things are going well, so I decided to try another burrowing species.

So I found one a little bigger than a golf ball (when not puffed up with air or soaking) and bought it. I brought it home and set it up in a 5 gallon tank (I plan on upgrading as it grows) with a water dish, some deep earthy substrate (coco fiber mixed with organic potting soil and some other things) with a piece of cork bark covering one third of the tank if it wants to have shelter.

Temps are about 73-75 during the day and around 70 at night, it has UVB exposure (although not intense) and I mist twice a day.

The thing is, it will *not* eat. I watched many videos and read many articles and caresheets about them prior to getting mine, and everything pointed towards a voracious appetite, but mine has shown little interest in food. In fact, it seems to get nervous and puff up every time I get close to it. I left a cricket in with him/her for a few hours, but it didn't eat it, so it was removed. A few hours ago, I gave it a soak in some lukewarm water to see if that would help. It urinated; a lot, and seemed to be more active all of the sudden, but it might have just been freaked out from my handling of it. I returned it to the tank, and offered an earthworm, knowing that burrowing frogs probably would find such a thing irresistable, and it made an attempt to eat it, but then stopped and returned to shuffling around in its water bowl as a tried to tease it into eating the worm.

Is there something I don't know about these guys that is causing this, or do just need to give it more time to settle in? I haven't treated for chytrid yet, but I plan on doing that tonight. I just hope he isn't impacted or anything...

[GrifTheGreat]

Most frogs need time to adjust to their new home. He/she made an attempt to eat the worm so that's good. Just keep the temps and humidity in ideal range or just a bit higher to try and spike an appetite. Try to keep stress levels as low as possible. I am no expert and don't own Tomato frogs or other chubby frogs. I have C. Cranwelli Pacman frogs. What I've stated here can be used for all frogs since heat is what helps them digest their food so also does it make them hungry. UVB radiation is not necissary but as long as its not too bright about 4 to 6 hours a day of UVB is beneficial. I would recomend a different light later maybe if you have trouble with temps.

Again I am no expert I saw no one answered your post yet so I offered my assistance. I hope he/she settles in and eats for you. Tomatos are so cute huh? I like how they almost always look angry

[Poly]

Hi Raiden,

Temps are perfect for a juvenile Tomato, don't want it any warmer than that for the time being. As it gets older you may want to use a 4-8 watt Side Mounted Heat heat pad to bring the temps up to 75-78. You can use UVB lighting, but it is not required, I just use CFL's with my chubby frogs to stimulate their day/night cycle.

Don't worry about it not eating, as Grif said, it will take time for your Tomato to acclimate to it's new home. My chubby ate right away, but that's because they barely fed it in the pet store.

Also, if you have access to nightcrawlers/worms, start your Tomato off with those, worms are much more nutritional and filling that crickets, not to mention, if you feed it two 5" nightcrawlers, it won't eat for three days after, but it will be able to eat upwards of ten crickets a night.

Chubby frogs, and from what I know, Tomato's are huge eaters, I know my chubbies sure are!