B.marinus - Absolute Minimum Requirements?

[Effy]

Brand spanking new to amphibians, and have little to no money so im working on absolute bare minimums first and then I'll work on extras and treats and such.

What is the bare minimum space needed for a pair, food, equipment, decoration etc?

They practically have nothing...so I'm going to have to have to work really hard to even provide these first necessities.
I'm planning on working overtime for the next couple of weeks, giving up time with my daughter so I can give them what they need. They're in a sad situation right now but I am 100% dedicated to giving them a good life and gaining knowledge and following advice.

Any help is appreciated. x

[jasonm96]

I kept mine in a 36x18x18" tank and I feel this would be the minimum size for one or two small ones. Plastic storage boxes would be good as they come bigger and cheaper, easy to clean but the viewing isn't as good. The hard plastic tanks with glass sliding doors are probably best, but expensive and you'll will have to look around for one. Coir mixed with bark chips for substrate, but it's probably best to give them a moisture gradient and a large water dish, few fake plants and a cork bark or turtle hut. Feed loads of different things like supplemented crickets, locust, worms and roaches. It's easier to keep in warm rooms rather than provide heating because it dries the tank out a bit, but if you need to supply heat then use a basking light during the day and ceramic heater at night. Lots of care sheets say to use a heat mat on the wall but this is useless, you can use it on the bottom but it wouldn't be that effective due to the deep substrate required.

One thing you must do when you first get the toad is get it's fecal checked, they can come with high parasite loads because they are wild caught. I had one of these but had to give it away, it didn't settle to captivity very well, but others have had success. They might do better in groups.

Some books that cover there care are and I would recommend reading Breeding terrarium animals by Elke Zimmerman, Amphibians in Captivity by Marc Staniszewski and Frogs and Toads by Devin Edmonds. This is a good online care sheet but have found most others to be bad http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatre...s-pets-part-1/

Hope this helps, by no means very experienced keeping this species, only had one but did a lot of research and trial and errors when I did have it.

[Effy]

Thank you.
These guys are pretty big, though from what I've read so far, maybe half grown if that.

Sorry if this is an incredibly stupid question, but how do you check their feces? Just visually?

[jasonm96]

Sorry, I meant by the vet to get a fecal exam. Even normal vets should be able to get in contact and send it to labs. It's quite expensive, but something I would say is necessary to make sure their in good health and do well. The good news is that if any treatment is needed then meds are usually cheap I've found. If marine toads were captive-bred then there would probably be no need to do this, but as an invasive species it is easy and better to be wild-caught