Hi there
Lately I have been noticing that my one year old male American toad has been having issues catching certain prey items such as nightcrawlers at feeding time. it is as if he flicks his tongue and more often than not it takes several shots before he actually grabs it. On a side note he has been acting more restless lately and has been calling and attempting to breed with my female toad.( this is likely unrelated to the issue at hand I'm just adding more information about his behaviour). I am aware of short tongue syndrome and have been using repashy calcium plus as a dust once weekly for his crickets. I am really unsure how this happened to him as I take proper care of him and would never neglect my pets. Unfortunately there is no herp vet nearby my city as I am in a small town in northern Ontario. What is the best course of action I can take Any help would greatly be appreciated
Feed this to all your feeder insects it will make a huge difference!
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Have not had experience much with toads. Pacific treefrog males typically eat less during breeding season. They are focused on getting to a pond, calling, and finding a mate. Females join them at the pond later. Once they mate, lay eggs or fertilize eggs, and leave the pond, they eat a lot more. Hope your toads do well! Do your toads get vitamins and minerals as well as calcium?
I appreciate your reply, My feeding schedule for them is usually three days feeding per week Monday Wednesday and friday, Monday is gut loaded crickets that are dusted with the calcium plus from repashy and Wednesday and friday is usually nightcrawlers or an alternative feeder such as mealworms , butterworms or hornworms also pillbug (summertime). I was under the assumption that the calcium plus contained multivitamins within it so I have not been giving them any multivitamins as idid not want to have them overdose on supplements
The supplements i use have either calcium plus D3 or are multiple vitamins and minerals. I use them on alternate days.
A good feeder for toads you can use staples of the regular pet store crickets, banded crickets, calci worms and I have just found from a knowledgeable and trusted source earthworms are not necessarily the best feeder for toads because they can contain parasites and it's more difficult to determine whether an earthworm is safe or not.
Feeders that you should also include while using a staple diet are wax worms, butterworms and isopods if you can. The hornworms that are smaller are good but try and stay away from mealworms because they are difficult to digest for toads.
the picture I sent you, you don't have to gut load or use supplements because they aren't necessary with this feeder for the insects that I posted a picture of. I have seen a tremendous turn around in my animals by using this. the vet basically told me that all of the different supplements I was using were doing nothing and the gut load that I was feeding my insects was not actually helping or benefiting my animals. so you don't have to worry about using too many supplements or them getting a vitamin overdose if you use this. It's going to be difficult and I know I have a lot of people to try and convince but take it from somebody who's been in the hobby for years and just found something very useful and beneficial out and wants to try and help all those who will listen. I'm not saying you're not listening but anybody who I post a comment sharing this food with them I'm hoping it will get around the forum and the other forums so people will start using this. do you know how incredibly would be if we could end calcium deficiencies for our pets?
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I appreciate all responses I may have to try the bug gut load diet I will just have to get it shipped to my house as there are no petco stores that I can think of in Canada
I forgot to ask you cWebster are the supplements you use of the reptical brand? and what is your regular feeding schedule with these supplements
Right now for our various frogs and toads am alternating days dusting the feeders with Rep-Cal Calcium with vit D and Rep-Cal Herptivite multivitamins. every other day Mon through Friday but skipping Sunday. Have tried Repashy Calcium Plus in the past. Mr Toad who is recovering from MBD also gets a tiny tiny drop of calcium gluconate orally 23% every night and occasional ReptiBoost. Just purchased some Repashy Vit A plus but havent had the nerve to use any yet with Mr Toad. Also just bought Mazuti Better Bug Gut Loading Diet...have four rubbermaid containers of crickets (pins, 1 wk, 2 wk, 3 week) plus hydeis and melanogasters, small dubias, nightcrawlers, waxworms, and phoenix worms. Have mealworms but use them for birds, not amphibians. Not sure whether to use the Mazuri gutload for feeder insects right before feeding the feeders to the toad or just use it as a staple grain for the crickets? I hate to waste it. But would love to never see another critter with a calcium deficiency.
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