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Thread: American Toad Diet Questions

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    Default American Toad Diet Questions

    I'm planning on getting myself a few American toads this Spring, currently working on their habitat.

    I've also been trying to figure out what the best sort of diet would be for them. When I was a kid I fed them whatever I could find, but I also had some casualties due to my inexperience / lack of knowledge and don't want that again.

    I figure variety is probably good (but then again, not sure, as some materials have advised feeding them mostly crickets). Would you say variety is good, or sticking to a staple is best?

    Whatever I feed them needs to be things I can purchase in stores, because I'm not keen on feeding them insects from outside. Where I live is somewhat urban and I'm worried about pesticides, and I also worry about parasites. I would rather not chance it (I'm a bit of a worry wart mother hen sort of pet owner).

    I've considered breeding my own pill bugs and after a few generations of having the colony isolated indoors, I could use them as part of the diet (but not sure if pill bugs are all that nutritious? What if I fed them fish flakes and potatoes?). I've successfully bred pill bugs before feeding them fish flakes, algae wafers and red skin potatoes.

    I figure I should add in earthworms (I can buy the bait nightcrawlers) and dust them with mineral powder, but not sure how often I should offer this treat, or if it should be a staple.

    There's also crickets, but I worry about the crickets biting the toads' insides, after I read some stuff on mealworms and how they can be dangerous (but not sure if true?).

    Also, how big should my toads be before I consider offering them pinkies as a treat?
    Last edited by Lindz; March 31st, 2016 at 11:32 PM. Reason: Added Question

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    Default Re: American Toad Diet Questions

    Hey Lindz, Toads are considered gape-limited predators; any store bought feeder that can be swallowed is suitable. Maybe crickets can bite the insides of toads idk, however, amphibian husbandry history confirms that feeding crickets; or superworms, to toads aren't a problem. Please consider that toads and frogs in the wild have been documented eating all types of nasty critters; venomous spiders and snake, scorpions, bees, wasps etc, and survived without any permanent damage. People talk a lot of about variety, yet it's rare to get a solid reason why. I'm pretty sure 'variety' in nature far exceeds anything we can emulate at home on a consistent basis. imo Dusted crickets are the best over-all staple for American toads; then add whatever you like from there.

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    Default Re: American Toad Diet Questions

    Hi Lindz!

    American Toads are much like our Common toad here in Europe (Bufo bufo). It's a terrestrial toad and they eat much the same food.


    Nightcrawlers are the most nutritious food you can give them, especially fed with dark green salads and a little fish flakes 24 hrs. before feeding (remember to buy nightcrawlers _without_ any dye in them or you can breed them yourself, or buy Canadian tigerworms and breed these yourself).

    A second great food type _is_ crickets and grasshoppers. I prefer the Gryllus assimilis: I find them easy to house and breed and they eat most good, nutritious vegetables like organic apples, raw potatoes, most dark green salads, grass from outside and of course pet store pellets. As with nightcrawlers, feed with good veggies and water 24 hrs before feeding. (The black crickets I don't prefer; I think they have a very bad smell and they can go for meat, whereas Gryllus is 100% plant eater).

    - With grasshoppers it's much the same. For both grasshoppers and crickets there are careguides online.


    Another great feeder is Dubia cockroaches. They're very nutritious and great to "gut feed" (fill them with good food before feeding your toad). They're pretty easy to breed aswell (find a good careguide) and their shell is not very tough, making them easily digestible.

    Another good feed is Cuban woodlice, as they contain alot of natural calcium (if kept under correct conditions), they breed easily and are a plentiful feed.

    Foods to be careful with, that are "treats":

    - Mealworms: Mealworms are an "easy" feeder, practicality wise, because they can survive just about anything. However, they consist purely of fat and protein and not much nutrients. You _can_ gut feed them, but their shell contains a fair amout of chitin, which can be hard for your toad to digest. I have not personally experienced this, but overfeeding _can_ lead to impaction, which can be deadly. (Unless you buy the huge buffalo mealworms, they utencils are not big enough to cause any damage, if feeder size is apropriate to your toad *see below*).

    - Waxworms: Very treaty and very fatty. Only use once in a while.

    - Pinkies/mice/mammals: I know this is a common trend, especially with pac man or pixie frogs, but really mammals are _not_ healthy for your frog. In nature, some species of toad or frogs will ocassionaly take a small mammal, depending on the breed, but for most terrestrial toads, this is not part of their diet. Pixies are filled with their mothers' milk, which is extremely fat and can cause intestinal irritation. Mammals in general are very high in fat and can strain the toads' liverfunction and should - if ever - be given very rarely.


    Wild caught feeders or not?:

    This is a HUGE debate in any forum and there are nay and yay sayers on both sides. Regarding paraites, if your toad is wild caught you would do well to get him to a check up anyhow, as he will no doubt have some kind of parasites needing to be handled. In captivity, he lives in a smaller area, making self-infection much higher in amount and if left untreated, it may overpower him in the end and kill him.

    There _is_ a risk of parasites with wildcaught food, but here's my personal view on it:
    Wildcaugh food (from an area that doesn't use chemicals) are _very_ nutritious. It is very hard to hit the same amount of nutrition in captivity and variety is key in a toads diet. I don't know how your regular pet shop operares, but here in DK much of the pet-shop feeders are kept under bare conditions and only fed on dry pellet food and no water (or just kept refrigerated like mealworms) and may therefore over time give your toad a lack of nutrients, unless you keep your own colonies of the various feeder.

    What I do here at home (and have had success with for 3,5 years now) is to mainly order feeders from an excellent breeder (not petshop), that delivers quality, nutritiously fed animals - or I keep a colony myself and ensure they are as healthy as possible. To this I add the eventual wild-caught feed that I can get a hold off.

    And ca. every half year/10 months I get a fecal test done and parasite treating done if necessary


    General guide in feeders: The width of the prey feed should not exceed the widht between your toads' eyes
    . If you are in doubt wether anything is toxic or not, don't feed it. Variety and nutrients are key! Calcium and minerals/vitamins should be added to the diet Sadly with amphibians they can be hard to heal or care for, if fallen ill, so the main thing is to keep them healthy and happy as much as possible. A varied, nutritional diet will go a long way.

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    Default Re: American Toad Diet Questions

    I'd like to add that I've had frogs spit out red wrigglers/ tiger worms and refuse to eat worms after that. I think they taste somewhat bad. your mileage may vary though.

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    Default Re: American Toad Diet Questions

    In my experience, their taste is fine for them, but I've experienced that my African common toads and Asian common toads don't like them and have never gone for anything worm-like that crawled.

    My Bufo bufo, however, and Bufo japonicus, love them and go for anything crawler as well as wiggeley. So there may be a factor of what their normal prey-form is. There is also the factor of what they have mainly been fed: My African common toads were wild caught toads (a sympathy buy from an expo) and according to their seller they'd only been fed crickets in the 3-4 months he had kept them.

    For the whole year and a half period I kept them, they refused to eat anything else than crickets.

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    Default Re: American Toad Diet Questions

    American Toads do well with Crickets and Earthworms being their staple diet. The toads I have ate red wrigglers but my leopard frog spit them out. Now my toad shows less interest in earthworms and I haven't gotten wrigglers in a while. Toads love Wax Worms and moths. My toad will take them over any item for some reason so I have to balance him out. Woodlice are like wax worms, treats. I believe it's your choice with wild insects, I use a select few species and get them from the woods next to me.


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