Bombina orientalis

[Kurt]

I thought I would get this section started.

I have been keeping fire-bellied toads, Bombina orientalis for several years now. They are really cool, they sing just about all the time. They even sing in my hands. My other frogs shut up even if I just look at them. The current trio I have are doing wonderfully. I can handle them and I think they have made the connection on where the food comes from. When I open the top of the enclosure, they look up at me and let me pick them up to put them in the "critter keeper" I feed them in (crickets drown in their watery home.)

I love falling asleep to their calls, and I can't see my collection without them the are the coolest.

Kurt

[John]

I'm a big fan of Bombina toads but it amazes me how few keepers actually breed them in captivity (everything in the pet trade is wild-caught). Have you succeeded in breeding any? Do you have any of the other Bombina species?

[Kurt]

No, I have never attempted to breed them. Though they seem to try all the time to. Maybe I have all males. Maybe I should get some more, but I find it hard to get fire-bellies that will survive. Being wild caught, they are loaded with paracites and I find most don't survive. My current trio are paracite free and I want to keep it that way.
I have never seen any other Bombina for sale.

Kurt

[jody]

I have had mine a year. they seem happy. I expected them to grow, as I had them when I was a kid, and they were bigger. like twice the size. are their more than one variety, where one kind is larger than another?

[Kurt]

There are eight species in the genus Bombina. They are found mostly in Europe. The one we are most familiar with is B. orientalis, it can be bright green to brown dorsally and fiery red ventrally. The bright green ones are said to be from Korea and the brown ones from Russia. I have noticed in my collection that the brown ones don't seem to get as big.
Some of the other species we occasionally see are Bombina bombina - the European fire-bellied toad, Bombina variegatus - the yellow-bellied toad, and Bombina maxima - the giant fire-bellied toad. My understanding is maxima gets twice the size of the other Bombinatoridids. With the exception of B. orientalis, most of these toad are drab dorsally.

Here is a link to a picture of Bombina maxima
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/im...0000+0803+0280

Bombina bombina
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/im...1111+1111+4938
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/im...1111+1111+7579

Bombina orientalis "Russian"
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/im...0000+0708+0066

Bombina orientalis "Korean"
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/im...0000+0407+1263
Bombina variegatus
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/im...1111+1111+0023

[jody]

mine seem to be the korean variety. thanks for the info on the other types.