New to FBT's.....need advice

[Jace]

I would feed the three smaller ones first in the bucket, let them eat as much as they can, and then give the big guy a quick feeding afterwards. I should mention that whatever bucket you choose, make sure it has a proper fitting lid on it. FBTs are amazing little climbers and will attempt to escape even while slurping up crickets! I remember not putting the lid on one time, turned away for a few minutes and then heard a noise to find my cat nose to nose with a toad perched on the outer rim of the bucket. I don't know who was more surprised! After that, the cat was always around when the feeding bucket came out!

[Charlie]

Well I tried the feeding bucket idea and it did not go well! I think I was as stressed (or more) as the toads were. I used a large cricket keeper and all they did was try to climb up to the top, I left them for 15 min and when I came back there was 2 less crickets. Catching them in their tank, in the water was pretty easy, catching them in the cricket keeper was very hard, I was so afraid I was going to lose one and they are so tiny I was afraid I might hurt or squish them. After that experience I decided to move them back into a 5.5 g tank with a landing on one side and big rocks, a plant and filter on the other side. Catching and moving them was another ordeal.... Today I dropped some fruitflies on the little landing, not sure how many were eaten but they had no place to hide, though they do climb the glass.

This afternoon I put 3 little crickets on the landing and before I could get the lid back on the tank one little toad had eaten one and then ate the other 2! Ugh now what about the other 3 toads?? So I dropped 4 more in and another little toad came and ate 3 and another ate 1 (I am hoping one little toad didn't get 6!) I added the last 3 crickets and the biggest little toad ate all three. So this arrangements seems to be better then feeding them in the big 20 g tank with a bigger land space. I am hoping as they get a bit bigger I will be able to tell them apart and it won't be so stressful to catch them!

Thanks for the help and I will keep trying!

[Jace]

I am sure you will find a method that works for you and them. It took a couple of weeks before they calmed down in the feeding bucket and actually ate a decent amount. After that, though they still tried to climb the sides, I was confident they were eating. I now use the feeding bucket once a week with my Pacific Chorus frogs and the rest of the time, I free feed them in their setup. With your toads being so small, I would be worried too, about squishing them or having them escape. Just monitor them-a toad should be chubby but not obese. A little buddha belly means they are getting enough. Keep me posted!