Stress?

[FroggyFriends]

Hey,
I recently got three little fire bellied toads. Two of them were very active, obviously a little cautious but they soon calmed down. The third was very nervous and stayed in the corner alone for the whole first day, but he/she got a bit more adventurous yesterday. But somehow it escaped last night (I still haven't worked out how but I made sure the whole tank was sealed so thy can't escape anymore) When I found it, it was very dehydrated and I immediately put it in water, she/he is now back to their proper green froggy colour (when I found it, it was very very dark green)

I am very worried about it now though because I was handling it and I keep checking on it to make sure it's okay which is probably causing it a lot of stress. I really don't want it to get ill because of the extra stress I've given it. I haven't seen this frog eat (The others have) and it is a lot smaller than the others. I wouldn't call it skinny but it's not as large as the others (It's a bit like this - http://images.carolina.com/images/en.../146710_la.jpg)

I was worried it was ill but it doesn't seem listless and it's eyes are still bright and it's holding it's head up. But it isn't jumping around or moving much. The other jump whenever I open the top but this one isn't anymore and doesn't always move if I give it a little push (I am trying to keep it in the water as it went at least 9 hours without any) but when it does move it seems fine and can jump as normal. Is it from stress? Or is it just very nervous?

If it is stress, how can I help reduce it? Do you think it's ill?

I was thing of maybe covering half the tank with the water with a towel so they have somewhere dark to hide. They have twigs and shelters to hide under now but I thought the towel could make it feel safer. I used to do this with my budgies before they died and I found it helped them a lot, but I don't want to do it incase it causes them more stress. I just want to stop it from being stressed as soon as I can so it will eat!

Another problem is the toads are in a room I use a lot, I can go to another room for if I have to but it would be very inconvient. Should I stay so they can get used to seeing me? Or move and let them calm down?

Oh also the pets shop gave us quite large crickets to feed them (Maybe 2-3cm long?). I really didn't feel comfortable giving them to them, but as it was all we had my mum gave them some, the other two seemed fine with them although they did appear to have a bit of trouble eating them. Should I get some smaller ones for them? Is there a size limit for them? (I had a bearded dragon as well and I know you should give them insects larger than the space between their eyes, so is there something similar for toads?) I think the ones that ate them have gone to the toilet (I'm not exactly sure what it looks like) and both are fine and active, so I don't think they have an impaction.

Sorry for all the questions but I've never had toads before and I don't want to hurt them! Oh and is there a way to tell the difference between males and females?

[FroggyFriends]

I haven't done much to help it just yet incase I do anything wrong! I've made sure the little stressed/scared frog is in water and I left the room so they can calm down but I haven't done anything else.

[Badger]

The rule of thumb is don't feed a cricket larger than the space between their eyes. I would get small-medium crickets for them. As far as the stress goes, don't handle him anymore, and make sure there is a supply of food for him. have you ever hand fed them? If so, then try that after a couple days of not eating at all. If not, you may have to force feed if he goes 2 weeks without any food. It is stressful for both you and the frog, but it may need to be done. For the next few days just let him be, don't touch or handle at all. only go into the tank for necessities. I know how tempting it may be, but it can be a huge source of stress.

[FroggyFriends]

Thank you! The pet shop gave us medium crickets, but the frogs aren't fully grown yet. I would have brought small ones but I wasn't there when they were brought. It's a massive problem for me not going to look at them, I just want to keep checking the little frog is alright. I'll try my best to only look at them closely when I change the water every evening! I've only had them three days so I'll just hope it calms down and eats by then (:

[Poly]

Dalton's got you pointed in the right direction, another thing you can do is drop some pin-head crickets in their tank. Amphibians love to hunt, escpeially FBT's. One of my american toads wouldn't eat on it's feeding mat, so I dropped 5 crickets in at night and they were all eaten by the morning. You could also try VERY small feeder fish, that is, if you have an aquatic set-up, or a slightly larger than normal water dish. FBT's are in their element when there in water, so to hunt in water would be even better. Could you post a photo of your set-up please?

~Royce

[FroggyFriends]

Sure, this photo hasn't got them in (I didn't want to scare them any more!) so this is one I took just before I got them. It's an old fish tank I'm using. It's about 10-12 gallons. I have put a small water dish under the brach at the back from when the little ones wouldn't come out and I was worried about it getting dehydrated.

[Poly]

You could try putting some small guppies in the water dish.