Proud Family Photo

[Squirp]

Good evening. About a year ago I become amazed by Toads.
And they're lives have given me a healthy insight on all things.

To aid in that process I will have questions exceeding into the future.
and thought best to acquaint myself so I can celebrate the species;
these are my three free squirps:

1. the one that burped, that's the original squirp, He was suffering from starvation. but gifted the wisdom of self worth that only exists when your living in a home made of basement dirt. He is respected for having sage like qualities.

2. peekers squirp is plotting in the back. He's the most serious and aggressive toad of the bunch, He was ironically found on the road. picked up after noticing his deceased companion. Surprisingly we get along great, sure we had to go to a couple of seminars, but we really talked past his differences with people and we're a much better family because of it.

3. Okay this last one is a bit controversial, but I'm just going to lay it out like it is. Scrappy squirp. I don't have much affection for him. Some producers from this place I work at got involved in the middle of the taping of the first season of the squirps and told me to deal with their client. So basically my very serious documentary about the dramatic nature of the toads existence being a symbolism of simplicity and path to enlightenment was reduced into a TBS Thursday night sitcom. It's as if the light bulb burns out, a car comes screeching to a halt, and this glory hog stumbles onto the screen with a contract, and a little suitcase. I don't understand it, hopefully it's just a phase, but that's pretty much what I'm dealing with over here. How about you guys?

[Poly]

Firstly, I'd like to say, welcome to the Forum!

Nice toads! Great photos! Toads are fascinating, arn't they!? Congratulations of saving Squirp! I love their names!

It looks like you have a great set-up there! I have 2 suggestions for you though.

1. Remove ANY small stones, such as the blue ones in the photo, if the toad ingests one of these by mistake/when hunting an insect, in most cases they will get stuck in it's intestine, cause impaction (due to the blockage in it's intestine) and kill the toad. If this does happen, they MAY be lucky enough to pass the stone, but it is unlikely.

2. Make sure the toad does not ingest the moss, as it will also cause impaction.

It's nice to read all the info you have provided on the toads backrounds!

You should post some more photos! We here on FrogForum LOVE photos! What type of set-up are you keeping them in?

~Royce

[Squirp]

I became aware of the stones after reading a few threads here the xray was pretty cool, unfortunately I had already set up this terrarium a while ago. I generally feed them on a rolled bamboo mat, So I'll pretend things are fine as far as the pebbles up until this point. I have a question for you in response. My first source suggested not to use sand, because the small material in sand will grind away at their eyes if they use them to push down food. your material looks really gritty, have you ever approached this question before?

Here's my setup. Please offer suggestions. You can't see it but under that bamboo roll is a cavern. they used it for the first weeks and then played in the moss. Is there anything else we could recommend to replace the moss? Eventually I'd like to use real plants, but it's a lot to figure out all at once. I might not be ready for that for a couple of months. for now I just want to see if anyone had some advice before the next cleaning, because you can tell things are getting pretty trampled and unkempt have to make this next one last for a while.

[Poly]

I feel sand if fine to use as a substrate, IF the amphibians come form a sandy enviroment, as mine do. Creatures adapt to their enviroments.

Coco-fibre would be a good replacment of the moss, but if you take them out and feed them on a feeding mat as I do, I wold not worry about it, it's if they are fed in the tank that it becomes worrysome.

And, to be perfectly honest, live plants arn't that nig of a deal! I'll post some photos of my toads planted vivarium tommorow! (or you can see them yourself by following the link in my signnature).

I'm off to bed now, it's 12:31am where I live!

~Royce