Exchanging insight

[Squirp]

Alright gentlemen, I think a majority of us have the same goal, which is to raise healthy specimens.
However, in order to do this, I'd like a little help from the experienced characters of the site.

I have a 30 gallon tank, and a knot of 3 toads, rescued from my endeavors on American soil. the Bufo Americanus are a primary study, but my fascination extends within all species, which I'm having a hard time collecting names outside from common terminology. I've spent a lot of somewhat wasted time on Wikipedia and Google, but nothing extensive as far as a masters research composition of species. I understand a decent portion of the psychology and sociology of the knot, but in terms of habitat. I'll need some help.

With my last two setups I've set up a decent place to live, but after a couple of weeks, I notice fruit flies throughout the house. I groom the toad's garden daily with a set of chopsticks, and I have another set for feeding. never the less because I like to have a lot of covering for the toads to hide in, not all the waste if cleaned up, and I believe this is what attracts the flies. Does anyone have a solution for unwanted insects? also, on the topic of insects. My toads love to eat isopods, the two other insects I'll encounter while searching for armadillidium are earwigs and millipedes. I've never fed these to the toads because I was concerned about the tonged tails or toxins millipedes produce. Aside from that concern I'm curious if anyone has had any luck ordering insects online, I'm a little skeptical about using the mail system to transport living material, I dont know why, it just concerns me, especially when people order these animals online, exactly how do they contain these animals safely without stressing them out.

Plants, this is troublesome because it expands the concept infinitely, but I would like to know if real plants actual offer more comfort for the toads, if so, could I get some recommendations on which plants I could use? It appears there are a number of plants that can be harmful to their sensitive skin.

Breeding, very foreign concept for me, but I would eventually like to try to breed the species, and raise multiple generations. I've noticed online there are some equipment you can buy to aid in this process, but as I'm sure some of the community here has tried and failed, and hopefully I can learn from their experience, this also has me imagining if it's possible to crossbreed any of the species, or are we primarily against this research?

I'm not sure if I got most of my questions out there, but short hand any form of extensive research you may have collected online would make for an excellent read on my end. Also if you could share any helpful tips into the perfect toad habitat that will fulfill their tiny imaginations, You will earn a vast amount of respect on my end, and I hope to continue into these concepts of conversations until I can refine the process enough to contribute my own material.

Thank you Gentlemen,
I appreciate you all taking the time to identify with the issue.

[Squirp]

Whats going on here?

[Wormwood]

Some short answers since no one else is answering.

I would try a library or a book store and get yourself one of those great amphibian guides in the guide section. Most have the scientific names of most species; granted they won't have every little sub species in them but it's the closest you'll get I bet without talking to some zoologist that focuses on amphibian study.

Fruit flies, mites, springtails. If you don't want them let the substrate dry out, be it sand or coco fibers. You don't need wet, or even moist substrate to make most toad species happy. All of my toads live in dry tanks with a water source I change daily, or at least filter with some kind of pump system. IMO it gets the toads out and moving about, having to go to the water source for hydration. Even fire belly toads do fine with a dry side of the tank and a sectioned off water side.

I've got good and bad experiences ordering bugs online. I'd rather drop twenty bucks for 500 super worms online though then spend fifty at some pet store, even if some die in the process of shipping. Same goes with crickets and most other feeders.

From my experience most toads are wild caught since toads don't bring much profit in pet trade. The ones that do are the massive ones like Rocco and Suraname toads and these require MASSIVE ammounts of food to get to the size where they are worth the 80-100 bucks some venders charge them. Toad tadpoles are surprisingly fragile as well. That's why they are most or less wild caught. Your information on breeding toads will be limited because of this. I can't even give you any advice there because in all my years of keeping toads I've never had them sucessfully mate in captivitiy.

Good luck.

[John]

Just to add to what Wormwood has already told you, unless you are able to put the toads through a seasonal photoperiod and temperature reduction over a number of months, breeding these toads will be next to impossible. Few people breed them successfully, or any temperate frog/toad/salamander for that matter.

Bufo americanus habitat is quite varied. They're a hardy toad, but I would say you should think of deciduous woodland as being the main habitat for adult toads. As for breeding habitat, they will breed in almost any water body available in the spring, from very shallow drainage ditches (we're talking a cm or 2 of water max) to deep ponds.

[Squirp]

I'm curious if there are any more common type of insects that I should keep away from my toads,
I understand that soft bellied insects are good to keep in mind for the toads diet.
Then I read spiders are a good snack, So I ran around collecting any slower moving bulb spider I could catch, and they seemed to enjoy those.
I've avoided feeding them earwigs. or millipedes. up until this point, but it would be nice to know if it was okay to feed them these, because they are very plentiful outside.
The fall season is almost over, but I usually have a surge of box elder beetles around this time, is their stink gland something that could damage the toads? I fed one to my strongest toad, and everything seemed normal.
I have the same question for the Asian lady beetle.
I don't know, anything else I should consider?

It shouldn't go without saying, but I'd like to thank you two for the help, and to anyone else who wants to lend some advice.

[kueluck]

I'm new at keeping toads (raised toadlets since July 2011) but this is what I have going on: 2 Fowler's toads in a 40 gal breeder tank, the substrate is a mixture 50/50 of organic potting soil & eco earth and it's great for them to bury themselves in, plus it will hold moisture. I have live moss over the entire floor but removed small patches where the hides are. Live plants they will just dig up, so I have several hides and also things for them to climb on. I've mail ordered bugs and it works out great. Their diet consists of pillbugs, earthworms, waxworms, crickets, roaches & butterworms. Also the occational moth I can catch. So far they are doing great. You can check out their habitat in my albums. I don't know if any of this helps but so far it's working great for me.