Southern toad

[frogmandan]

i got a southern toad and need info on habbitat i will soon plan on addin g a few fire belly,s in there with the lil girl so i need it so be able to suport them both ps...




she is rescued so dont hate the lack of stuff in the tank

[kueluck]

Good for you on the rescue, but you won't be able to house the toad & FB. #1 it will kill them, #2 totally different habitats. For the best info check out the care sheets Frog Forum - Care Articles for healthy, happy toads.

[Poly]

A toad like that requires a vivarium with substrate to burrow in, and only a small amount of water. FBT's have very different care requirments, and as Gail stated, you cannot house different species of amphibians together.

You'll want a 10 gallon (or larger) vivarium with 3-4" or loose substrate, such as coco-fibre, eco earth or organic soil (the soil cannot contain fertilizers, this is why it must be organic soil).

No small odjects on the substrate, such as aquarium garvel as the toad could ingest them when lunging for an insect, and this could cause impaction which would kill the toad.

For a toad of that size, a small water dish, roughly 3 toads long x 3 toads wide x 1 toad deep is the perfect size.

As for feeding, a varying diet of crickets, nightcrawlers and mealworms dusted with a calicum & vitamin podwer works well (though, out of crickets and nightcrawlers, you should decide which one you will be feeding the toad as it's "staple" food, and on that topic, mealworms, like pinky mice should only be fed occasionally, they cannot be fed as a staple food like nightcrawlers or crickets.), try to give the toad as much variety as you can. Also, the occasional "pinky" mouse is great for a treat for them, but don't expect the toad to eat for upwards of 1 week after, as it takes them quite a while to digest such a large "treat".

Other than that, just make sure to give it plenty food items, lots hiding spaces, a few live plants (the hold humidity well), fresh water everyday and you'll have a happy healthy toad!

Here's my two american toad's vivarium:

Top view:


Inside view:


Front view:


Do you have a light for your toad's vivarium?

~Royce

[frogmandan]

A toad like that requires a vivarium with substrate to burrow in, and only a small amount of water. FBT's have very different care requirments, and as Gail stated, you cannot house different species of amphibians together.

You'll want a 10 gallon (or larger) vivarium with 3-4" or loose substrate, such as coco-fibre, eco earth or organic soil (the soil cannot contain fertilizers, this is why it must be organic soil).

No small odjects on the substrate, such as aquarium garvel as the toad could ingest them when lunging for an insect, and this could cause impaction which would kill the toad.

For a toad of that size, a small water dish, roughly 3 toads long x 3 toads wide x 1 toad deep is the perfect size.

As for feeding, a varying diet of crickets, nightcrawlers and mealworms dusted with a calicum & vitamin podwer works well (though, out of crickets and nightcrawlers, you should decide which one you will be feeding the toad as it's "staple" food, and on that topic, mealworms, like pinky mice should only be fed occasionally, they cannot be fed as a staple food like nightcrawlers or crickets.), try to give the toad as much variety as you can. Also, the occasional "pinky" mouse is great for a treat for them, but don't expect the toad to eat for upwards of 1 week after, as it takes them quite a while to digest such a large "treat".

Other than that, just make sure to give it plenty food items, lots hiding spaces, a few live plants (the hold humidity well), fresh water everyday and you'll have a happy healthy toad!

Here's my two american toad's vivarium:

Top view:


Inside view:


Front view:


Do you have a light for your toad's vivarium?

~Royce

a basic uv light for the tank its a 29 gal fish aqarium it has graval but has been coverd with dirt from where i got her at i got a filters water pond with a larg rock waterfall on the other end making the lan water ratio 3/1 3 parts land 1 part water

when my cam is charged ill post pics

[Poly]

a basic uv light for the tank its a 29 gal fish aqarium it has graval but has been coverd with dirt from where i got her at i got a filters water pond with a larg rock waterfall on the other end making the lan water ratio 3/1 3 parts land 1 part water

when my cam is charged ill post pics

A UV light is not required with amphibians. If you want a light, use a "Repti-Glo 2.0" CFL bulb or similar 2.0 bulb, this is all you need, otherwise most other bulbs arn't good for the toad.

Yes, make sure you cover the gravel, with at the very least 3" of substrate.

The ratio of land to water sounds good, but how deep is the water? Southern toads are not like FBT's, there abilty to swim in comparison is poor, all it needs, is again, a maximum of 1 toad's depth of water. If you have deep water, it could easily drown.

Looking foward to the photos!

~Royce

[frogmandan]

well i think ill need to add rocks to the water end becase the filter its acully just deep enough to use the filter and aDD a lil bit more sand to the cage for digging in too about 1 more inch

[LazyEyedFroggie]

Just like Poly and Kueluck said, it's certainly not a good idea to house them together, especially taking into consideration the habitat differences. Southern toads are terrestrial, and naturally burrow, whereas Fire Bellies are semi-aquatic and sit in the water a lot of the time. They aren't from the same environment either and would probably be terrified of each other, and bufotoxins may cause serious damage to the other. Fire bellies are excellent pets though, so if you want some, go for it! Just separate the tanks