Little Brown Toads

[Cynere]

A few weeks ago I scooped some tadpoles out of a local creek. I have been rearing them on spinach and occasional fish food flake in a 10 gallon aquarium. I now have nine fat little tadpole/froglets. One seemed to have issues with staying upright for a couple of days. I removed him to small, shallow bowl of water for 30 minutes and then returned him to the tank. He seems to have recovered 100%. All of them have front and back legs while a few are finishing up their tails.

This is my first go around with frogs or toads. I spent a while looking through tadpole identification guides and decided they are probably some kind of toad, maybe oak toads. I live in central Florida. These little guys are a medium brown with black spots, seen clearly with a bright light.
At the moment I am housing them together with less than an inch of water and a sloping cardboard platform. They enjoy hanging out in the shallow water over the cardboard while the legged ones go a bit higher up. I am looking for a suitable top right now but the froglets don't seem to be able to climb the glass. Today I purchased some small crickets to maybe feed them, they are not pinhead crickets though and I am concerned they are too large. The fastest growing froglet still has a tiny numb of a tail since last night.



I have read the toad care article on this site but any suggestions would be appreciated. I want to make sure I do this right.

[Charlotte Benedict]

For newly morphed toadlets, you should probably get a flightless fruit fly culture. They are very small and easy to feed to your guys. Since they still have tails, keep a large source of water still in the tank, but make sure they can get to land easily, about 50/50 land to water ratio. Their eyes look kind of like spadefoot toads... post more info as they evolve, and keep me posted!

[Cynere]

Thanks for the ID suggestion. I am keeping them with about that ratio of "land" to water with less than an inch of water as all have legs but some still are swimming mostly. I found this out, that the crickets looked like monsters next to them; I will be purchasing a fruit fly culture quickly.
At least four froglets are spending most of their time on the land section. Very exciting, I have had them for 11 days so far. When I first got them they were pea-sized tadpoles with no legs.
I really appreciate the information. I got pretty frustrated this morning messing with crickets. I will try ants until the fruit fly culture arrives. Hopefully I can get better pictures.

[Cynere]

Another question, the small insects that I have brought as offerings seem to want to drown themselves. I haven't seen much interest from the toads. Should I separate the tailed from the tailless to facilitate bug capturing?

[Charlotte Benedict]

I prefer feeding my frogs by tongs, but if the fruit flies are too small then either separate the tails from the tailess or just put them all in a different container for feeding time. Im glad I could help!

[Charlotte Benedict]

Also, be careful with catching outside critters. I understand you need to now since you don't have your fruit fly culture, but sometimes, rarely, they can have pesticides and other germs that will hurt your frogs. Once you get sanitary insects, don't give them any more outsides!

[Heatheranne]

Awe, cute

[Cynere]

Thanks. : ) I still don't know what they are but that's okay. First toad poops ever today, I am so glad that they are eating something. Hopefully that culture gets here soon, I am bug hunting outside all day. If it's small enough for them to eat I invariably kill it catching it. I am also trying to feed stuff that won't crawl out. Need to find a fine mesh or something.
In this picture you can see the spots better.

[Heatheranne]

I had the same trouble...we took plastic cups and skimmed the grass for bugs. Caught all kinds of them. Then just removed any that were too big and any spiders. Found all kinds of gnats and aphids.

[Cynere]

We have a lot of trees here so there isn't a whole lot of grass. Maybe I am just not a good grass skimmer. I have brought them black ants today but for the most part they are just stalking them. They get close enough and then back off if the ant crawls toward them. I have no idea if there is nonverbal toadlet communication happening or if they just don't like ants much.

[Heatheranne]

Lol! Trying slicing an apple or an orange and place it in a cup outside. Maybe a few will fly in .

[Cynere]

I can try it but I am sure it will be full of ants. I found more usable bugs on the Walmart produce today, too bad I didn't bring a container.

[Heatheranne]

True, I guess maybe try and hang it?
I'd share some if you were close by. I'm in Pa.
I have fruit flies, pinheads crickets and baby dubias. The dubias are likely too big yet though.

[Cynere]

Thanks for the thought. I should have a culture on the way. I have some crickets but they are just too big right now. The dubia roaches actually cannot be shipped to Florida (or owned in florida I believe), illegal. Everything roach-like prospers here.

[Cynere]

I had one toad eat a tiny earthworm today. They won't eat them if I cut them up, even if they move. I have also had three or so toads attempt to eat a cricket that I half mashed up so that it would kick its legs. They are carrying around the cricket like a dog and rope toy but he's just too big. I found some more aphids but these toads eat a lot. : )

[Heatheranne]

Awe ! Awesome! You sure are putting forth the effort . Hopefully your cultures will arrive soon.

[Cynere]

I found some tiny beetles and isopods but they weren't interested at all in these unless I didn't see them eat them. The isopods look just like the "purple" variety sold on some feeder sites.

[Heatheranne]

Hmmm, I don't know that I've seen those. Any word on your cultures arriving?

[Cynere]

Shipped early this morning from the same state so it shouldn't be long.

[Heatheranne]

Yay!