Weird toad eating behaviors

[HI]

Ok so I have 2 eastern americn toads, one is older and the other one is younger and also has a birth defect (his eye never grew, its still there but it is very tiny). I feed them crickets. Feeding the younger one is easy, put in a cricket and he gets it in no time, the other one is terrible at catching crickets, sometimes he gets distracted and when he goes for the cricket he usually misses and gets nothing or a peice of bark. Its a good day if it takes 15 mins to get 1 cricket, usually i end up taking out the cricket if he doesnt get it because when i leave them in the younger one usually gets them and he is starting to get fat. Ive had the older one (still not full adult size) for about a year, he seems to be fine other than his eating problem. Is this okay and is there anything i can do to help him?

[kueluck]

Have you tried feeding him with a tweezers?

[HI]

no i will have to try that, but the crickets are squirmish and i get the smaller ones

[kueluck]

Grab em' by the legs, worse thing to happen is the legs rip off. At least this would slow the cricket down and easier to catch also.

[mikeytoads]

toads are supposed to be fat.
a chubby toad is a happy toad and vice versa.
you could try feeding things like turkish or dubia roaches, earthworms, mealworms etc that are easier to catch then cricks.
toads need a varied diet to stay healthy (use smaller sized mealworms as their shells are very thin and pass easily, not superworms as theyre commonly known).
fwiw, it's good for caged pets to get as much exercise and mental stimulation as possible, so the toad taking some time to make the catch isn't actually a bad thing long as it gets adequate nutrition.

[HI]

wait so i cant feed them superworms? because i was going to try those next week. I guess ill try to find another pet store (because my local country max only has crickets and superworms) Ill look for small meal worms then

[mikeytoads]

wait so i cant feed them superworms? because i was going to try those next week. I guess ill try to find another pet store (because my local country max only has crickets and superworms) Ill look for small meal worms then

if the toads are big enough you certainly can, but i'd limit their intake of them; the bigger the mealworm the thicker it's shell becomes.

[kueluck]

Mine LOVE the wax worms, but use only as a treat, they are high in fat. And what about earthworms? If they're to big cut them into smaller pieces, they will wiggle for a while after they are cut.

[arielgasca420]

your froggy has no depth perception so tong feeding would be best. try nightcrawlers if you can find them on the internet or in your area (canadian nightcrawlers are good and since you are in NY you may be able to find some in Syracuse

[HI]

I know where i can get night crawlers but they are thicker than the superworms and im going to try a superworm for the larger one this weekend and try to get a small one and see how it goes

[REDDEV1L]

Yup, tong feeding or feeding longer squirmier prey like earthworms etc is the way to go,.

I assume its the one-eyed toad who can't feed properly ??
I have a one eyed frog and he was fine at catching his food for about 6 months (He'd frequently miss but still gave it a good go and would catch food regularly)
however the older and bigger he got, the lazier he got & now can't catch anything himself.
Here's a vid I took of feeding time - Feeding Eyeball a cricket - YouTube

One other way would be to cool the crickets down in the fridge, then remove the toad from the tank and place him in a feeding tub.
This only works if the toads aren't easily stressed tho.

[HI]

The one eyed toad sems a lot more accurate and better at catching prey than the older one, i suppose i could try tongs, but that video would be exactly what would happen to my toad (you even have the same fake plant that i have). today was grest the older one got 2 small crickets after only a few tries, i was happy and im sure he was and one more thing the older one sometimes goes up to the glass and starts going back and forth and hopping on the glass even though often there is no movement on the other side. Its really weird and funny.

[Wormwood]

Or go outside and flip over some rocks, even in cities there are pill bugs/rolly pollies. Toads love 'em. Just put them in a small ceramic dish and like meal worms they can't crawl out but will be happy to move around for the toad.

Sooner or later the toad will return to the same dish to eat them, and often sit in the dish so you'll know it's hungry.

[kueluck]

That is so true about the dish. If they are hunger they gather around it.

Or go outside and flip over some rocks, even in cities there are pill bugs/rolly pollies. Toads love 'em. Just put them in a small ceramic dish and like meal worms they can't crawl out but will be happy to move around for the toad.

Sooner or later the toad will return to the same dish to eat them, and often sit in the dish so you'll know it's hungry.

[HI]

There are a lot of pill bugs in our yard so ill try that