My Care Guide for Firebelly Toads!!!

[MantisMan]

Practical Care of the OrientalFirebelly Toad, Bombina orientalis

By Alex B

Introduction:
The firebelly toad, Bombina orientalis, is a small (2-3 inch)toad native to eastern Asia, found from southern China up to Korea and possiblyRussia. Their natural habitat is woodland areas surrounding permanent bodies ofwater. These toads are a very primitive species of amphibian, perhaps the mostprimitive in culture, and are a very popular and easy pet. These toads are veryforgiving and can tolerate a wide range of care conditions and have relativelybasic needs. These toads get their name for the red color of their underside,which indicates poison. These toads are mildly toxic, but it does not harmhumans unless the toad is ingested. It should be known however, that somepeople are allergic to these toads, and the toxins will make open cuts stingvery badly, and if hands are not washed after handling, don’t be surprised at asour taste after touching or your lips (I know this because I handled a few, then,without washing my hands, stuck a finger in a jar of frosting and when I put itin my mouth I could taste the liquidly toxins). I would not be overly concernedabout the toxins though, unless you are allergic or eat a large quantity, theyare not dangerous. It should be noted that pets such as cats or dogs and smallchildren should not have access to these toads because they do not recognizethe fact that these toads are poisonous to eat. In the wild, these toads, if onland, will flip and reveal their red undersides if threatened to scare offpotential predators. This is known as the unken reflex, unken being German fortoad. Captive individuals lose this instinct and eventually become tame aroundhumans, particularly if they associate the presence of a human with food. Withproper care these toads have been known to live up to 20 years, but a moreaverage lifespan is 5-10 years, and keep in mind a good percentage of thesetoads in pet stores are wild caught, and they may already be 2-6 years old oreven older in some cases. These toads make wonderful pets and are an enjoymentfor anyone.
Obtaining a Toad:
These toads are very common in pet stores andanyone can go to a local store and pick one up. However, randomly going to astore and picking up just any toad is careless. You want to look for a healthyspecimen that will give you years of enjoyment. Avoid unreasonable prices forthese toads, since they are incredibly common and low maintenance, avoid payingmore than $15 for one, and a reasonable price range is between 4 and 10 dollars.If you choose to obtain some through an online site be sure they have a goodreputation for selling healthy animals, since you cannot examine a specimenbought through the internet. This does not necessarily mean a pet store is anybetter. I’ve seen very unhealthy toads at pet stores before. Just because thesetoads don’t require a whole lot of care doesn’t mean they will do well withlong term neglect (they will do fine for about 1 week at less than idealconditions, and are very resilient). A healthy toad should have vivid colors,clear and wide open eyes, a dark, heart shaped pupil, moist, unbroken skin, isplump, alert, and active. I would avoid any stores who have skinny, discolored(a chocolate brown is not bad, but merely a variation) or blotchy lookingtoads. If there are dead animals in the cage (particularly if they are dead inthe water area of the holding cage), you should avoid buying from the supplier.Avoid anyone who doesn’t guarantee the animals (I buy from petsmart usually,and they guarantee the animals for 2 full weeks). Also, no bones or bumpsshould be visible underneath the skin. The toad also should be able tocoordinate its movements properly and balance itself properly in water (if ittilts to one side or has problems swimming it could be malnutrition or a spinalinjury sustained by another animal. Also, when picked up or held the toadshould vigorously try to get free (a good test would be to form a cup with yourhands and lightly hold it and see if it tries to free itself from your grasp,but be gentle so it doesn’t harm itself). Lastly, the toad should not have anydischarge coming from any areas of its body unless it’s defecating. The fecesshould be dark, round, firm, and consistent. Any misshape, red ordiscoloration, or runniness can be a cause for alarm. To see the stool, put itin a small cage with moist paper towels on the bottom, and within about a dayit should defecate.
Housing:
After purchasing one or more healthy individuals, you need toset up a cage for the toads. They can survive several days in a small,ventilated cage with moist paper towels on the floor while you set up apermanent cage for the toad. A single toad can do fine in a cage with an 8” by8” floor, and a 10 gallon fish tank can house up to 6 fully grown toads. Thesetoads are very hardy and can tolerate a wide range of setups. A cage with 3inches of moist peat moss, a small water bowl, and fake plants or vines is agood, simple setup for them. You can even add live plants that have minimallight requirements and that are free of any fertilizers and pesticides.Sphagnum moss also works well, and both mosses are readily available as bricksat pet stores, and adding a gallon of water expands them. Another option is thehalf land, half water cage. This is accomplished with rinsed aquarium gravel,and the land area has a taller pile of gravel so when you add about 2-4 inchesof water to the tank, about half of the tank worth of gravel juts out of thewater. Be sure to cover the land gravel with moss so the toads don’taccidentally ingest it, which can kill them. A third option is the mainlyaquatic option, with a thin layer of gravel on the bottom of the tank, 3-6inches of water, fake or live plants, and a fake rock, Lilly pad, or otherobject sticking out of the water to serve as land. Anything in between any ofthe 3 setups also works. It mainly depends on your taste and budget, but themost important points are no chemicals, a moist environment with at least asmall swimming area, shelter, and temperatures between 68 and 74 degrees, whichcan be accomplished with a small light (do not place directly on plastic lidsand be sure the toads can’t directly touch the bulb) over the cage. Also, thewater should be rain water or spring water (at a grocery store, a gallon jug ofspring water can cost less than a dollar), as tap water has too many mineralsand chlorine and distilled water is too pure and can cause problems with thetoads’ fluid intake and possibly blood pressure (remember the concept ofdiffusion). Any visible waste (shed skin, dead insects, feces) should beremoved when it is seen and every 6 months everything should be taken out,rinsed, moss replaced, and cleaned well (use hot water only, no soap orchemicals). Once a year replace gravel. I typically use the mostly aquaticsetup and once a month I stir up the gravel to loosen up the waste, then I usea fine beta net and a pipette to remove the now floating waste and every 4-6months I rinse everything and clean it well. If the toads are actively spawning(will get to this later) it’s a good idea to wait until all eggs hatch beforedoing too much cleaning to avoid harming them. It is not a good idea to houseother species with these toads, mainly because of the toad’s toxins. If you dohouse something with the toads, be sure both animals are similar sizes so theydon’t try and eat each other. I have housed treefrogs with these toads withouta problem since the toads can handle a mossy cage and the treefrogs stay offthe ground unless feeding and they don’t have too much contact with each otherso they don’t absorb each other’s secretions. Just be sure to meet bothspecies’ needs and that they both eat enough.
Feeding:
Firebelly toads are eager eaters and will goafter any invertebrate they can swallow (they will sometimes bite each other’sfeet, but it is not something to worry about unless one toad is significantlylarger than the other. Fully grown toads need only to be fed 2-3 times a weekand can go up to 3 weeks without food in summer. Crickets are a fairly goodstaple diet, they are easy to care for and gut load. Crickets do have a fewdisadvantages, such as their noises, odor, death rate, expensiveness, and theirpotential to bite your toad. Crickets are good if you have only a few toads, asyou can easily buy about 100 crickets, which will last you about 5 weeks,though if you have a large number or are looking for a better feeder option,roaches are great. Crickets and roaches can be kept in similar ways. Forcrickets, I take a small 3 gallon tank. I put a thin layer of plain, organicoatmeal on the floor of the cage, and I place 2 small bowls on the floor of thetank. In one bowl I place water gels; in the other I place fruits andvegetables. On the oatmeal I place fish flakes, which the crickets willgreedily eat up. I place cardboard egg crate for climbing surfaces, add 100 orso crickets, cover the container and store it in a cool, shady location in thehouse. If you feed the toads every 3 days, 100 crickets, assuming you have 2toads, and every cricket survives to be food, you should be set for about 5½weeks. Keep in mind cricket prices are rising from the virus that is killingthem off, and they add up after so many months. If you choose to hibernate thetoads, then that’s 3 months you don’t need crickets for, but this willstimulate spawning (will get to this later). Roaches are my preferred feederinsect. Not only are they inexpensive and disease free, they can be bred for acontinuous supply of food. I use a 4 gallon, flat Rubbermaid container with aventilated lid. Lobster roaches, Nauphoeta cinerea, are an excellent feederroach. I set up the bin with a butter container lid for dry food (crushed dogfood and fish flakes) and a slightly deeper plastic lid for fruits andvegetables. Then I add a few layers of egg crate and I buy 100 mixed roaches.As a bonus, since the adult roaches are too big for the toads to eat, you canleave all adults in the colony to reproduce and feed off smaller babies. Also,they are tropical insects from the Caribbean that need warm temperatures tosurvive and if a few get loose they will not be a problem, crickets are moreproblematic if they get loose than tropical roach species (I only use tropicalroaches that are no problem if they escape, and rarely have escapees since theyhang out with the other roaches due to the smell of their roachrelatives-humans typically cannot smell roaches). These roaches climb plasticso be sure to have a tight lid on the cage. I keep these under an infrared lampwhich keeps them at about 80 degrees and they grow and breed quickly. I wouldavoid excessive feeding of a starting roach colony (let at least half thenymphs reach adulthood and breed for about 2 months), though usually plenty ofextra roaches are shipped and you can afford to feed off about 20 or so. Withboth feeder insects be sure to keep the cages clean and food constant andfresh. In order to maintain their red bellies, these toads need carotene in thefood they eat. This can usually be achieved by gut loading feeder insects withthings such as carrots, peppers, mango, oranges, sweet potato, and other fruitsand vegetables full of beta carotene and other carotenoids, but many tropical fishflakes with color enhancers also help. Things such as bloodworms and brineshrimp also help maintain the red color and buying frozen ones that you thenthaw and wave in front of the toad with long feeding tongs is worthwhile. Notonly does this help simulate the diet they would have in the wild but will helpimprove your relationship with your fairly smart, long lived, amphibiousfriend. Not every feeding they get needs to contain carotenes when adults, astreats, waxworms, maggots, silkworms, small earthworms, and hornworms are nicefeeder insects. Be sure to feed the toad things not much larger than the headsize, as they swallow prey whole. Adult firebellies need food every 3-4 days,though in some cases should receive more. Also, younger ones need food everyother day (most people say every day but I find really young toadlets don’thave that kind of appetite, they do build an appetite as they develop);otherwise they will not be properly nourished and will be undersized adults.
Breeding:
If you have been keeping these toads for afew years and decide you really like them and wish to breed them, you will findit relatively easy to do so. However, do not just breed any animal for the sakeof breeding them. Keep in mind firebelly toads produce hundreds of young andyou may be responsible for all of those. If you are only looking for a fewmore, it is a better idea to just buy a couple more at the pet store. If youreally do want to study their life cycle and grow your own, just keep in mindit is a lot of work and can be difficult. You won’t make much money if you sellthem, and unless you live in their native region, they cannot be released intothe wild. You are ethically obligated to care for the young that you decided tobring into the world, so keep these things in mind before and while you putforth a breeding plan. Another aspect of responsible breeding is the fact thatonly healthy, fully mature individuals should be put through such a demandingprocess and inbreeding should be avoided at all costs. Breeding these toads canprove difficult in the sense of obtaining males and females. Since about 90% ofthis species’ population is male, it can prove difficult to find one or twofemales that you can use. Compared to females, males are slightly smaller andoften have bumpier backs. They also have thicker forearms and nuptial pads, butthese differences are hardly distinctive and they are difficult todifferentiate. Just picking a huge, fat toad out of a pet store does not guaranteeit to be female. Males behave differently than females. They make more noise(though an unreceptive female will make a frantic vibrating chirping sound whengrabbed; males accidentally grabbed will make the same sound), which isanything from a soft tink to an almost ape like holler. Also, when in a cagewith a few inches of water, males will grab and attempt to mate with passingtoads quite often, and sooner than later you will notice this, and since onlymales do this, if you have a toad that never grabs another toad and you’ve hadit for a good 2 months, it’s a safe bet its female. My female often times isalways round even when the males are skinny and they haven’t eaten in weeks(such as after hibernating) and she hogs the food sometimes. The more toads youhave, the better, though I had success with a group of 3 males and 1 female, itis ideal to have twice that number. The more crowded the better in the breedingseason. The only caution I have is not to have a huge over accumulation ofmales and only 1 female, anything more than 3 males to 1 female is a safetydanger, as many males attempting to mate with a single female can severelyinjure her, I had this happen to a small female and she sustained a spinalinjury she never recovered from. Another option is to buy some from an onlinesite that will sex adults for you, they are more experienced and are usuallyaccurate, the only disadvantage is shipping is stressful, expensive, and youcannot examine the specimen you receive before purchasing. After you have 1 or2 females and 3-6 males to go with them, you must begin to condition them tobreed. First, make a peak daylight of 16 hours, which should be done in earlyJuly (if it gets cold in the winter in your area this helps). A timer used forlamps and other electrical devices works well for this, just attach it to thelamp over the cage. Every 2 weeks decrease the daylight by half an hour andfeed the toads very well. Start letting the water level drop, and when thetoads have about 12½ hours of daylight, they will lose interest in food and actmore sluggish. This is a good sign. Make sure they were loaded up with food andare nice and plump, feeding them waxworms helps them bulk up. If you had peak daylightthe first week of July, it should be late October/early November now. Take thetoads and place them in a small tank with 5 inches of moist sphagnum moss andplace it in a cool area that doesn’t get warmer than 60 degrees but no coolerthan about 55, though they can tolerate temps as low as 48 for SHORT periods oftime (I know this on account of a winter storm/power outage that drasticallycooled down my house and they were fine). I use the closet in my room, since itjuts out of the house and is a bit cooler than my room in winter (see why it isa good idea to hibernate them in sync with your region’s winter?) but any othercloset in my upstairs works and one leads up to an unheated attic so it getsnice and cool, but be careful so it doesn’t get too cold. Unheated sheds workas long as they are insulated a bit and garages can also be used but exhaustfrom a car may harm them. If your fridge is set between 55 and 60 degrees (minifridges may work if you don’t want to do this to a whole big fridge), you canput them in that but be sure they don’t dry up. They don’t need much daylight(I usually remove them from the hibernation location for a few minutes once aweek, and every month for an hour so I can add a few insects), and barelylighting them at all really helps convince them it’s winter. They may burrow,they may not, but they don’t move too much, which is nothing to be concernedabout. Every month it’s not a bad idea to throw in a few crickets or something(1 insect per toad is plenty, they may not even eat), but nothing major. Afterabout 12 weeks, it is a good idea to set up the big tank again so they canawaken. Get gravel (white gravel makes it easy to see eggs) and make a deep endand a shallow end in the tank. The deep end should be 2 inches deeper than theshallow end and cover about ¾ of the tank. In the deep end I put plenty ofplants (both real ones with minimal light needs and fake ones that likeneglect) and fill the tank with 1½ inches of water and add the toads. I coverthe exposed gravel with paper toweling so it does not get ingested. The shallowend has a large fake rock/cave ornament, which seems useless now but in a fewweeks will be useful. I give them 13 hours of daylight the day they come out ofhibernation, increasing by 30 minutes every other week. The first two weeksthey are out of hibernation I feed them heavily daily and give them plenty ofdusting supplements. As the weeks progress I add more water and floatingaquatic plants. When the water levels are up to about 6 inches at the deepestend (see the use of the rock now?) and daylight hours are at 14½ to 15 (about 6weeks after finishing hibernating), the toads should spawn. The males willgrasp toads any time they are in water, but unless he grabs a receptive female,nothing will occur. Once he finds a receptive female the pair engages inamplexus. The female will not reject the male and during the night she willdeposit eggs singly on plant matter. The eggs will be small half black halfwhite balls about the size of the loop of a safety pin and will be encased in adouble jelly membrane. They will eventually absorb the white portion and becometadpole shaped, and hatch in 4-8 days depending on temperature. Then 4 dayslater the tadpoles begin eating. Start them off with food low in protein, it’shealthier for them and helps them bulk up. I always remove tadpoles from theadult cage after they hatch and put them in a separate, 5 gallon tank full ofwater. If you don’t then the adults may eat the tadpoles. The adults will morethan likely spawn again, but don’t put the eggs in the tank full of tadpoles, asthey may become quick snacks for the developed tadpoles. I keep the tadpoles atroom temperature and put the tank next to the adults so the light reaches them.This means the eggs will grow faster when kept in the adult cage, and when theyhatch I transfer them to the tadpole tank with a turkey baster. I start themout on algae as well as blanched lettuce, which I lightly boil for 8 minutesand chop up. I store it in the freezer for safe keeping and when I need some Idefrost it in the microwave and take what I need, the rest goes back into thefreezer. They eat ravenously and grow rapidly. After about 5 weeks I startfeeding them fish flakes, brine shrimp, and bloodworms. They will become toadsin 9-11 weeks depending on the temperature. When they start developing frontlegs they need land areas to climb up on. When they are all toadlets I’d removeall the water and just keep moist paper towels in the cage. The toadlets willbe tiny and need to eat fruitflies for the first few months. Fruitflies are easyto culture, you can obtain Drosophila hydei cultures very easily online andwhen the culture is about 3 weeks old you can take a medium apple, cut it up,blend it in a blender with vinegar, mix ¼ cup orange juice with ¼ cup organicplain oatmeal and stir the apple/vinegar and juice/oatmeal mixes together andplace in the bottom of a 32oz deli cup. Add raffia straw and cover with aventilated lid. In 4-5 days you can add 30 or so adult flies and in about 2weeks the new culture will keep producing for you. The young toadlets will needto be fed food supplemented with carotenes so they develop red color, though itis difficult when using fruitflies. Dusting tiny feeder insects with a carotenedust helps, gut loading pinhead crickets and tiny baby roaches with carotenefilled food is also a good idea, but newly metamorphosized toadlets are tootiny for this. With the small toadlets I often will take a small cup and putsome carotene dust in it, pour fruitflies into it, then swirl it. The flies arethen coated with the dust and I put the whole cup in the cage. When the fliescrawl out of the cup they are eaten before the dust falls off. Be carefulthough as young toadlets are excellent climbers and if one climbs up the cupand falls into the dust, the dust will dehydrate the toadlet and kill it. I noticeyoung toadlets often have issues catching prey and the sticky tongues are notdeveloped so it is important to have small prey always available. At first,mortality will be high, between 12 and 30%, and if you start out with 100 eggs,only about 10 may grow to full size, most deaths occur between metamorphosisand sexual maturity, very few tadpoles die, but after about 3 months they seemto be more stable. At 4 months old they can be fed thawed bloodworms off atoothpick and this helps them gain nutrients and pigments. The toadlets becomemature between 8 and 14 months old and are more robust and tame than their parents,who were likely wild caught.
In Conclusion:
The firebelly toad is an exciting andforgiving pet that is well worth keeping. They are easy and hardy and it isvery rewarding to own one and watch it eat and move and become accustomed toyou. They are long lived and their ease of care allows anyone to become closerto amphibians. Breeding them gives an encouraging challenge to any hobbyist andthese toads are a perfect addition to any household and forever will be.

[Faith]

This is amazing, printing it now so I can read it more before heading to bed. Great job!

[MantisMan]

yay!! i noticed that copying and pasting it made some words merge but it looks pretty good regardless

[Faith]

Yes it does

[adinco]

thank you! bookmarking this now!

[MantisMan]

bumpity bump ribbit!!

[BeansFBT]

Whoa, this is pretty great information for anyone interested in FBTs. Thanks for typing it all out! I know I learned a few things. I think this deserves a sticky!

[MantisMan]

Whoa, this is pretty great information for anyone interested in FBTs. Thanks for typing it all out! I know I learned a few things. I think this deserves a sticky!

me too lol
especially considering if i wrote this at 16, imagine how much it can improve in 10 years or so lol
also, bump!!

[FriedrichsFrogs]

is 90% of the population really male??? wow slim pickins

[MantisMan]

about 90% yes
ah well...

[FriedrichsFrogs]

...Now that i think about it iv had 5 FBTs and only 1 of them is a female. Great job Alex ur guide is really thorough

[MantisMan]

...Now that i think about it iv had 5 FBTs and only 1 of them is a female. Great job Alex ur guide is really thorough

thanx
i've had 12 adults and only 2 have been female, not sure on the hundreds of babies moaper produced though...

[UncleChester]

thanx
i've had 12 adults and only 2 have been female, not sure on the hundreds of babies moaper produced though...

So the "90% of the population is male" is an anecdotal observation of the adults you've obtained? Likely being wild caught, this wouldn't be too surprising.

I think a 90% male claim on a wild population or birth rate would be rather suprising. A near even split was observed in birth rates in The Sex of Triploids and Gynogenetic Diploids in Bombina orientalis (a 1980 paper, full pdf is available at the link, near 50/50 split of sexes in their control group).

[MantisMan]

yeah idk if it's that bad but i read somewhere the male to female ratio can be AS BAD AS 10:1 which is 90%
anyways i'll have to add that toadlets should not be housed at high densities for 2 reasons
1: if 1 gets an infection it'll spread fast
2: they'll bully each other out of food and the smaller, weaker ones starve or get cannibalized

[MantisMan]

bump and i will be making even further improvements to this guide with the coming spawning season, especially talking abt new methods and a few important things i left out of the breeding section

[Slyk]

My fire bellied toads laid eggs and now I have tadpoles they are still in the tank and have been eating algae and I have been giving them fish food some are small with front and back legs and some are big with no legs will the little ones survive?

[Flying Dutchman]

Great work, must have cost you some hours to make!