Best Food for Fire Belly Toad?

[KittyKat90]

So, when I purchased my froggies today the pet store didn't have crickets so I bought Mini- Mealworms. I plan on picking up some Crickets tomorrow and a few more things I need for them. They are slightly scrawny and could use some beefing up. What I'm wondering is, What's the best food to feed them? Is there a way to breed any of them? I could use all the help I could get

[Sunshine]

Mealworms are not very good for frogs. Their exo-skeleton is made of chitin which the frog's can not digest. You can try nightcrawlers and cut them into 1" pieces and see if they will eat those. Nightcrawlers are very nutritious. Butterworms and waxworms are nice and fatty and are good for putting on weight. Variety is important in their diet. Silkworms are very nutritious too but will most likely have to be ordered online. Hornworms make a nice treat once in a while but will also have to be ordered online. Crickets should be gut loaded for at least 24 hours prior to feeding. Food items should be dusted with a calcium and multivitamin powder a few times a week. I use RepCal's Calcium with D3, and RepCal's Herptivite multivitamin powder.

[deranged chipmunk]

Spaghetti

[Pluke]

Dangit DC, that's the first thing that popped into my head when I saw this.. I was seriously considering saying it but you beat me to it.

[deranged chipmunk]

Sorry man....had a few slow minutes at work and i couldn't resist. Lol

[FrogFriend]

I don't know much about breeding. I know that there are temperature and lighting changes that have to be involved. I would go to the Frog and Toad section and click on Fire Belly Toad forum. Put out a post asking or see if you can find a way to message Alex (Mantis Man) or Marco Caccianiga (he's from Italy- great English though). Both of these guys do breeding of their toads and have been quite successful. I am sure there are other people who know how, but I have read many of their posts and they have responded to my FBT questions very knowledgeably and both are really good about including pictures, etc. When I decide to breed my toads I will be going to them for help. I hope this helps!

[KittyKat90]

Thank You. How do you go about gut loading Cricket's? I meant breeding there food. lol I should of been more specific.

[FriedrichsFrogs]

Many pet shops carry gut-loading food for crikets. Some are packed with calcium, some are packed with vitamins, it depends on what you buy and what your looking for so be sure to read the labels. You want to feed those supplements to the crikets roughly a day before you feed the crikets to your frogs so the crikets GI system has enough time to absorb the good stuff before theyr consumed by your frogs. (a lot of pet shops sell their crikets already gut-loaded but it sounds like you want to breed your own frog-food source) If going natural is your plan, feed your crikets things like romaine lettuce (iceberg is low in nutrition), apples, oranges, carrots, and sweet potatoes. Personally i recommend you consider chipmunk + pluke's advice and feed your crikets spaghetti lol

[deranged chipmunk]

Good advice jay! Just an add on to jay's advice. Crickets are smelly. And i mean like leave a dirty diaper out in the sun for a week and then bake it in an oven bad! Just wanted to forewarn you. And spaghetti, while an extremely nutritious food, is very difficult to breed and should only bred by those with the highest of skill levels and experience.

[FriedrichsFrogs]

And spaghetti, while an extremely nutritious food, is very difficult to breed and should only bred by those with the highest of skill levels and experience.

Another warning, spaghetti larvae can only be bought from Italy from the breeder Bouardi so you'll be looking at an over-seas shipping and handling charge

[Sunshine]

spaghetti

l m a o!!!

[Sunshine]

Another warning, spaghetti larvae can only be bought from Italy from the breeder Bouardi so you'll be looking at an over-seas shipping and handling charge

True! It's Chef Boyardee to be exact. It's expensive but worth it!

[deranged chipmunk]

There are some good importers in nyc though. I hear both mario batali and giada do fine work with the very temperamental spaghetti lavae

[Sunshine]

There are some good importers in nyc though. I hear both mario batali and giada do fine work with the very temperamental spaghetti lavae

Awesome! I will have to look into that!

[FriedrichsFrogs]

Yea but kittykat is going to be looking at a hefty bill if she purchases the top of line stuff from batali + giada. I think if she went with the Boiardi method and fed her spaghetti right with garlic, parmessan and sum light alfredo her frogs will be quite satisfied

[Sunshine]

Well she can always just start out with baby prunes, since they are cheaper and easier to breed.

[KittyKat90]

I've heard how bad Crickets stink. I wanted to maybe breed the worms.
So... Crickets, SilkWorms, and Night Crawlers are good for regular feedings? And ButterWorms, WaxWorms, and HornWorms are good for treats and to help fatten them up?

[KittyKat90]

Also, What size of these worms/crickets would my FBT's need?

[KittyKat90]

So, my boyfriend went without me and got pinhead crickets. I thought they could eat the ones a tad bit bigger then that but he didn't think to ask. How many do I need to feed per FBT, since they are so tiny? I Have Five.

This is the food/gutload I got for the crickets:
Fluker's Orange Cube Complete Cricket Diet - Food - Reptile - PetSmart

Is this good or do you guys recommend something else?

[deranged chipmunk]

first off, allow me to apologize for us running the inside joke about the spaghetti. i take full responsibility. i am sorry to have hijacked your thread like that. pin heads are fine for FBT's, in fact, they are better than the large ones. i don't own any, but maybe someone can chime in on a good amount to start with.

as far as the gut load, i have never used that product. i always just tossed some oatmeal in the cricket tank from time to time whenever i watered their sponge.