Great Plains Toad (Bufo cognatus) Substrate Help

[VictorsMom]

I am a fairly new toad mom. I've had my Great Plains Toad for about 5 months and his name is Victor. I actually found him in a vaporizer I purchased from a garage sale. He was very thin and dehydrated (it was well over 100 that day and I don't know how long he had been in there). I was planning on keeping him until he had put some weight on and there was a good rainfall. Well, I grew to love him and Victor (named by my ex-boyfriend) seemed to take to captivity very well. Anyway...back to my substrate problem. I started out with bark, which I noticed he was ingesting when eating crickets. I switched to coconut mulch today (being very careful as I am lethally allergic to coconut). However, he is in and out of his water constantly (Victor is a very active toad) and I've noticed that he is bringing a lot of that coconut mulch into his water. There are pieces floating at eye level and I'm very scared he is going to get some in his eyes and possibly get an eye infection. Am I being overprotective and paranoid or is this a legitimate risk? If so, is there another substrate I could use or should I opt for cage carpeting? Just tell me the absolute best thing for him and I will get it! I only want the best of the best for my boy! Also, right now he is in the largest Petco cage and it is about 17 x 12 x 6. Is this okay or do I need a bigger habitat for him? I don't have any light or heating for him, but I put my room light on during the day for all my critters (birds, mice, hamster, and toad) and our house temperature averages around 75 degrees. By the way, Victor is about 4 inches long. I would like to add, I feed him 2 superworms (1 live and 1 dead) and 2 large crickets per day. Too much or too little? I dust one cricket in vitamin powder and the other in calcium powder. The crickets are fed a high-calcium cricket diet, too. Please tell me if I am doing anything wrong or if there is anything I need to change about his care. Oh, and I also mist him with Zilla Tropical Mist Reptile Spray. I spray 10 pumps on him, about 12" away. Is this okay or could I hurt his eyes? He does close his eyes and pop them back into his head when I do this. I appreciate all advice! Thanks!

[tgampper]

Hi and welcome to Frog Forum

I have a very active Woodhouse toad, very similar to the GP toad. Mine is very active also and has the same behavior as Victor. He moves from the substrate to the water bowl and back messing up the water. I have to clean the water bowl at least once a day (sometimes more often). I don't think there will be much problem with infection if you do the water changes. Make sure your water is conditioned, I use Stress-Coat in my water and it has worked perfectly for many years. You can get it at any pet shop selling tropical fish supplies. I keep my frogs in 10 gallon clear Rubbermaid containers and works well for both me (easy to clean and light weight) and the frog. I use a soldering iron to poke holes in the container for fresh air. What you are keeping Victor in is very good and plenty of room. Keeping the cage at room temperature is just fine. Since the toad is large, you might want to feed it every other day to avoid obesity. You are misting too much, toads are able to live in drier conditions. A clean water bowl should be all you need. Toads do enjoy a misting occasionally, but not too often. Don't worry too much, toads are pretty tough

[VictorsMom]

Thank you so much! I'm so glad somebody finally replied to my post! You've put a lot of my fears to rest. I have begun feeding him every other day. How about I mist him only when he is shedding?

[tgampper]

Thank you so much! I'm so glad somebody finally replied to my post! You've put a lot of my fears to rest. I have begun feeding him every other day. How about I mist him only when he is shedding?

Misting during the shed would be helpful.

[VictorsMom]

Thanks, again!