fire belly toads dying

[lizarddude]

hey guys. i have had 4 different fire bellies at different times. i usually buy them in pairs from the same place and house them together. about a year ago one of my last pair died, and i have one left. recently this one has gotten very skinny, its legs are skinny and i can see an outline on his back of the chest i guess, with the rest of the stuff kinda hanging off. this has happened to every single toad i have had. i feed them crickets, with coco husk soil, a 50/50 water land setup, a bridge in the water and a heater. i also have a floresent light on top with uvb. is there anything i am doing wrong?

[Sunshine]

Are you using coco husk or coco fiber? Coco husk can cause impaction if the toads accidentally ingest some while feeding. Are you gut loading and dusting the crickets with vitamins and calcium? Is the water dechlorinated? What are your temps? Can you post pics of the toad and the tank?

[lizarddude]

it is eco earth, so its like little granuals of coconut husk. we gut load the crickets with the powder food stuff and calcium jell, but do not dust. the water is dechlorinated. the water heater is the only source of heat and the water is about 65 or 70 degrees. i will check it tommorow with the temperature probe. i will also upload pictures tommorow

[MantisMan]

ok i would just use good old spaghmum moss or peat moss over gravel or a completely aquatic setup with a log or rock for land
and i would use a lamp for heat, remove the water heater
get a lamp of some sort and put it over the tank with a 40 or 60 watt bulb
they will be much happier that way

[lizarddude]

what about the problem with the crickets going into the spaghnum? also i only have one now. one of them died from swallowing a small stone so i switched to coco fiber, and then this one was fine for a while but then he started deteriorating

[FriedrichsFrogs]

Alex made a good point about where your buying from. The tank setup could be tweaked but just to be absolutely sure i would change your FBT source, thats just too odd that all of your guys r dying off shortly after being purchased.

[MantisMan]

could be many things
make sure the light isnt too strong, and that they are being kept between 66 and 74 degrees, i dont think the heater is needed
be sure they r moist enough but do not use tap water
be sure the daylight photoperiod is at least 13 hours
he could've swallowed the coco husk chunks, he could be getting old, or u could be buying from a bad dealer who sells sick, parasitized wild caughts
i breed these guys so if they spawn again do u want me to send u firebelly toad tadpoles or toadlets next year??