My Experience With Breeding Colorado River Toads

[n321]

Ok, before you get too excited, let me start by saying that I failed in my attempt to breed these guys. However, I thought it might be useful to describe what I did so that others can hopefully learn from it. The only toads offered in the hobby are wild caught (even though it's illegal), and I want that to change someday. These are amazing toads, and they need to be bred in captivity.

So last summer I bought 5 adult Colorado River Toads (Bufo alvarius) with the intent of trying to breed them. I had 2 females and 3 males. I kept them for about 5 months under normal conditions (fed them lobster roaches, mice, and fish). Then for a week in December I fed them extensively. I then stopped feeding completely for a week, and then placed a male and a female in hibernation on Jan. 5th of this year.

For the hibernation period, I had a 10-gallon filled with a mixture of peat moss, coco-fibre, and sand. I kept the soil somewhat moist (as discussed later, it may have had it too moist). I then placed this tank in a room that had a temperature of about 50-60 degrees F. After a few days, the toads burried deep within the soil, and they remained undisturbed for about a month.

On Feb. 6th, I took the toads out of hibernation. Thankfully they were still alive
I fed them 2 roached each at 1:00, and then 2 more at 3:00. The next day I placed them in the rain chamber.

Making the rain chamber was kind of a pain in the @$$. What I did was I attached a powerhead to some flexible tubing that was "glued" to the inside of a rubbermaid container (about the size of a 30-40 gallon aquarium) using silicone sealant. The sealant did not really "stick" to the container, so I had to just use clamps. I then drilled some small holes in the tubing to create a pathetic excuse for rain...
I used some gravel that had a neutral ph, some java moss, and a piece of driftwood in order to try to make the enclosure a bit more naturalistic.
I then filled the container with about 2-3" of water (5 gallons). I tried to match the water chemistry with that of the toads natural range. The kh was about 200 ppm, gh 100 ppm, and ph 8.0. I used a heat emitter, aquarium heater, and electric space heater to heat the water to about 82 degrees during the day and 78 degrees during the night. For some reason it was really hard to get the temperature where I wanted it, and it took some experimenting...
I also used a UV bulb just in case UV light had something to do with their breeding...

I had the "rain" on a timer so that it was on for an hour and off for an hour throughout the day. I had it off during the night. During the night, I played a recording of Colorado River Toads calling along with a recording of a rain storm repeatedly.

During this period, I tried to feed the toads extensively with feeder mice and roaches...

On Feb. 17th I decided to give up and took them out of the rain chamber.


Some thoughts:
1. In nature, these toads are in hibernation for several months, not just one.
2. The soil may have been too moist, as very little if any precipitaion occurs during the winter months.
3. Perhaps I should have waited for a while longer before placing them in the rain chamber? (i.e. fed them for a while in their regular tank, and THEN put them in the rain chamber)
4. Other unknown factors (atmospheric pressure, light cycles, etc.) may play a part in their breeding. The only information I could find just said that breeding is induced by the summer rains. I'd be surprised if it's really that simple. Unfortunately, it's people like us that have to find information that no one else cares about. It's sad, but honetly, that's the truth.

Anyways, that's what I did. I'd appreciate any thoughts

.

[demon amphibians]

That is a really cool experiment and very educational. Sounds like you put a lot of work into it. I soon hope to breed my cane toads which i believe i may have to do something very similar. what i found during my extensive research is that the size of habitat that is required to breed them is very important. I found that you will need something much larger. I am talking about swimming pool large. Maybe what you could also do differently is give them a longer hibernation period.

For my set up idea, you may find a wal-mart brand type of swimming pool for an affordable price. Then another idea i had to simulate rain is stretch out wires across the pool, maybe 4 or 5 should be sufficient then stretch out drip hoses across the wires. (You can find these at the garden center they are meant to water grapes and such.)This will save you loads of time and shouldn't be to expensive. Most pools will come with a pump if you had basic plumbing equipment, hooking this up should be fairly easy. As for the plants well i don't have any ideas for that. Hopefully this gives you a basic idea for a larger set up. I would do it right now and let you know how it works but i have one problem i live in an apartment. So the space is all that is preventing me from doing this. I think the price would be worth it and I have already contacted enough buyers to purchase the babies to pay for the whole set up. (If they breed that is). Honestly for any species of the size of toads you have this is the most sure way to get them to breed. Hopefully you have good weather where you live. Also to de-chlorinate the water at an affordable price. You can buy it in bulk at pet stores sold for ponds. pretty cheep as well.

I know this is sort of a long shot but it is the best shot. I really doubt that they will breed in something the size you are trying them in, even if everything else you do is absolutely perfect.

[demon amphibians]

Wal-mart has a 10X6 inflatable pool for 25 bucks. I am certain that may be big enough, they also have a 9'2" x 9'2" Octagonal Inflatable Family Swimming Pool for 39 bucks. i just hope they cant get out of these. If so there are more options to choose from. But with these you will need to buy the pump separately, or maybe even use the one you already have. Just some ideas.

[n321]

yeah I think maybe if I had a bigger enclosure and maybe more toads together that may have made a difference.