Need help with feeding nightcrawlers to my toad

[yoshimi]

Picked these up today from walmart, . European nightcrawlers, no dye, just lively, good sized worms in sphagnum peat moss. Was excited cuz I'd been wanting to try these and now that we have tong feeding down, felt I had the green light. Well he was interested right away, didn't really need to hold it up with tongs, just didn't want it to crawl out of dish and burrow. I'd fed him him some tiny meal worms with calcium/d3 powder when I got home tonight, and he ate all of them. I remembered the worms and since he's a toad, knew he'd still be hungry. Flicked tongue numerous times at it, but it's like it wouldn't stick. Tried rinsing it off (in his water dish, yes I'd just changed it and changed it again), in case he was getting bits of dirt instead of the worm itself; tried laying it in dish, and he wanted it, but couldn't even get it to BEGIN to go into his mouth. In retrospect, this next part probably wasn't necessary, but I cut it into threes, with scissors. Oh G*D, it was awful. Oh the wriggling, I'm so sorry worm. So, so, sorry. Same thing, of course. Thought maybe his mouth was dry from calcium powder so tried 2 small crickets and that went fine. Then again, they were small. The worm pieces are still in there, I don't know what to do with them. Still moving a bit, if you touch them, but that probably won't get his attention on it's own. If I look later and a third (oh I'm so sorry, worm) is gone, I won't be sure he ate it, could have hoisted itself out of bowl to somewhere safer, probably to die. Or regenerate. Hoping it'd be the latter.

Anyone else experience this? The only other times his stickiness didn't work was on overly reptivite covered roaches. I hoping it's just that. Drymouth, and nothing more. He otherwise doesn't have eating problems. And he really was interested in this worm. I felt so bad, gave him those crickets to try and get his confidence back up. Right now he's taking a sad soak. Ok, it's just a soak, but I feel bad for him. Is there any way to get a worm to be stickier, if he still can't get it tomorrow? Besides taking a hair dryer to it (which would likely kill it). I don't know, this just sucks.

[yoshimi]

15min later and all 3 pieces of worm are gone. A cricket was still in there tho. I don't know, it's late, did a little digging around, didn't see any worm parts. Glad they're out of food bowl, and of course, I hope he ate them.


UPDATE: tried another with the tongs, and he ate the whole thing. so happy. phew.

[Psychotic]

The worms produce slime and the toads tongue will not stick to it no matter what. They have to learn to scoop them up with their mouth without using the tongue. Hopefully your toad has figured this out. Mine never did and so I gave up on feeding them worms.

[yoshimi]

The worms produce slime and the toads tongue will not stick to it no matter what. They have to learn to scoop them up with their mouth without using the tongue. Hopefully your toad has figured this out. Mine never did and so I gave up on feeding them worms.

Wow, I wish I'd paid more attention or saw him eat the cut up worm. Sometimes I think I hold the tongs too tightly so when he went for it, I just kinda let go. It was above him so may have just fallen into his mouth. But good strategy, knowing what you just told me and that he managed to eat one, maybe two. If those cut up pieces crawled up and out of dish, they did so pretty quickly. And disappeared. Not sure how he could've eaten them tho, if his tongue won't stick to them. Maybe it sticks to guts? Ok, that's gross. Was so cute to see him stuffing his face, with a worm head (or butt? nah, think it was a head.), sticking out of his mouth for a moment. Hope I can have a repeat performance, because I have 28 of these things left and they're supposed to be such great feeders. I wasted enough money on food he turned his nostrils up at, or peed on because he was afraid of it, or pooped out whole and alive. Those last ones were same feeder. grr.
I'm also wondering if it's worth rinsing them off first. I'm thinking yes, so he doesn't eat the dirt stuck to them, but I'd need an earthworm rinsing dish with toad safe water.

[Psychotic]

I'm been thinking about buying some smaller worms. They may be able to eat smaller ones easier. As the more you bug a worm the more slimy it gets. Cutting them up makes a lot of slime too. But I've only used night crawlers. I wonder if different worms will produce less slime. I would cut the worms up and the toads would all be sitting around the dish flicking their tongues like crazy and all it achieved was a bowl full of worm slime.

I washed mine off before offering them because I didn't want them to eat all the dirt. So washing the worm won't hurt.

My toads have never been able to eat worms. But my newts like them. I just had to cut them up super tiny which was pretty gross lol.

I've been thinking about trying silkworms. I've heard that toads like them and I've seen videos of toads eating them.

[yoshimi]

..thinking about buying some smaller worms. They may be able to eat smaller ones easier. As the more you bug a worm the more slimy it gets. Cutting them up makes a lot of slime too. But I've only used night crawlers. I wonder if different worms will produce less slime.

Would be curious to know that as well. And I did notice one section was just sitting in a puddle of goo. Same section that was particularly awful looking.

I would cut the worms up and the toads would all be sitting around the dish flicking their tongues like crazy and all it achieved was a bowl full of worm slime.

Aww... my heart broke for Banjo, he seemed so dejected. Really hope I can help him eat another or that he's figured it out.

I've been thinking about trying silkworms. I've heard that toads like them and I've seen videos of toads eating them.

I bought some from Mulberry Farms last Fall. He ate 1 and no more. But he was really picky and probably scared out of his mind. Bet he'd eat them now. They're supposed to be good feeders, but fragile. Mine lasted kind of a long time (cpl months, maybe?) I think cuz I left them in petrie dish they came in, and didn't touch or move them much. They're susceptible to germs if I recall correctly. 99 did eventually die tho. It's a shame, they're not cheap. But with other bug eating pets around, worth a shot. They need to stay warm, (80?) and eat only mulberry leaf chow. They can eat carrots but only for a few days. Mine had some carrots as one of their last meals. No, they didn't all die at once, but I didn't have any more food when I gave them the carrots, and some were already starting to die. They're cute tho, when alive.
Now I'm thinking I should try them again.

[yoshimi]

We ate another worm tonight. Not me, the toad did. I had chicken nuggets I dropped on the kitchen floor.

Rinsed it off in toad water, put it in meal worm dish that was inside of regular food bowl, and there was some reptivite on the bottom of meal worm dish. Became a white mess, and again he was flicking at it, and worm was trying to make a break for it. When I tried to use tongs, it dripped on his head or too near his head, and was sort of reaching for him menacingly making him cowar. So I blotted worm briefly in paper towel and placed it immediately on top of his fake plastic half log (made from real fake plastic trees). This worked beautifully, and he ate it right up. Then crawled into log to wait for more, or hide from me in case I was doing to dangle anymore menacing drippy things in his face. (I most certainly was not.) But yeah, pretty happy about it.

[arielgasca420]

When I feed my frog I put him and the worms in water. I have a pyxi, so it is easier to feed since pyxi will eat anything you put in front of them.
when the worms are in the water my pyxi will bob for them and scoop them up with his mouth. I never have too much luck with tongs so I stick to my water method.
It is easy because I just throw about 10 worms in there at a time and 20 mins later they will be gone.
Just be careful with the water temperature. If you put the worms in warm water they will freak out and evacuate their insides. then they will be limp, lifeless, and virtually useless.

[yoshimi]

When I feed my frog I put him and the worms in water. I have a pyxi, so it is easier to feed since pyxi will eat anything you put in front of them.
when the worms are in the water my pyxi will bob for them and scoop them up with his mouth. I never have too much luck with tongs so I stick to my water method.
It is easy because I just throw about 10 worms in there at a time and 20 mins later they will be gone.
Just be careful with the water temperature. If you put the worms in warm water they will freak out and evacuate their insides. then they will be limp, lifeless, and virtually useless.

That's disgusting and really good to know. He's never eaten anything from his water, not even struggling crickets, but when I change it I use warm water. Was debating with myself whether I should change water before swishing a worm around in it. Doesn't look like he pooped in it last night, just had a soak, so there's soil in there. But then I'd have to change it again, so instead I sat down and put the whole thing off for a bit.
All 3 worms he's eaten (I'm only assuming on the 1st cut up one; not convinced enough that it worked to go through that again), have been fed by different methods. I don't have it down yet. I guess it wouldn't be the worst thing to have one lurking around in his dirt, but I'd rather he eat it. He's awake, so deep breath, here we go.

[yoshimi]

Success. Good enough for now. Wriggly as all heck, I had to swish it twice. When he snaps at it, I jump. So this time Banjo was sitting on his rock step, so I held the worm up with tongs and let one end touch rock above him and we got it done. Slurped up like awful spaghetti. Water change, and that's that til next time.

The cup says it doesn't need refrigeration, but I keep it in the butter door anyway. So when I open cup, there are too many for my liking hanging out at top. When I bought them, they were refrigerated but probably at a different temp, cuz they weren't so obvious when I peeked in. More practice and I'll conquer the heebie jeebies they give me. I used to play with earthworms as a weird little kid, not sure why it's difficult now. I'd keep bugs in my pockets. Got old and less gross somewhere along the way. Roaches, meal worms, crickets, even maggots, I eventually got used to handling/dealing with. So I can do this too. For the toad.

[yoshimi]

Watched youtube videos of american toads eating earthworms, and put that together with what I've tried and I DID IT. Four worms! Video to follow.

[yoshimi]

Go Banjo! he ate 3 others (one other was dusted with calcium/d3), but this was the only one I got on film. Sorry it's crappy, it's just a camera. He's still learning, but we're getting the hang of it.

[kueluck]

That's exactly how I started with worms, just put the worms and toads in a plastic dish and let 'em have at it.

[yoshimi]

Oops, I destroyed a worm. Was bound to happen. Tried to coat it in reptivite and it did most of the work for me, thrashing about. There was too much on there, some chunks, so I swished worm in water and I guess the water was too warm cuz it didn't want to move after that. In a baggie in the freezer. If I get struck and killed by an automobile, there'll be much talk about the things I keep in my freezer. Anyhoo, he took down 2 more.