New Pet "Frog"

[BowtieZR5]

Wednesday morning I found a small "frog" in my garage. I decided that since my wife and daughter are about to get a new puppy, my son and I would get a new pet as well. After some research (he/she is a toad) and an $80 trip to the local big name pet store, I had about 2 dozen pinhead crickets, 10 gallon terarium, water dish, 60w daylight bulb and some coconut bark. The first few hours in his new home he burrowed and we didn't see him until the night. I tossed in two pinheads before leaving for work (I work overnight). When I got home I saw no pinheads and a small grey "poop." I have continued to give "Cowboy" (all our pets are Sports teams: Maverick, Starr, Ranger) 2-3 pinheads in the morning when I get home from work.

A couple of questions I have:
I haven't found any more BMs from Cowboy. Do toads poop everyday or is there something wrong?
Are the 2-3 pinheads I feed him every morning enough or should I be feeding him more? What about adding meal worms to his diet?

[Mentat]

Hello and welcome to FF! What is toad length from snout to vent (SVL)? Normally you want to feed crickets that are sized same as distance between frog's eyes. Feed all frog will eat to satiation or during a 15 minute period. Crickets placed on a glass dish or bowl won't escape and make it easier to monitor feeding. Dust all food 2X with calcium/D3 and 1X with vitamins weekly on different days with skip day in between. Can also feed cut-up and later full sized night crawlers (Walmart's sports section).

The right substrate coco is the shredded fiber (Plantation Soil or EcoEarth), not the bark one (can cause impaction). Use dechlorinated water for mixing to slight damp (clumps in fist but no water comes out). Lot's more info here: Frog Forum - Toad Basics - Keeping ground-dwelling Toads. A care sheet for Bufo, Anaxyrus, Spea, Scaphiopus, Ollotis, Alytes, Pelobates and good luck !.

[BowtieZR5]

Cowboy daily eats the 3-4 frogs I toss in within 5-10 minutes. Some of the small crickets I bought at Petsmart have grown to larger this his eyes. I have not fed those to him but have kept them to keep the cycle going. They are multiplying about half as much as I feed him. I feed the crickets Flucker's High-Calcium Cricket Diet and Flucker's Cricket Quencher Calcium Fortified. The substrate I used is the Eco-Earth compressed fiber. I have been using Ozarka's bottled water (is that ok?) for misting and drinking pool. I do want to add some plants or something to the décor. It looks like plain in there with just a pool and that's it. Am I doing everything right? Feel free to ask me questions to make sure I am doing everything right.

[BowtieZR5]

What is toad length from snout to vent (SVL)?

What is the VENT?? I assume it's "tail". I would guestimate about 1.25" +/- .25". I'll post some photos later today.

[BowtieZR5]

I said I had a 10 gallon terrarium. I was wrong. It is a 5.5 gallon. When he gets bigger I will get a larger terrarium.

[BowtieZR5]

What kind of toad is he/she? 1.125-1.25" Snout to Vent

[BowtieZR5]

Here is another photo. Please help me determine what kind of toad I have here.

[Mentat]

Yes, vent is the pointy rear end . Looks cute but hard to tell species from your pics. Try and take a clear picture from above that shows the whole frog. There are around 9 toad species of toads in Texas ("The Great State of Texas" to Texans ) so yours should be one of them.

[BowtieZR5]

I'll try to get another picture from the top. He's burrowed right now. So, I'll have to wait.

[Mentat]

Since this is a father/son project, will leave a link to Wiki's Texas' amphibian article for you two to look at. Reads pretty good to me and does have links to individual species articles with pics that could help narrow it down. In the meantime we will wait for your picture posting and try to ID the toad. Also, be advised the Houston Toad (endangered so protected by Feds too) and the Mexican Borrowing Toad (threatened) are state protected: TPWD: Nongame and Rare Species Program - Federal and State Listed Species .

[Wormwood]

Looks like a common "texas toad" to me. I bought a few through a reptile show up here in Chicago and they are very hardy, much like Common American Toads which we have up here. I'm not sure of their proper name but the copper eyes are a dead give away for me. Toads are nocturnal so that 60 watt bulb you can put away as he won't need it so long as the tank has some access to natural sun light. It's good that your substrate allows him/her to bury fully under. If you want to see him out more I would suggest letting the coco fibers dry out and have a clean dish of water accessible for him/her all the time. You'll see a lot more back and forth to the water dish and I find this gives more opportunity to watch your toad feed and you can catch him/her in that transition mode.

[Wormwood]

And some nice fabric plants like ferns or other leafy plants which it can also hide under would make it feel even more at home. It also makes a toad work for it's meals if it has to jump and move around to catch crickets climbing up high.