Need help!

[Lazzo]

How does one raise Great plains toads? i found eggs in the wild and decided to try to raise them, but i have learned i am clueless as to how.

I have one tadpole and one that just lost its tail, so two in total. I used to have six, but they passed for reasons I do not know. I urgently need some advice on how to care for them; here's what i do now.

I have them in a glass aquarium, with rocks and plastic plants that stick up above the water. The tadpole like to stay under the rocks and the frog sits on the plant. Now, i've been feeding them tadpole pellets, and though i don't see them eating it i don't know what they eat other then it. The Frog doesn't seem to ever move, is this bad?

[Heatheranne]

The little toadlet is ready to have a terrestrial tank now that he has absorbed his tail. You can move them to their new home once they have all 4 legs.

Your toad is probably not moving from the plant because once they start breathing from their lungs, toads no longer hold their breath well to swim for long times. It is time to move him to a new home.

For a short while I would use a tank with plain paper towel as substrate so you can monitor their eating and pooping. Later you can use coconut fiber or plain plantation soil as substrate.

For now, I would recommend setting up a home for the toadlets with paper towel substrate, changed every other day or more often if soiled. Use a screen lid covered in fiberglass mesh screening or slide the lid into a ladies nylon. This is to keep their fruit flues in. Have a very shallow water dish of about 1/2" tall and fill only the very bottom of the dish with just enough water for them to soak their butts in. The water should only be spring water or tap/well water treated with a dechlorinator. You can purchase water dechlorinator/heavy metal detoxifier in the reptile section or aquarium section of a pet store. Follow the bottle instructions for amount to use. It is easier to use a spring water gallon jug and when it's empty use it to mix a gallon of dechlorinated water at a time. Change their soak water daily. Mist 1/2 of their tank twice a day to moisten their paper towels. This gives them a dry side and a moist side to choose from.

Toadlet food: they can eat flightless fruit flies and springtails at this size. They will no longer want to eat the lettuce and such. As toads they will eat insects and worms. As they grow they'll be able to move up to pinhead sized crickets. As adults they can eat more options. Their food should be no larger than the distance between their eyes. Joshsfrogs sells both fruit flies and springtails if you can't get them locally. My local Petco store sells fruit flies. Feed the toads daily. They can eat a few for each toadlet.

Fruit flies
http://www.joshsfrogs.com/producing-...y-culture.html

Springtails
http://www.joshsfrogs.com/jumbo-32-o...a-culture.html

You will need to get some calcium with vitamin D3 and a multivitamin supplement to keep them healthy and to prevent illness and Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD). I like Repashy, Repcal, and Herptivite, but their are several brands to choose from. Lightly dust their fruit flies 2 days a week with calcium and one day a week with the multivitamin, but not on the same day. This is very necessary.

You can feed your tadpoles boiled romaine lettuce, dried green seaweed pieces, fish food flakes, or tadpole petstore pellets.

Mine loved the boiled romaine lettuce and seaweed strips. We froze the extra romaine lettuce pieces into small ice cubes. Use spring water or dechlorinated water to boil the lettuce in. Boil about 20-30 minutes until the lettuce is floppy, limp and almost soggy. Just put the lettuce pieces into the ice cube tray and add a small amount of the water you used to boil with. Then you can pull out the cubes any time. Allow to melt before serving the cubes. Remove any uneaten food after they eat (the tads). Use a fresh piece or cube each feeding. Do not refreeze the uneaten pieces.

Here is a pic of the seaweed I also used. You can buy it in the aquarium section.


Both the romaine lettuce and the seaweed have calcium in them to help keep them healthy and to avoid any deficiencies.

[Lazzo]

Thank you very much!
Would dirt from a field work for substrate after the paper or would it be bad for them?