Toads suddenly off their food

[allie42ca]

I ended up with a pair of fire belly toads that had previously been kept in a tank with a chinese water dragon. I am using the waterfall tank for a mountain horn dragon and he is small and I didn't think that putting them together was a good idea. I set them up in a medium tank which is more than large enough for them. I have different levels of land along one long side of the tank with tunnels underneath and some fake plants across the top for hiding, a small rock on the other long side at one end and an air rock on that side as well held down with a bunch of smaller rocks that are under water. I have a uvb bulb as well as a regular light bulb for warmth. For the first couple of months they were fine, they seemed to like their environment and they were eating meal worms every day. For the last little while the larger darker toad has gotten bloated and the smaller greener one seems to spend his entire time trying to escape. The fat one I am hoping at this point she is just going to lay eggs. They both have stopped eating for the last few days. I am starting to get concerned. How long does it usually take for a toad to lay eggs? Is it possible that something in my setup is not to their liking? I thought maybe the water was just getting dirty so I completely cleaned out their tank yesterday and put in fresh water. The small one still is constantly trying to jump or climb out of the tank and the big one is back in the corner trying to hide. Please help. I am attaching a picture of my enclosure to show what my setup is like.
Attachment 70911

[Stampingfrog]

I am new to FBT's also, but my understanding is that mealworms are not a good diet for them. Earthworms, crickets and roaches are healthier and easier to digest.

[TeenyToad]

Mealworms are not recommended for FBT's. Especially to have every day. Their exoskeleton is too hard for them to digest well. I suggest feeding them wax worms, earthworms, and like the user above said--roaches. Also, it's not necessary for them to eat every day--especially fatty worms. They can easily become unhealthy due to too much fat in their diet. It is possible that your toad is impacted from the meal worms. To be sure of this, I recommend removing him, putting him in a smaller container with lukewarm water--but not too warm, and waiting to see if he poops. I recently had this happen, and it turned out that my girl had eaten a root from a plant in the water. Quarantine is always the best option. Also, what are your temps set at?


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[allie42ca]

I was not aware about the mealworms being bad to feed them as that was what was given to me with them so I just continued on with them. My problem is that I live in a small area with limited resources to food. My toads are rather small and I would love to feed them earthworms like i do my mountain horn dragon but the ones i can buy here are very big. Do i just cut them up smaller for the toads like i do for my lizard and feed them that way? I will quarantine the one and see what happens with it. As for the temp i am not sure but I will find out and reply but with only 1-1/2" of water how would i heat it? i have a couple of fish tank heaters but they need to be submerged and are too big. I also have a small under tank heater for lizards would that work if the water is too cold? I wondered about the temperature with the constant escape attempts. What should the water temp be? Thanks for your help.

[TeenyToad]

Oh, it's not a problem! I once was feeding mine way too large of crickets until someone explained to me the dangers of that. It happens I believe their temperatures can be anywhere from 60-80...but they can withstand the cold much better than the heat. Most people reccomend against using heaters unless totally necessary. What state do you live in? Is it very hot? Cold? The toads seem to be the happiest at "room temperature". Around 75 is perfect.

As far as the worms go, there are resources to order them online, as well as crickets and roaches. Check out Joshs Frogs and similar places. I've seen other businesses advertise the same thing on this forum as well. If that doesn't work for you (due to harsh weather conditions, etc) you should try to see if there is at least a Petsmart in your area. They usually sell worms and crickets. If you'd like to try feeding the cut up earth worms to your little guys, that's totally okay. Some people have found great success with this method! As for my guys, they don't even bother to go after them because they're not consistently moving and they refuse to be "hand" fed.


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[allie42ca]

I actually live in Canada so the water temp is probably around 75 I will confirm this tomorrow when I can find a thermometer. In winter I may need to find a way to heat the water. My issue is I live in a rural area that is limited in the bugs available.  Large dew worms are available until I can get my own worm farm going. I am planning to as besides the frogs I have 7 lizards that eat a variety of bugs.  I can only get large crickets and I have a place online but the crickets I have a hard time keeping them alive. I am starting super worms and mealworms for my other lizards and a worm farm for my horn dragon and the frogs now I guess.  I can get wax worms but locally they are kind of expensive.  The place I order from online occasionally has all sizes of crickets and wax worms which I also buy for my chameleon but they seem large compared to the size of my toads, although I could be wrong and like I said with crickets I have difficulty with large losses when I buy online because they come by the 100 and I lose quite a lot of them.