From a Toadpole

[Mrtoadsworth]

Can anyone tell me what kind of Toad I have?

[UncleChester]

Pretty hard to tell from a small picture and still so young. Was it found locally in Minnesota? If so, these are the three options:

Canadian Toad - Anaxyrus hemiophrys
Great Plains Toad - Anaxyrus cognatus
American Toad - Anaxyrus americanus

It may be tough at it's current size as the distinguishing features won't be fully developed. The range maps might provide some clues though, especially if it was found in the eastern part of the state.

[Strider18]

Really hard to tell with such a small picture, could you get some side pictures and top pictures?

0.1.0 Psuedacris regilla

[Mrtoadsworth]

Southern Minnesota

[kueluck]

I can tell you that the toad is grossly underweight. Get some dusted wax worms into that belly.

[LilyPad]

How long has it been since he morphed and what/how much are you feeding him? I agree that he is very very skinny. I would also get some damp, unprinted paper towel in there as substrate to help keep the humidity of the tank.

[lnikkiy]

food food and more food! give him some pinheads - alot! but he is really cute he may not need the paper towel as was suggested as he is a toad. they do like the majority of their tank dry, even as young ones. but definitely have a section (small pond or equivelent) of water for him.
Aslo, he will probably be much more comfortable eating if he has small plant or leaf litter in there for him to hide in. I find with young toads that something as simple as oak leaves or a pothos clipping works well.

[lnikkiy]

Also, toads do like to burrow for a good portion of the day. If you add a bit of coco dirt in the corner he/she will love it. once they get bigger they tend to make a hole and keep going back to it, but thats not critical at this point to have a set-up that allows him to dig a more permanent home

[Mrtoadsworth]

"Buddy" morphed three months ago. I have been feeding him dusted flightless fruit flies. He has a terrible time catching them. Two or three times a day, I help him catch them. Until this week, he would sit while I kept pushing a ff to him. After four to twelve (seriously) times of him trying to catch it, he would get it or the ff quit moving, and he ignored it. Then we would start with another one. Sometimes it's a hour and a half to get five to seven ff in him.
Now he is hopping around, and will chase the ff for a bit. Still has trouble catching them, but is able to get a few without help. When I try to help, he turns and goes the other way.
In the picture he does look really skinny, after he does eat he looks better.
Why is it so hard for him to pick up the ff?
I had damp paper towels in at first, but he seemed to get tripped up on them. So I have him with bare tank, so he can move freely. There are a few rock things he climbs and hides under.
And he has half inch of water on one end of tank. (I have tank propped up on one side.)
Would wax worms be too big for him for him to eat right now? He is slightly over an inch long, not including legs.

[LilyPad]

Food needs to be smaller than the space between his eyes. Has he always had trouble catching food? There may be something wrong with him beyond your control. You could try cutting up pieces of night crawlers also, my toadlets loved those. He should be nice and fat 3 months out of the water

[Mrtoadsworth]

He's always had trouble catching food I feel so bad for him.

[lnikkiy]

Try some really slow food - like cut pieces of worms as Amy suggested. Also you could try getting small crickets and removing a leg so they can't hop away. (both sound terrible, but hey the frog's gotta eat)
Whatever you can find that is the size of the space between his eyes to feed him.

I had a toad with very VERY poor eyesight, and I had to put him in a small bowl with food so that the food was in a small enough space that he could find and catch it.

[Mrtoadsworth]

Will try that, thanks!

[Xubby]

It's hard to get a good idea of his size, but if a local store has some small crickets, it might be good to switch to those as soon as you can. Bigger food will allow you to gutload, and make feeding generally easier. Toadlets will also go through a frankly depressing amount of food their first year. They also digest fast, so don't be surprised when it goes from practically spherical to looking like it's starving half a day latter. Just keep stuffing the little bugger as full as you can. I think I fed mine three or four times a day (yay college) when he was that size, and he was fine with it. He's going to eat a ton, especially if you're feeding food as small as is recommend. Consider breeding pinheads.

That rant said, I'll get to my point. Trouble eating/catching food is commonly associated in toads with a lack of vitamin A in their diet. Are you supplementing with multivitamin as well as calcium? How long has the container been open? How often are you giving him the multivitamins, and what kind is it? It's recommended to replace multivitamins every 4-6 months after opening. Speaking from experience (unfortunately) these things can get worse quick if you do nothing. If he really is having as much trouble as you say, this might be a warning flag.