Marine toad not adjusting to captivity

[jasonm96]

Hi all

I have a Marine toad that isn't adjusting to captivity; all it does is hide, barely eats in front of me and every time I go near the cage gets frightened. I've never had this problem before as usually my frogs do well and so I'm not sure on how to address it. I'm not really wanting to put it down, as I do not believe it should be my choice to end it's life but it's hardly living and I don't know what to do?

[MichielB]

Is it possible for the toad to eat out of sight?

[jasonm96]

Yes but not a lot, he'll only pick at his food

[MichielB]

What's its feeding condition at this point? Do you know if it fed at the store?

What's the temperature in the terrarium?

[jasonm96]

I don't know if he fed at the store but lets say I'll put around 6 crickets in his cage, they'll be two left over if he actually eats. He's not skinny though but could be if he doesn't start eating more. I would force feed but since the animal is so powerful and jumpy it's quite a hard task, not to mention quite dangerous if he gets p*ssed off and starts letting his poisons out lol. The temperatures anywhere between 23-27oc (74-80of) which is about ideal and is provided by an infrared heat lamp

[Cliygh and Mia 2]

Try this trick, it works well for skittish animals, namely Five-lined skinks. Put its enclosure in a hall-way or living room where it sees you, and you don't hurt or harm it. Eventually graduate to dropping food then ignoring it, dropping food and watching it, and hand/tong feeding. It worked extremely well for my five-lined skinks and green anoles when I owned them