Hi! I'm new to fire belly toads. It might not have been too smart to go buy a couple fire belly toads on a whim, so of course I did, lol. I have a stock tank set up out side. Its a 100 gallon stock tank, but its only about half full. Half of the tank is mountain granite, complete with a hideout, and a few abalone shells for aesthetics, while the other side is water. (A pleco and gold fish live there and I'm hoping the toxins from the fire bellies won't hurt them. Its probably about 20/30 gallons of water. )
Anyways, the toads' enclosure is outside as I previously stated, but the water is heated. (Although I DO turn the heater off in the summer and turn it on fall/winter-- 68degrees F) They are able to bury themselves in the rocks in the water. Since the water is heated, can I leave them out side in winter? I have several tanks and I can easily bring them inside in the winter. I'm also in CA, so it doesn't snow, or anything. The coldest its ever dropped is to about 15-20 degrees F and those are the COLDEST days we get in the dead of winter.
Another question I have is what do fire bellies eat? What do they NEED in their diet?
Do they need plants? I have some anacharis growing in the tank. (Mostly for greenery and so my fish can nibble.)
I'm currently offering them crickets and meal worms both fortified w calcium. I also have cuttle bone on hand, though I doubt they will eat it. I have a tiny piece in w my fish because "she" will nibble.
My biggest concern is that I have not seen either toad eat. This doesn't mean they haven't. Sometimes the crickets escape (I do have a "netted" wire covering, but sometimes a few get lucky and find a way out lol)
Also, thoughts on feeding fire bellies wax worms???
Thank you in advance!!!!
-- Toadie
I would definitely recommend bringing them inside if it's going to get cold, I don't think they can live if the temps drop below 60 in the tank...mine eat crickets and meal worms, but others will feed cut up nightcrawlers too. I might be wrong on this but wax worms have a hard "shell" on them that can cause a blockage, at least in pacman frogs. I think wax worms are okay every once in a while but I wouldn't make them a staple, I would suggest crickets for that.
Thank you SO MUCH!!!! I really appreciate it. Ok that perfect. Right now they have some options
Crickets, a couple meal worms and red worms. But ill make sure crickets are a primary staple. I'm so excited. These little guys are the cutest. One of them is really friendly towards me. He will sit there and watch me add his food in to the tank, lets me touch his back gently, then I close the netting and off he goes to hunt or goes back in the water. Its so fun to watch them. I noticed they do most of their hunting in the evening. I love these little dudes!/ dudettes.
I love to feed my tank crickets one-by-one. I grab one with tongs. Then I drop it amongst a set of hungry fbts. sometimes it seems that the cricket drops straight down a frog's throat head first and is gone in a second. they are accurate little things.
I find I can sometimes pick one up, turn it upside down...sometimes it will relax completely and i've got a limp upside down frog on my finger. It's a form of unken reflex maybe, but the frog is not bunched up as much as completely and totally relaxed and limp.
i figure as long as you keep your water within a healthy temperature range, they can probably deal with almost any weather just by jumping into the water. Even though I have an indoor tank, I have no air conditioning. So I have both a heater and a chiller on my tank to keep the water within a narrow temperature range all throughout the year.
Good lord they love to hunt down crickets. It seems rare to see a fire belly toad refuse food. If one of mine does, it's because it's stuffed full and catatonic.
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