New Colorado River Toads....(20!!!)

[Jace]

Congrats on your new arrivals! They are all so cute. I so wish I could get one of these guys. Rico is adorable. Keep the pictures coming!

[SethD]

Twenty, your going to go through a lot of insects, that is for sure. I know how many roaches my rococos and guttatus go through and and I only have around twelve total of those two species. Colorado river toads may eat a bit less due to being a little smaller but I still bet that many will work very hard at eating you out of house and home.

[Mordecai]

Jo-Anna: Thank you so much!! We really love them! By no means do we intend to keep all 20...(well as of an hour ago...all 31!). We want to raise them all up right, learn more about them, and then when they are plump, healthy adults, we intend to sell them. So if you are in the market for one, and aren't in a hurry, I'm sure we could help you find your (toad) match!

SethD: Oh trust me, we had 'ol Rico for about a month before we received the big shipment, so we had some sort of idea what we were getting into. That little booger will eat ANYTHING that moves. At one point, we had to hand feed the other baby toad because she wouldn't eat on her own. But we didn't want her to choke, so we took one worm at a time, cut it in half, trying to feed her one half, and dropped the other in the tank for the time being. Well he took it upon himself to quickly hop from one side of the 20 gallon to the next and gobble up the second half. When I looked back to grab that half to feed to the other toad, there he stood, looking up at me ready for me to drop another. He's a little pig!
In one day, we have already fed out 20 dozen crickets, and about 100 dubias. We have a very large dubia colony established at our home, and ironically enough, they prefer the crickets. I'm assuming they were previously fed crickets and the strength of the dubias are a bit shocking. They will get one in their mouth and immediately spit it out, especially if the roach is on its back.
Hopefully, like Rico, they will adjust to the dubias and eat them. Those bad boys have been gut loaded with all kinds of nutrients, so it would be great if they got them in their system!

Oh and we have 9 more coming! I'll post pictures as soon as they arrive!

[Mordecai]

Thank you so much John. I did a little research earlier today and read something about the Panacur. I will do what I can to check on laws, and get the medications they may need, and then follow your dosage recommendations.
As far as the other toad, who was the largest of the three, she/he isn't doing as well as we had hoped. I am wondering if dominance has anything to do with her/him not eating. Rico, the fatty previously mentioned, will immediately attack any food we put in their cage. The other toad seems to get excited, toes moving and all, and will try one or two times to get a cricket, worm, or dubia, but seems to give up after the first two attempts.
There was one time when I was feeding them worms, that Rico decided it was time to shed, and wandered off from the food. As soon as he hopped off, the other toad took that opportunity and went straight to the food and tried to eat for an hour or so, but was unsuccessful. Jeff and I have force fed her/him twice now in hopes that it will regain some strength and eat on its own.
For the last two days now, she/he has been half way burrowed with its eyes closed. It isn't looking too good, and we think we will probably lose this one. I really don't know what to do.

[John]

Ella, how's the other one from me doing? Is he/she eating for you? Strange turnabout with them.

Regarding medicating the others, they should be treated with fenbendazole (Panacur) and metronidazole (Flagyl). Panacur should be used once a week for 2-3 weeks. Flagyl only requires 1-2 doses, say once each week half way through the first 2 weeks (between the Panacur dosages). You _can_ administer these medications yourself, provided your state laws do not prohibit acquiring them. Some forms of both medications are restricted to prescription only but you can acquire them in other forms (i.e. there is flagyl sold for fish that is not prescription only - you can buy it through amazon.com). Large animal supply stores (like Valley Vet) are useful too. The easiest method is to acquire them as powder (or tablets that can be powdered) and dust food items with the dosage and make sure each frog eats the dosed food items.

For amphibians, the dosing for Panacur is 50 mg/kg (for every kg of animal weight, administer 50 mg, so for an animal that way 100 g, you want to give it 5 mg).

In the case of Flagyl, the dose for amphibians is 50 mg/kg too. Bruce Maclean ("Herpvet") suggests using probiotics instead of flagyl unless there's a serious problem that indicates flagyl. This is a quote of Bruce in Caudata.org regarding probiotics:

Gut microorganisms, usually with prebiotics etc. Not sure about brands available in the states - lacto B9 (Genitrix) or avipro plus (Vetark) are the ones here.

Theory is that they are beneficial, or at least neutral, microorganisms that compete with (hopefully out-compete) potentially harmful gut microorganisms (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probiotics for more detail in humans).