alternative to crickets

[Larry Wardog]

You asked a great and important question to which we each offered responses.
No beef was started, I'm not known to anyone here and I may respond with information based upon my experience and education which may rub up against what others believe and ilicit a threat response from them. I don't fault anyone for that, least of all you for initiating a perfectly civil disagreement amongst people who all are agreed, love the critters in question.

Take what you gleaned from it and make a beautiful, long life for your sweet Toads.

I wasn't trying to attack you in anyway. These toads are all over my area in my woods and yard.

I appreciate your knowledge and understanding of these animals but you also have to understand that your observations are limited to your region if you aren't observing toads and etc in other regions.

I study toads and grays in I think 3-6 counties of PA so I see a lot of interesting things that I could observe but my knowledge would be useful on a specific region not the species as a whole. Not all toads are same in personality and some honestly I love them but some aren't so smart compared to other toads.

Your experience is very useful and I want to let you know I have hopes someday of being a researcher and herpetologist focused on these two among others but these two specific species. I want to replenish their wild populations and further the knowledge we have on them.

I live in an area similar to your area but like I said before myself and Dan have had to help people with toads a lot. We love doing it but we don't want to add to a possible problem down the road. Spiders really are something I thought of starting out but it's just not truly necessary to catch spiders for the toads. Some wild feeders if cultured would be good I was keeping in mind feeding down the road.

I do not question your knowledge and understanding of these animals. I respect your input and I hope you post more. I just want to explain my reasoning and I'm in no way coming at you. As Dan said we were just thinking about someone trying this out and worst case scenario thoughts for me at least were running through my head.

It's great because Trout can look at all this and think about what he wants to do.

Sent from my BKL-L04 using Tapatalk

[KP]

Nowhere did I suggest that you or anyone else "attacked" me. I don't feel attacked.
I can't cite any comment on this or any other thread that could be interpreted as an attack upon me.
As I just stated in a post to Trout Hunter, we had a civil disagreement. By virtue of that civil disagreement Trout Hunter now has enough information to be confident in whatever decision they make with regard to how to best feed their Toads. I see no downside to the entire exchange on this thread.

[Trout hunter]

Hello,

I just wanted to follow up with a question that never got answered or I was able to find online but which are better : mealworms or superworms ( I would be removing the heads off super worms and tong feeding to prevent the bugs from biting the toads) and once the beetles transform into their beetles or into their pupae cocoon forms are they still edible by toads or leopard geckos

[KP]

Hello,

I just wanted to follow up with a question that never got answered or I was able to find online but which are better : mealworms or superworms ( I would be removing the heads off super worms and tong feeding to prevent the bugs from biting the toads) and once the beetles transform into their beetles or into their pupae cocoon forms are they still edible by toads or leopard geckos

Anaxyrus americanus Toads can eat any arthropod small enough for the specific individual but where superworms are concerned, they might be too large in most cases. Also, they bite as you know. They do have the good quality of having a softer exoskeleton than mealworms. The Beetle form of the insect is best when it's still light-colored and soft but as Beetles they make a chemical defense secretion. The other downside as adults is that they'll have significantly more chitin which is harder for the Toads to digest and pass. Generally speaking, my opinion is that domesticated Toads should be fed a good variety of food arthropods but not those that can be hard to digest and pass. I see my wild Toads eating everything that crosses their path if it's the right size but they're wild and have to do what they have to do to survive.

I have no experience with Leopard Geckos but from what I've read they'll have a harder time with superworms than the Toads would.