Enoch the Western Toad.

[SethD]

Thank you. Only pinhead crickets are food, but I am wondering if I should cut back to every other day or so. Trying to get only 4-5 pinheads in at a time is next to impossible-more escape-so he sometimes gets a lot more than I think is needed....

No, you shouldn't cut back. Little toads like that need a LOT of food and supplementation to grow properly and they are designed to grow FAST. With sufficient food and optimum conditions he should be capable of growing nearly an inch per month although it isn't necessary to grow them quite that fast. If he isn't growing at least a half inch per month though you definitely need to feed him more.

[Jace]

Wow-really? And how often should I dust the crickets? I usually do it twice a week: once with calcium and once with vitamins.

[SethD]

Wow-really? And how often should I dust the crickets? I usually do it twice a week: once with calcium and once with vitamins.

When toadlets are growing fast I have found it necessary to dust their food daily with rapashy. Otherwise some have have tended to show signs of deficiencies after a month or so. Things like loss of stickiness in the tongue(not enough vitamin A) spasms(not enough calcium) etc.

[Jace]

Sorry-but what is rapashy? Do you think an alternating schedule of calcium/vitamins would work? I usually feed him/her every night when I get home from work and I can easily incorporate a dusting in there every night. Anything to make Enoch grow up strong and healthy I will do!!

[SethD]

Sorry-but what is rapashy? Do you think an alternating schedule of calcium/vitamins would work? I usually feed him/her every night when I get home from work and I can easily incorporate a dusting in there every night. Anything to make Enoch grow up strong and healthy I will do!!

Rapashy ICB is a type of supplement. It is available online. If you can't get it in Canada I would go with two days of dusting with calcium followed by one day of multivitamin and once every 10 days or so a dusting of straight vitamin A from retinol(probably need to grind it down from human grade suplements with a mortar/pestle) . This until he gets half grown or so, then you can start dusting less frequently. If you can get repashy ICB it will save some hassle as it claims to be a balanced all in one supplement and I have found that to be pretty much true when used daily. It is undoubtedly the most complete and balanced supplement available although there are occasional uses for less balanced forms of supplementation.

[Jace]

Thank you, Seth! I will look into repashy; if I can't find that, I will do your suggestion starting immediately. Enoch is very active and quite curious about his/her surroundings, so I hope I can continue to provide a balanced diet to match that curiosity! Thanks again!

[Greg M]

Hi Jace!

Cute little guy! I love toads! With these little guys (presumably transformed this year), its hard to over-feed. Certainly, feeding them what they can eat in 15 min. everyday, is not too much. I feed mine in a separate feeding cage so there's no danger of eating substrate (although Eco Earth is fairly safe) and, more importantly, so I can monitor their actual intake. I like Repashy Calcium plus ICB for dusting and Repashy Gutload ILF to gutload the crickets. Allen Repashy doesn't sell directly but there are lots of Gecko sites that carry his products (I get mine from LLLReptile.com). I also subscribe to the diverse diet approach - my guys eat silkworms, crickets, small Dubia roaches, small hornworms, butterworms, earthworms, phoenix worms and the occasional pinkie mouse for the big guys. I am looking to add isopods because I read an article about the nutrient composition of bugs and isopods are really high in calcium... An interesting article that you not have seen is http://ardeajournal.natuurinfo.nl/ar...82-299-314.pdf - it may seem off-topic (its about birds), but it has a lot of data about insect calcium content...

Cheers!
Greg