I need advice raising my toads

[Curb71]

I've had about 30 little tadpoles for about 5 weeks now. I'm 95% sure they are bufo boreas. one of them got his front legs days a head of any others. now about 5 of them have front legs while some of them are still tiny tad poles and every stage of growth after that, up to the tail finally starting to disappear.

What I've noticed is once they get their front legs they don't want lettuce anymore. they ignore it while all the small and especially fat tadpoles love it. I got this cage seen here,
http://cse.f3images.com/IMD/feeds/LE20156_50.jpg
none of the ones with front legs have ventured outside of the water yet, (maybe they just don't know how to use stairs). they can't drown right? even once they are toadlets? what should I feed them once they stop eating lettuce but still seem to want to live in the water?
toads 1
toads 2
toads 3

[LilyPad]

Flightless fruit flies or pinhead crickets are what they like once they're ready to move out of the water. I've read that they don't always eat much right after morphing. They can drown, so I would put a rock or something in there for them to be able to climb out on. Good luck!! I"m sure others here have a lot more advice than that.

[Pete]

So what I did with my toads was to remove them from the water when they're tails were about 50% gone. Then I put them in a container with a coco fiber/stone substrate with a water dish (clay pot bottom). I've used wingless fruitflies, wild caught aphids and wild caught ants.

Most things that I have read say normally they don't eat until the tail is fully absorbed. This is not what I found. Mine were trying to eat when their tails were at about 25%. I didn't see any successfully eat at this stage, but the point is they were trying and I'm sure they ate soon after.

Good luck

[Wormwood]

You might want to try some fish food in place of the lettuce. I raised my tadpoles on that back when I was a kid and they did great.

Can't see plain lettuce having much value health wise actually...
________________________

I agree with Pete though, remove them from that tank once they start to climb onto land. Coco fiber and a shallow dish with some water is all they'll need to prevent them from drowing.

If you are unable to supply pin head crickets or fruit flies at this stage they simply won't make it as they are to small to eat anything else.

[nicodimus22]

If you are unable to supply pin head crickets or fruit flies at this stage they simply won't make it as they are to small to eat anything else.

You could also try aphids or very small ants, if you have some in your garden, although I would caution you against taking them from any area that might have been sprayed with pesticide or other chemicals. My toads live mostly on ants right now. Flightless fruit flies are great, but they don't last very long and it gets expensive quickly.

[Curb71]

update. good and bad. mostly bad.
A store bought "tadpole/frog food I bought killed every tadpole I had. About 23 of them.
I must of put to many in and the next morning they were all belly up laying on the bottom of the fish bowl. I did have 5 toadlets that are now in a terrarium with a coco fiber substrate and a water dish. they have been eating expensive fruit flies and the biggest one, tad, has started taking down small crickets. I have 3 other little toadlets that are doing fine chomping down fruit flies.

However one toadlet I named baby is real small and skinny and has never ate anything. I've tried everything but not even an attempt. I finally got a flash light and a magnifying glass to see if there was something wrong with her face and it doesnt look good. I'll attach some pictures and hopefully I can get some advice. water and a q-tip doesnt seem to "wash it off". I think she never fully formed or has a disease or something. I only see one eye which still looks more tadpole than toadlet. I don't see a mouth or her left eye and the stuff is all over her face/neck. I'm not sure what to do since she has been out of the water for just over a week and never ate a thing. Please help!
http://www.imagebam.com/image/2dc7e1138048795
http://www.imagebam.com/image/ec5100138048927
http://www.imagebam.com/image/961b3c138048954
http://www.imagebam.com/image/5173ef138048976
http://www.imagebam.com/image/07b133138049013
p.s. with the pics once you click it, it should open another tab and if you click the pic itself it will show original resolution which is real big.

[Heatheranne]

Haha! Had to chuckle .

They grossed me out a bit too at first but wow, do my pacs love them. I just use the tongs to pick them up and carry them in a ziplock bag to where my frogs are. Ha ha! I'm getting used to them and can pick up the little ones now .

I have to say they are way less smelly and less messy than crickets.

[kueluck]

I've sent Pandora3d some video on the roaches. I feed the red runners at this point, and they do give me the heebeegeebeez but the frogs love them. The dubias as Squirp pointed out, are like giant pill bugs and are almost to nice to use as feeders. They look like little bull dozers moving through the coco fiber. But the toads seem to enjoy the movement of the turkish. Once the toads stop this silly underground treatment & get back on their eat anything I put in front of them I'm going to try the dubias. Anyway. I hope she moves to the roach side.

[Curb71]

sorry to be an *** but it seems like my 6 month old thread has been hijacked. maybe we could keep the roach talk over here http://www.frogforum.net/toads/11931...-crickets.html or anywhere else? thanks

[kueluck]

Sorry to crash your thread, I was just trying to help Pandora3d out.

[Curb71]

anyone know what temperature toads like? not sure if they need a heat source or not and googling it gave me no results.