Separating toadlets for feedings?

[LilyPad]

Two of my four toads have grown considerably bigger than the other 2. I don't know if they are like tree frogs, and the females tend to be larger and eat more, but they are all eating well right now, so I'm not concerned about the size difference.

The two bigger ones could easily take down 1/4 inch crickets right now, the smaller two still need fruit flies. Would I have to worry about the smaller ones attempting to chomp down a 1/4 inch cricket? Should I start feeding them separately?

[nicodimus22]

I realize you are probably looking for a more expert opinion than mine, but from what I have read and seen, if it's smaller than they are and it wiggles, they will try to eat it. I get the feeling the smaller toadlets would try to eat the crickets. It's just instinct at work. If they were mine, I would probably keep them all on fruit flies a bit longer, for two reasons:

-It's more convenient for you only having to worry about 1 type of food and 1 feeding area/time
-It does them no harm to feed them more of a smaller food item, but giving them something that some of them might not be able to swallow could be problematic.

I know the fruit flies are expensive and a pain compared to crickets. Hopefully the size disparity won't get to the point where they start looking at each other as food. That's the larger concern in my book.

One fellow's opinion...

[LilyPad]

Yeah, if the size gets too far, I will have to separate them completely. They are hungry little buggers and I could see them trying to take a chomp at each other.

[nicodimus22]

Oh, also on the size thing, females toads ARE supposed to be larger. I don't know for sure that it means your smaller ones are males though, they could just be at slightly different stages of growth.

Also, when did you get spring peepers? I totally missed it. Are they going to sing for you eventually?

[LilyPad]

I hope they sing!! They are soooo itty bitty now though, like the size of my fingernail. I found them while I was on vacation and decided to bring a few home (we must have seen HUNDREDS) They are such pretty little frogs.

[Greg M]

I always feed my guys separately, in a separate container. This way I can monitor their eating and make sure the more greedy toads don't get all the food. My guys are used to this, so it doesn't seem to stress them at all.

My experience with Woodhouse's toads suggests that early size differences don't always carry through to adulthood and don't reflect the gender of the toad. My smallest toadlet is now my largest toad. She just had her growth spurt later than the others. All of my toads have hit a major growth spurt at some point in their development, some early and some late, and it is this growth period that really determines their final size. I don't have a huge sample size to go from, but anecdotally, it seems that the males have their growth spurt earlier and mature (reach more or less mature size) considerably earlier than the females. I believe the early maturation of males is borne out by field studies (on this species).