How much food??

[Poly]

My toad is about the size of a SD memory card, or your thumb.

How much should I feed her?

Today, after her missing a grasshopper twice, I picked her up and set her down directally in front of an "injured" (I took off it's back legs... I actually felt sorry for it, but I guess the toad didn't...) grass hopper, I expected it to just hop away all scared from being handled and ignore the food, but after staring at it moving around for 30 seconds she grabbed it!

I notice with her, she's not aggressive going after her food, she hops up to it untill she is about 3 inches from it, then lowers herself to the floor, and "crawls" up to it sloooowly... then tries to get it with her tongue, the last time she did that, she caught the grasshopper, but because it still had it's back legs it managed to jump away.

So, my main point of all this was, how many grasshoppers should I feed her, there about .50" to .75" (Or for us canadian frogforumers' 1 to 2cm) in length, so she dosen't have a problem eating them, I've only managed to get her to eat one taday, and none yesterday. Will feeding her get easier over time, like she will eat on her own, and will not have to be coaxed by me?

Thanks

[LilyPad]

3/4 of an inch is too big for your toad even without the legs. The food shouldn't be any longer than the space between her eyes. My toads that size eat fruit flies, they probably eat 20 each and 1 or 2 tiny pieces of worms...the worm pieces are less than 1/4 inch. They COULD probably eat 1/4 inch crickets, but I haven't ventured there yet. Have you gone to your pet store to look at crickets yet? She probably would have no issues taking down small crickets or fruit flies. As young as she is, she should be eating something daily. If you haven't been to the pet store, I would get there soon, she also needs calcium and vitamin dust, or you risk stunting her growth because she doesn't have the proper nutrition.

If you really can't get to the store soon, go outside and find some small roly poly bugs (the adult shells are hard to digest) because they are loaded with calcium. I've also had luck feeding one of my picky eater toads those little green leaf hoppers. I'm not sure how healthy those are for them, but I was desperate because I have a small skinny toad that was refusing to eat fruit flies. She perked up hugely after eating a couple of those. She is back on the flies now and is doing well.

[Poly]

Okay, well I am going to the pet store this weekend.

Also, I'm not sure how accurate I was describing the grasshoppers & toad, but the grasshoppers are the size you recoment for the toad.

Also, I tried feeding her an ant today, and she caught and ate it the first time she seen it, so she has had 1 grasshopper and 2 ants today, is that enough?

[nicodimus22]

My advice would be to keep offering food items until she acts disinterested, and to feed her every day since she is a juvenile and in a stage of rapid development. They will stop trying to eat when they are full. Usually, I dump about 40 or 50 dusted fruit flies in with my two toadlets, and after about 15 minutes, they're mostly gone, or all gone. If they're all gone, I'll give the toads maybe 10 more at a time until they start ignoring the food, and then dump the few leftovers into their tank for later consumption.

[Poly]

I can't get those fruit flies, and ants just climb out of the tank, and I think the toad is full after one grasshopper, I did as amy said, and offer it small grasshoppers, but it ignores them and goes after larger ones.

[nicodimus22]

Ants are a pain, but the good thing about them is that they are free. I used them for the first couple of weeks, and catching enough was a hassle, and they would go everywhere once placed in the tank. I bet my neighbors thought I was crazy, making several trips up and down my apartment stairs each morning, and sitting in the garden, throwing ants into a cool whip container each trip.

I have another suggestion for you, although I have not personally tried it. This thing would pay for itself in about a month for me:

Amazon.com: Zoo Med Bug Napper Live Bug Catcher: Kitchen & Dining

http://www.google.com/products/catal...ed=0CDQQ8wIwAA


I would imagine this would work wonderfully in a rural area, assuming you have a place outside to plug it in.

[Pete]

I can't get those fruit flies, and ants just climb out of the tank, and I think the toad is full after one grasshopper, I did as amy said, and offer it small grasshoppers, but it ignores them and goes after larger ones.

Also if you want to keep the ants in the tank. If you put a little dry dish in a water dish you can keep the ants on the island. (I use a 6 inch claypot bottom as a water dish and then put a dry 4 inch claypot bottom in the middle of it.) So with my ant-covered fruit. I just put it on the island, and then the ants are trapped, but I keep the water level low enough the toads can go over and eat the ants. Just an idea to try out.