How much food??

[Poly]

Well, my toad may in a high growth state right now, I have noticed since a captured her about 2 weeks ago, she has almost doubled in size!

Hahaha "you and your neighbors", not everyone has neighbors buddy! () I live in the country, 220kms for the closest town, and my closest "neighbor" is over 15kms away. We don't have a nice groomed lawn and white picket fences where I live, we have a small lawn (in front of our house) surrounded by Jackpine conifers (there out white picket fence... lol) and we never spary anything... oh, and behind my house is 160 acers of my backyard... sooo I have plenty of room to look for insects!

As for the food, thanks for the suggestions, I've pretty much got it down pat by now, I've had her for almost 2 weeks, and everything has been working out, she wouldn't eat anything for 3 days, but honestly, I think it was because she was extremely "full", within three days, she defecated 4 or 5 times. Today, I set her on the floor, dropped a small grasshopper in front of her, and she snapped it up in a second, then, just to see what she would do, I put a large grasshopper in front of her, (it was about an inch long) I thought she would just ignore it because it was too large, but as soon as it moved, BAM! She snapped it up, "swallowed" about 6 times, and finally got the whole thing in her mouth... after that, I think she was full because she wouldn't eat anything else!

I'm not sure how old she is, I would estimate a few months old, but I am figuring within the next 4 months or so, she will be large enough to eat pinky mice... and is there really Obese toads? I thought they were similar to Pacman frogs where as they can grow very large.

Thanks

[nicodimus22]

Today, I set her on the floor, dropped a small grasshopper in front of her, and she snapped it up in a second, then, just to see what she would do, I put a large grasshopper in front of her, (it was about an inch long) I thought she would just ignore it because it was too large, but as soon as it moved, BAM! She snapped it up, "swallowed" about 6 times, and finally got the whole thing in her mouth... after that, I think she was full because she wouldn't eat anything else!

I'm glad your toad is doing well, but I kind of cringed reading this. If you think a food item is too large, it probably is, and you should not offer it. Doing so only puts the toad at risk of choking or impaction, especially with a hard-bodied item like a grasshopper. It's always better to feed several small items than one huge one.

[LilyPad]

I also am glad that she is eating, but an inch long grass hopper with a hard body inside a small toad is a recipe for disaster. You should not be feeding food bigger than the space between her eyes or you risk different digestion issues including impaction. They might snap up that stuff in the wild, but most of them never make it to adulthood in the wild either.

[Poly]

Alright, well again, not too sure if it was too large, but it did seem like that, but I will stick to feeding it small grasshoppers from now on, that is, until it does get bigger. How old is a toad when it reaches "adulthood"?

Thanks

[nicodimus22]

Usually, adults are between 2.5 to 4 inches long. They can reach that in a number of months, once their growth spurt kicks in.

[Greg M]

Two quick points.

First, in response to Poly's question, toads certainly can become obese. Adults don't need as much food relative to their size as the rapidly growing juveniles. Fed an excess of high-calorie foods (mice, waxworms, etc.) can result in extremely fat toads which may suffer health problems, including corneal opacities (eye condition, can result in blindness). Transitioning to less-frequent feedings after they are mature and keeping low-fat insects as the staple of their diet is best for the long-term health of your pet.

Second, the size of the prey item is partly a matter of common sense. The "space between the eyes" rule is a good idea for the more "hard-shelled" prey items but I don't believe it should be slavishly adhered to for soft-bodied prey. I think you can bend the rule for silkworms, hornworms, earthworms, etc. As an example, I have an extremely large female Cranwell's horned frog (named Ralph, of course). She might be 1.25 inches between the eyes but she is now pushing 6 inches in length. She can easily eat a dozen or so ~6 inch nightcrawlers or 4 inch hornworms at a feeding. I can't possibly imagine feeding her a hundred or so ~1 inch crickets! GADZOOKS! Ditto for some of my larger toads... I personally have no problem with feeding a 6 inch nightcrawler to my 6 inch frog (or a 1 inch earthworm to a 1 inch frog, if I had one). Just be cautious and use your discretion and common sense...

[Wormwood]

I've never had any issues with night crawlers either. They do carry a decent gut load of dirt in them so be wary with how many you feed your toad at one sitting. I've always been wary that the dirt inside them might be a cause for impaction. Because of this I usually offer a earth worm and some crickets, wood lice or meal worms.