How much food??

[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.

[LilyPad]

I agree with you Greg. But you have to keep in mind that sometimes you need to focus on the space between the eyes rule for people who are new to the hobby, otherwise they'll be feeding 1 inch grasshoppers to a baby toad. My toads are about the same size as his, and they are eating fruit flies still along with worm pieces. They could handle 1/4 inch crickets right now and possibly 1/2 inch, but they are happy and growing well right now so I will leave it at that for a while yet. A 1 inch grasshopper could easily cause choking or impaction in a toad that small.

[Poly]

Okay... well now that (I know) large insects are off-limits for my toad, and I have been catching small food, I caught 5 feild crickets and 4 small grasshoppers yesterday, so that is what I will be sticking to feeding her.

Also, I had once caught a toad in the wild by a remote lake, and it was easily 7" accross the back, it was huge, what would cause this toad to grow so large, I mean espically in the wild?

Also, I caught a breeding pair of crickets... so we'll see where that takes me, not normal crickets either, the small black feild crickets.