Rescued a Toadlet, Now What?

[mary]

I just got a little half-inch toadlet out of a tank of full-grown fire-belly toads at the nearby pet store. I have 2 adult FBT, but this one is far too small to put in with them.

Right now, he/she is in something they call "fire-belly landing" - a plastic thing sort of like a Lee's Kritter Keeper, but only about 4 or 5 inches top to bottom and about 10 inches across. The water depth can only go to about 1/2 inch at most. The pre-raised land area is about 4 or 5 inches accross.

I've put a good light over the top and it has a bubbler to keep the water moving. I change the water every day/every other day, too. But I'm worried that this isn't big enough. Does he/she need water deep enough to swim? Because this isn't deep enough for that.

Also, should I find a similar-sized friend to keep him/her company? I don't want him/her to get lonely or anything.

Also again, he/she is mostly brown with green areas. Is this bad? My other two are all green (with black spots, of course. The baby has the black spots, too.) His/Her belly is reddish-orange, similar to one of my adults which seems to be okay...but what do you think?

I have my adults on a dusted crickets diet. I give them mealworms, but they won't eat them. I'm giving the little guy some small dusted crickets. I'm periodically offering mealworms, but he/she isn't interested. Is there anything special I should be feeding him, due to his age and/or perhaps to improve his color?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. I really appriciate it.

 

[jon]

Hi Mary
I'm glad to see you didn't put the new toad with the adults, because they would most likely fight right now... The "fire-belly landing" is something I have seen in petstores before, and its OK but I would recommend something a little bigger.. Now you can usually find a 10 gallon tank for around $10 which is a pretty good deal. The water depth is alright, some people on the forums keep their toads in an almost entirely terrestrial environment with simply a dish of water they change daily for them. This setup works but toads seem to do better when they are given a few inches of water to swim around. The toads I have now spend about 80% of their time in the water. If you do happen to go for a 10 gallon tank, just make sure you give some kind of gradual slope so the toads dont always have to actually be swimming to be in the water. Toads generally do not need another toad with them to be happy, but I have noticed they will not croak if another toad isn't present. As for the color that could just be the type of toad he/she is. There are a few different species under Bombina and only Bombina Orientalis has the bright green people come to know firebellied toads for. I would not worry about the color unless the color suddenly turns very dull and the toad becomes less active, that could be a sign of stress. The diet of dusted crickets is fine. You only really need to dust the crickets once a week, and just feed them every other day. Mealworms aren't usually recommended because the hard exoskeleton cannot be digested. Sorry this entry is a little long, I got a little carried away. Hope this helps you!

 

[mary]

Thanks for the feedback!

I think I should move him to a bigger tank - I'd rather give him more space than less.

I'll probably get him a friend, too, to be sure that he's not lonely (plus, I like the sound of their singing.).

I won't worry too much about the color; I'll just keep an eye on it to be sure he's not stressed/sick.

I'll keep to the cricket, then, and leave of the mealworms.

I'm glad yours is a long post; I appreciate your taking the time to help me out. Thanks!

(P.S. I'm the same Mary, I'm just registered now.

)

(Message edited by Mary on March 19, 2005)

 

[josh]

Mary - I would get rid of the firebelly landing. Not because of the toads...because of the crickets! I had a firebelly landing, and it is a cricket escape hazard. If you put cricks in there and watch it for about 5 minutes, then you will see them climb right out of the air slots in the top. Your toad may not even be getting a chance to eat, not to mention that you've probly got cricks running loose in your house.