Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I currently have 5 firebelly toads. I've had 4 of them for about 3 years and just added the 5th one last summer. As far as I know they have never laid eggs, although I see them hanging onto each other (in a mating posture) quite a bit. I believe I have 2 females and 3 males. Do the toads have to go through a hibernation period in order for them to successfully mate? Or is it possible that they have laid eggs and the eggs have gotten sucked into the filter? I'm just wondering why I haven't seen any eggs...I'd like for them to breed.
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~Heather~
3 German Shepherd Dogs (Tasha, Austin, & Kaiya)
1 Seal Point Siamese (Mieko)
5 Firebelly Toads (Kirby, Gus, Pico, Tiki, & Romeo)
3 Red-Eared Sliders (Otis, Jasper, & Jade)
1 Southern Painted (Milo)
Check out my website with most of my pets!

How much water do they have access to? How deep is it?

Maggie

My toads are in a 29 gallon tank that is approximately 2/3 land and 1/3 water. The land side is planted. The water is 4 inches deep (approx.)
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~Heather~
3 German Shepherd Dogs (Tasha, Austin, & Kaiya)
1 Seal Point Siamese (Mieko)
5 Firebelly Toads (Kirby, Gus, Pico, Tiki, & Romeo)
3 Red-Eared Sliders (Otis, Jasper, & Jade)
1 Southern Painted (Milo)
Check out my website with most of my pets!

Hi:

When I was doing Firebellies about 22 years back, there wasn't much written on them. Everything I learned was by observation and nature taking its course without my help. I had them in a similar situation but in a 60 gal with 6 inches of water. When they mate, they turn around and around in the water diving then circling back up during which time a large clutch of eggs would be released into the water. Later I found out from a book that 4 inches of water was the minimum they needed to perform this summersault. Its unlikely that such a large clutch could all end up in your filter without your noticing and I doubt your filter could be strong enough to pull so much in. I would literally find hundreds of eggs at a time! I also found that if the female did not push the male off during amplexus it was sure that eggs would be layed and I could almost always "induce" this by additional misting. It also conincided with hotter/longer days as in the summer(I also set the tank near a window, not in direct light).

It was common to see males latch on in the pet stores with no laying because the female was not ready, or the water site was too shallow or there was no additional misting. There should be more books on the subject now and you could probably read some,tell me what I did right/wrong and what conclusion I made were accurate. At any rate this habit seemed to prove perfect for two breeding pairs I had, and I ended up with 700 eggs in one season with many survivors also raised by my insticts for lack of information. The babies have yellow bellies, by the way, as captive rearing takes out the red-probably due to diet.

Do a search on Firebelly breeding to find the most current of information. It is not hard to do and I think you will find the additional research will give you some pointers that will bring you satisfaction. I did this with my Dart Frogs and now have a similar boom happening.

Maggie

I've heard that a lot of people struggle with breeding firebellied toads, and I am not sure why.

Mostly, I think it has to do with water depth and temperature. This year was my first successful year breeding after 6 years of owning FBT's. In the past, I have chilled the tank for weeks, and then returned the temperature to normal with no luck.

However, you also have to be sure you have a female that is breedable. For some reason, my other female (from previous attempts) would always be mated with, but never laid eggs.

Reccently, I acquired a new female (although I wasn't aware of it until she laid eggs), and all four of my toads were moved to a 29 gallon tank about 3 years ago.

But the KEY for me came reccently. I did a make over of my tank, and added an 8 inch deep false bottom. So now the water is about 10 inches deep, and something must have triggered the breeding. Either the depth, or the water temperature trigered something nd caused them to breed.

-Bryan
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www.mplionhearts.com

That's interesting...I was thinking about replainting their tank and creating a false bottom too. Maybe I'll have better luck then...
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~Heather~
3 German Shepherd Dogs (Tasha, Austin, & Kaiya)
1 Seal Point Siamese (Mieko)
5 Firebelly Toads (Kirby, Gus, Pico, Tiki II, & Romeo)
3 Red-Eared Sliders (Otis, Jasper, & Jade)
1 Southern Painted (Milo)
1 Blue male Betta (Alpha- named by my students!)
1 Pleico (Hoover)
1 Tiger Barb (Tigger)
10 guppies
3 ghost shrimp
Check out my website with most of my pets!