Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I would just like to get some opinions...

1- Is there any way I can change my Fowlers Toad's home to make it more comfortable for her (she was wild). I had a larger water dish, but she never went in it, so I got that smaller one and now she is in it every night (I took the rocks out of it).

2- I can't get the plants to live... any particular reason why they continue to die?

It is almost always 75-80 degrees in her home, and the humidity never goes below 70.

Also- she eats 5-6 crickets everynight. I give her a Red Worm or a Nightcrawler every 2-3 nights with 3 crickets. After she eats a worm she seems to get bloated. Is this normal? Or should I stop giving her the worms?

Thanks in advance for any help!

everything looks good, as for the plants i don't know why they are dying, have you tried pothos. i can't seem to kill them. that kind of toad eats anything, and feed it whatever since it's wild, good luck! i have the same kinda toad-heres her tank.

Okay, Thanks... Yeah, I don't know why the plants don't seem to stay alive. It seems to me like the UV light is frying them, so I raised it up, so it wasn't laying right on the screen, but they still died. I have a list of other plants people have said are okay to use. Or I may just get some fake ones, is there any reason not to use fake plants?

Thanks Again!

no reason not to use fake plants, just tha they don't look as nice and they have kind of a rough texture. try amazon swords, if they die there may be something wrong with your water, cause they are extremely hardy. i don't think the light was frying them cause florescents really don't produce any heat, maybe 1F but not enough to burn them. good luck!

Okay, thanks, I will look into trying another plant. She enjoys laying under a large leaf, so I need to get something in there for her. Yeah, the only reason I thought that the light was killing them, was because only the top of the plants where dieing, then slowly the whole plant went.

Also- would it be worth it to buy her some green moss? I've heard that Toads may enjoy burrowing into the moss?

What should I feed the Nightcrawlers and Redworms? I put some oatmeal in with the Redworms,and they seemed to have eaten it all... would that be okay to continue?

Everyday I think of a new question I'd like to have answered ...

Thanks so much!

usually when plants die the tips of the plants go first, that could also be because the water is too shallow for the types of plants you are using. java ferns are great for shallow water. i've had one in a tank for a year and it's gotton a lot bigger and multiplied.

moss would be good to get, cause if it got in the water it doesn't make a mess like dirt does (they also like to burrow in dirt). it provides them with a good hiding spot it's pretty.

as for feeding the stuff, oatmeal is good, just make sure they have a food and water source, oranges, apples... work well for water. for food you could also do fish food. it's nutrocious (did i spell that right) and also a pretty "clean " food.

questions are good, they make you smarter

Okay,I will have to go get a bunch of plants to try... Thanks!

The Redworms are in a styrofoam cup..The Nightcrawlers are in the fridge(I haven't fed them anything yet)... Do I need to move them to a different container, or just place the food on top of the dirt? I have a tiny carrying cage (3-5inches)that I could move the Redworms into.

Okay, I will have to go get her some moss then.. does it ever 'go bad'?

I will probally think up a ton more questions by tomorrow !

Thank you once again!

when you say nightcrawlers do you mean worms? if you do i don't think you need to do anything with them, but i've never used them so don't qoute me on that. i would suggest moving the redworms into the 3-5 in. cage, just so they have some more room to move around. are you using any circkets, they are very easy and good for the froggies too. it depends on what kind of moss you get, this is what i have found out:

sheet moss- pretty much good for any kind of tank- browns if too wet or too dry.

golden tipped moss- not to hardy, keep in a well drained substrate and mist every other day.

spagnum moss- doesn't go bad, is expremely soft but doesn't grow. it is kind of string like.

club moss- not hardy, pretty much same as golden tipped.

*wild moss- if yo udecide to get moss from outside let dry out for a month and then soak for 5 min. in warm water.

*moss from a bag- soak for 5 min. in warm water, it will "green up" and expand a little.

keep on asking questions

Oh yeah, Molly loves her crickets. She eats about 4 of them every night. Every 2-3 days I give her one of the worms.

Okay, I will move them then! I get her crickets at a local gas station, and they had Redworms and Nightcrawlers too, so I figured she'd be able to eat them. But after I got home, I realized now I don't know how to take care of worms .

I was planing on getting some of the spagnum moss, it was only a couple bucks at PetsMart, so if I kill that too it won't be a huge loss .

Thank you once again! You are a great help!!!

Oh yeah, Molly loves her crickets. She eats about 4 of them every night. Every 2-3 days I give her one of the worms.

Okay, I will move them then! I get her crickets at a local gas station, and they had Redworms and Nightcrawlers too, so I figured she'd be able to eat them. But after I got home, I realized now I don't know how to take care of worms .

I was planing on getting some of the spagnum moss, it was only a couple bucks at PetsMart, so if I kill that too it won't be a huge loss .

Thank you once again! You are a great help!!!

wow, sounds like Molly is one healthy frog! if you have a ten gallon tank you could put up to two more in with Molly and that would be ok. you don't have to worry about them fighting or anything. i think i've gotton the same moss as you, that stuff lasts forever!

if you decide the nightcrawlers and redworms are too much work Molly would be fine on just crickets. are you gutloading the crix? thats just when you feed them 24 hours before you feed them to your frog. well fed bugs= healthy froggie.

your welcome!

Heh, I'm trying my best to give Molly a good life. I've been reading like crazy- trying to gain as much knowledge as possible. But talking with people who actually have the animal seems to be the most helpful .

I've actually been thinking about getting Molly a friend. But I read that they tend to stay solitary until breeding season? I've been looking at rescues, trying to see if maybe there is a toad who needs a home.

Yeah, I am feeding them that Orange cube food/water, Plus they have 3 dishes of chopped carrots. The place I get them from feeds them potatoes, so they seem to be pretty healthy. Plus 2-3 times a week I dip them in a Multi Vitamin before I give them to Molly.

I was only feeding her Crickets, then she started not useing the bathroom, she wouldn't go for a week at a time, and she wasn't very active. I thought maybe it was because she didn't have a variety. Went and got her the worms, and everything seems to be pretty normal.

Also- I'm curious, does your toad try to get out anytime her lid is open? Molly is always trying to escape. Which makes me wonder if keeping her captive is still stressing her out?

wow, sonds like you rcrix have a pretty good life too! i really don't know much about breeding, all the times i've seen them they are all sitting on top of each other adn such, they seem to get along really well compared to other herps. some frogs need a more varied died than others, it really depends on the frog. i've never fed mine anything else cause they all seem healthy, so wouldn't want to change that.

actually i used to have three fire bellied, then about two weeks ago i could only find one. i took out everything out of the tank and looked but there was only one. like three days later one jumped on my foot while i was watching tv. the other one i still haven't found i have absolutly no idea how they got out. i have a screen lid and the only time i open it is to change the water dish, but i always find them before i put it in so i don't put it on top of them. also when they are feeding, but i am standing right there so i don't know how that could happen. i put some heavy books on ther for now, but have no idea how they got out.

other than that i haven't seen them try to get out. but on the otherhand i have a single whites treefrog in a 37 gallon tank and he tries all night to get out and it's not like he doesn't have a big tank. i think it depends on the frog, but i think if your frog is doing that now he is still adjusting, but if he's doing that in like a month he's either stressed or bored. if he's bored then put more plants in the tank, good, or things to climb.

keep on askin' questions!

pics: joey, kujo, and johnny- the one that is missing.

I'm so glad you found your Fire Bellies! They sure are cute!!

A Pine Woods Tree Frog laid her eggs in our pool a couple of weeks ago , only 12 survived, I had them in a rubbermaid container with a peice of old screen and tons of clips holding it down. I went down there last night to see if they where ready to be let go, and there where only 2 in the container :/. About a month ago I raised over 30 of the little guys, and none of them escaped. I hope they made it somewhere nice and safe.

I'm going to try to go to the local nursery sometime this week and get Molly some plants. Hopefully it will help calm her down a bit. I'd like to make her home as comfortable as possible for her.

Thanks! You'll probally be hearing more from me again very soon !!

tadpoles are tricky, their water has to be like perfect in order for them to thrive. i just hatched american toads about a month ago. i started off with 27 tads, 19 made it to litle frogs, but i ended up with 17 because i think 2 drowned. i had their water so it was like .5 mm high, it only went up to their chests, but i'm not sure. they could have gotton eaten or something. i let 13 go and am keeping four for a while. i have a female (jerry) and want a male so hopefully at least one is a male. we'll see.

as for plants pothos are great, so would other large leafed vines. plants that don't get too high are the best because they really dont' climb much/at all. feel free to ask more questions!

sorry, i got confused, i am talking to somebody else about fire bellies, sorry, i was looking back and realized you don't have fire bellies. my mistake. but i found my other one today! after 2 weeks of being in the basement! yahoo!

Hello.. I thought you might like to see how I changed Molly's home...

She doesn't seem to go on the moss like I thought she would, but she lays in the plant pots and hides under the leaves. She seems happier!!

tank looks awsome! i think molly will be a very happy toad. cool that yours can get into the pots, i dont think mine would be able to, but i've never tried it before.

Well I pushed the bedding up so its equal to the top of the pot, so she doesn't have to do a whole lot to get up under the plants.

Quick question- Molly has always eaten 4-5 crickets a day... but for some reason the last two nights she will only eat 2. She's very active when I put her in the other tank to eat, she walks around (mostly trying to find a way out) but doesn't seem to be interested at all in the crickets. I don't think she has gone to the bathroom in at least a week, I put her in a warm bath last night to see if that would help. Any reason why she may be acting like this?

Thanks!

it is probally just because she's full, 4-5 crix is a lot to digest for a little froggie. i feed mine twice a week and it eats anywhere from 3 a week to 15 and he's enormous and very healthy

Really? Because when I first got her and took her to the vet, he said she shouldn't eat any less than 4 a day. But then again, I'm starting to think he doesn't know anything about amphibians.

Tonight I am going to put a couple in her regular cage with her, instead of moveing her into the seperate cage for feeding. I'll see what happends. I got to thinking last night, she started acting like this right after I changed her cage. So maybe she is so comfortable in her home, that when I go in and take her out, it stresses her enough so she's not hungry. I'm just throwing any sort of explantaion out now

thanx!!!

4 crix seems like a lot, i feed some of my other frogs taht much, but when ever i tried to do that with Jerry 9american toad) he would not be as active and would not be as good of an eater. he also looked too large in the belly. you want them to be healthy and a little fat, but not so much where they are overly obese, that is just as bad as being skinny and they will probaly not live as long.

Which is probally why Molly has never been that active, and has always looked HUGE. Wednesday night I put 2 crickets in her home with her, I couldn't find 1 so on Thursday I put 1 more in there. I figure I'll just always make sure that there are 2 crickets in there for her to eat every night. She shed again last night, and I could tell she had been all over her home.

Also- What are the chances that she will hibernate? I was going to buy a heating pad for under her home, to keep it at 80 all threw the winter, but I read that if she doesn't (again, considering she was wild) she may die? I'm just trying to figure out what all I need to do to get ready?

I just went in to feed Molly, and noticed there are 5-6 max little white bugs, they look like mites. Do I just clean her tank and throw away all her plants, put papertowles in it for awhile to make sure they are all gone(I don't see any on her).

they aren't mites if they are white (mites are red), they sound liek springtails to me, i've had them before and they are harmless, certainly don't throw away all the plants. they usually come if there is a lot of poop in the tank or if it's moist (i'm guessing it's the 2nd one in your case) just take the ones out that you see and keep doing that. whenever i've had them they died off in a month, even when i didn't take them out.

my american toad was WC also and it never tried to hibernate, in the winter they eat less, maybe about half of what you are feeding it now. i really don't think she would die, esp. because she is so healthy. as long as it is above 75, if it goes below 65 she might try. your decision about the heating pad, i don't know the temps in your house. just keep feeding, misting 9very important, have it humid, but not wet) and keep warm.

Oh, okay. Yes, her home is VERY moist. I was waiting to see what I needed to do about these little bugs, because I need to sqeeze some of the water out of the bedding. I don't see them anywhere but under her house. But she hasn't been going in there lately anyway (She pushed all the moss into one of the plant pots and lays in the moss now.) Thanks! I was worried they may be mites.

Okay, Her home now doesn't go above 80. I have been putting a towel over the screen on top to keep it warmer at night for her. I fill her water dish with warm water, to help with the humidity. But we tend to keep the house cool during the winter. I have a heating pad under my cricket tank right now because if it gets below 80 they all seem to die. So I've got the tank wrapped up in towels and the heating pad on low.

Thank you once again for all your help! I may just write you privately next time (considering how long this thread is getting ) if you don't mind.

ps. Thanks for the comment on my pic!

yep, the springtails definetily seem to like it moist, a lot of the time they are on rotting logs or some kind of wet or moist wood. if you are realy worried about the temperature at night put a glass top on, that helps with temperature and humidity A LOT! do you have a light on the tank now? if you do i would suggest keeping no top or a screen top on cause with a glass top and a light it can get very hot.

they really like moss to hide in, mine burrows 3 inches down sometimes. it scared me the first time, i couldn't find him.
this is the longest thread i've ever seen

ps. to contact all you have to do is click on otis07 at the top of the page and that sends an e-mail.