hey there! I'm new here, I'm looking for advice about raising fire-bellied toadlets. I have been following the reccomendations of this site (http://www.arches.uga.edu/~parrishm/bombina/fb_frames.html) cause it seems to be most in line with what I've read elsewhere, but my questions here are ones I couldn't find answers to anywhere else.
I have been raising fire-bellied tadpoles and just today the first of them are squirming up onto land. They're so tiny! They are only about a centimeter and a half. I have been hovering over them the past few weeks, feeding them well and checking their water and watching them grow. They are the cutest little critters I ever saw, and their transformation over the past few weeks has been amazing. WIthing a couple of days I plan on moving them into a temporary tank- a large plastic tub, set up according to the site listed above, untill their permanent home is set up. From what I gather (they are elusive little guys) we have about 35-40 of them.
Now I have to figure out what to do with them (I wasn't exactly planning on the whole thing- see below.) I am entirely prepared to take care of them for their whole lives, but I am concerned about them breeding again. I am thinking of maybe setting up a terrarium (instead of a plaudarium)because I'm pretty sure they only breed in water. I have a 60 gallon land tank as a permanent home for them, once they're ready.
What I want to know is if you guys think that that is enough for that many toads... I have another 25 gallon long tank, and I can set up both as toad tanks, so that's an option too. Ideally I thought if there was a way to sex them i could put the males in one and the females in another. I'm hoping to be able to give some away but I'm really hesitant about finding good stable homes, and I would really rather just take care of them myself then risk having them get hurt.
So how did all this happen? I bought a couple of fire bellied toads a couple of years ago under the impression that they were both male, but as it turned out one of them was a female. They didn't breed for two years but almost two months ago eggs showed up in the tanks one morning and well, here we are. The person who I bought the toads with (my ex) wanted me to kill the little guys, take their eggs out of the water, but I figure that if they want to live, who am I to say otherwise? i have the means to keep them and raise them and have them live happy lives, so I'll to that if I can.
Either way, any thoughts, comments or advice would be appreciated.
