Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i got 4 baby hogs a couple weeks ago- the day i got them i fed 2 frogs and 2 toads- last week i switched it up- the one that ate frogs ate toads-the ones that ate toads ate frogs-and i tried to feed em just frogs yesterday-put 4 frogs in a box with 1 hog and nothing- i tried all 4 hogs too- then i decided to take frogs out and put in toads- BLAM- they went crazy- all ate but 1- so anyway i was wondering if anyone has noticed this with their easterns-(liking toads better than frogs)

It's been my experience that easterns prefer toads to anything else. If I were you I would switch them over to mice - for a bunch of different reasons!

well that will never happen-easterns dont fair too well on rodents-really bad for their livers-

I do not know where you got that info, but it is an old wives tail. What they do not fair well from is being overfed mice, which is the real issue. Not the mice themselves.

That being said, if you are going to continue to feed toads/frogs how often are you planning on treating them for parasites? The parasite load from such prey dramatically increases in captivity. What are you going to do for a food source in the winter? How are you going to prevent introducing pesticides to your snakes if using wild caught prey? The list goes on.

Below are some pics of easterns doing wonderful on a strict mouse diet. They key is to not overfeed, and they do wonderful.

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Jenea
Guardian Reptiles

"When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you're headed for the grave" Author unknown

Hi! I'm fairly new to this, but my adult female is eating 2 adult mice a week. Is this too much?

I only feed my adult easterns 1 adult mouse a week, unless it is a gravid female, then 2. There is a difference between a stout snake, and an obese one. You just need to pay attention to the animal. If your female looks pregnant, and shes not, then I would cut back.
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Jenea
Guardian Reptiles

"When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you're headed for the grave" Author unknown

Thanks for the help Jenea!

Wow, the hog in the top pic is amazing! Have any other pics of it?
BTW My eastern hog is now on large rat pinks and doing great!
Nick

Thanks. The pics don't really do it justice. He has a very green hue to him. I really thought he would get darker with age, but he is doing the opposite, just getting lighter and lighter. Here is a pic from when I got him last year.

And some a few months ago. Pretty big change!

And the most recent

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Jenea
Guardian Reptiles

"When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you're headed for the grave" Author unknown

Wow! That is very awesome. Looks like tiger stripes.
I wish mine was getting lighter. It arrived pretty red as a hatchling and it is getting darker and darker with each shed. There is however some yellowish green showing up.
Nick

thats great yours eats rodents-i think i'll just stick to toads-ive read plenty and heard from people on other forums/naturalists that its best to feed em amphibians-

Why would you ask feeding advice then? Well, I guess I know just to ignore your questions since you are the expert.
Waste of time.
Nick

Nick I don’t remember him asking any advice about feeding, just if they prefer toads over frogs? Please read post before opening mouth! The answer is toads. Freeze them individually in a small baggy and thaw out two to three per feeding twice per week. Pick your toads from unpopulated areas to avoid pesticides and of course make sure to get as many as possible you never know when the rainy season will start again. As for the toads vs. mice discussion most, not all, but most will wither and die by age three on a rodent only diet.fact. There are some populations of eastern that can tolerate a mouse only diet but I would stick to toads to be on the safe side. I just sold my last two male easterns toad feeders in great health for 400.00 at Daytona.
Any body need any toads?( Ps that was not an ad just a grin ) Tom.

I know his question was toads over frogs, but we all gave what we found to be better than toads or frogs..Rodents. I have talked with many eastern hog enthusiasts who have had easterns on rodents for over 3 years. I would like to see the report that says that most easterns will die by age 3 on a rodent diet.
I also think it is wrong that someone should go out and catch a bunch of toads to just freeze them and feed them to a captive. Great way to diminish a local population of toads. I think it is far better to use the food that was bred to be food. If toads are the answer for you, then breed them, don't take from the wild.
Nothing personal, just discussing!
Nick

>> I also think it is wrong that someone should go out and catch a
>> bunch of toads to just freeze them and feed them to a captive.
>> Great way to diminish a local population of toads.

Won't have any impact on the local population unless the local population is already in trouble.

Toads are a prey species and breed like a prey species - over producing in huge quantities expecting a large percentage to never reach sexual reproduction.

What decimates toad populations primarily is habitat destruction, introduction of invasive species, and possibly that amphibian fungus - though it seems that the fungus doesn't have as much to do with amphibian decline as they once thought, and also seems to have a bigger impact on tropical zones (IE central america).
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11.14 L. getula californiae (Cal. King)
2.3 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 L. getula floridana (Brooksi)
1.1 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
0.1 Heterodon nasicus nasicus (W Hognose)
4.2.14 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

I might as well add that I would love to see people selectively producing the specimens that are better rodent feeders and not the ones that will only take toads/frogs or (die within 3 years if fed rodents). I think it would be better to have CB Easterns that take rodents and thrive in captivity. In my opinion it would be best for the industry.
Nick

We should also throw in the fact that amphibian population world wide are being decimated by some sort of fungus. How long healthy populations will be available is anybodys guess.
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Jenea
Guardian Reptiles

"When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you're headed for the grave" Author unknown

how do you breed toads
? i got an eastern hognose and plan to get more!!! so i might breed toads

i lookin to buy some- what do you have-

now-now-lets play nice-