Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have some questions. I have a terrarium with a fire belly toad, and noticed that the toad was missing for several days. I checked underneath all its usual hiding spots but couldn't find it, and assumed it had died. I bought another one about a week ago and it seems to have mysteriously disappeared too. Is this just a winter thing that a terrarium frog might be doing? The tank has a small heater, but it is in the basement by a window, so it could be chilly, not nearly as cold as outside, but perhaps enough to trigger an instinct....

They can't be getting out of the tank - it's a 29 gallon with a hood on it, and saran wrap enclosing gaps (from where it used to be an aquarium, the heater/filter slots were open). About half the tank is water, and the rest is dirt... well, mud. There's a big flat rock, some cork bark, and a few plants. But the toads are nowhere to be found. Could they just have burrowed themselves completely into the mud? I have 3 very tiny mud/musk turtles in the water, and a tadpole, and some feeder guppies. Sometimes the turtles eat the crickets so I can't even tell if either toad is alive by noticing missing crickets.
(picture: http://mermaiden.net/Pets/Turtles.jpg)

I kept the first toad for many months successfully; I tried to provide for all its needs, and think/hope I've managed to do that successfully. This disappearance had me baffled until it occured to me that maybe they're doing this for the winter or something, though... ?

Have you seen the toads lately? maybe your turtles ate them.

>>Have you seen the toads lately?
Did you read all of the post? hehehe. The whole thing is a post because I have not seen either of the toads.

>>maybe your turtles ate them.
No... the turtles are tiny. I posted a link to their picture so you can even see how tiny. They cannot eat the frog, there's no way physically possible it could fit in their mouths. And besides that, it would take them a very long time to consume that much flesh...

FBT's have been known to escape through the tiniest of holes. It's possible that they could have made their way between the plastic wrap and the tanks edge. I have read many posts from people saying that their toads worked their way through a hole on the screen top half their size.

There is also that chance that they have burrowed deep enough into the substrate for warmth.

IF that is what they are doing, try raising their tamps a bit with a basking lamp. If they have dug down, maybe warming up the above air will bring them out of hidding. If they aren't in there, you may want to check around the basement in all the nooks and crannies and see if you can find any traces of them. If it's been recent (like the last couple days) put out a few water dishes and a shallow feeding bowl with a few crickets. (deep enough to keep in the crix but shallow enough for the toads to climb in)

If there is no trace of them... I'm really sorry
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Heather

Thanks for the thought Heather, I do have a light on top but the extra basking lamp wouldn't hurt. I'll try that tonight, since I do have a spare. I've had waxworms in a dish, and several crickets bouncing around in there, and of course water is readily available in my setup. But I'll see what the extra warmth might do.

Actually it is quie probable that the musk turtles ate the firebellied toads, you may not think they are big enough to but I had 4 musk turtles and you would be amazed at the size and amount of prey they would eat. Never underestimate a hungry turtle, and musk turtles have stronger jaws than snapping turtles in relation to size so eating the bones is not a problem for them either. YOu should never house anything you don't want dead in with turtles because they will eat it.
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