Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi. I'm raising 18 american toad tadpoles and so far 5 of them have absorbed their tails. I guess you'd call them toadlets now?

Anyway, I don't have any insects to feed them yet. I'm going to get some fruit flies tonight to feed these guys but until then they need food!!!

I was going to feed maggots until tonight, but I was told not to because they can eat their way out of the toad. What if I cut the maggot in half? Besides one maggot would be too big to feed anyway.

Is their anything else I can feed until I get the fruit flies? No petstore near me sells pinheads. One store I called said they had some, but when I went to buy them I found out they were 1/4" crickets.

Anything else? These toads are SO small, I'm afraid that they won't be able to eat much of anything I try. Even the fruit flies sound like a lot for them. How many do you think I should feed each one? 1-2 flies per toad?

Here's a photo to show you their size. This photo was from yesterday. He/she doesn't have the tail anymore.

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alstiver@hotmail.com

1.0 '01 hypo snow
0.1 '02 ghost (pastel)
1.1 '02 bloodred

We also had toads emerging from tadpoles starting a week ago. We finally got the fruit flies yesterday and they are eating. Some have gone a week and a half without food and they have survived. We've tried many other food: crickets, worms, etc. and they would not eat. The only problem is that the flies can still hop and climb out of the cage. We had to take the cage outside and also put a saran wrap over it.

Don't use Saran wrap, use fine mesh such as net curtain, wedding veil, etc. to ensure adequate ventilation while keeping the flies in.

A kid gave me 3 of them, that looks just like yours. I collected some termites yesterday at an old stump, so hopefully they will eat that, because we don't have fruit flies around me. I need to start breeding my crix again.
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P. sauvagei
derekb15.tripod.com/tropicaltreasures

Have you tried springtails? Insects that are 1/16 of an inch. You can culture some in a shoebox with Charcol and brewers yeast and water. Ed's Flymeat has them. This is what we feed tads from the very small thumbnail frogs. Also, hatchling crickets might work(though expensive). How about flour moth larve? You can get cultures of Aphids too and get cultures growing for you. Berkshire Biological has them.