Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a female North American Brown Toad. I found her out in the yard about 2 years ago. She has always been a very good eater. Her diet consists of crickets and baby nightcrawlers. She has a preference for the worms. She stopped eating about 4 weeks ago. I usually feed her every third day as much as she wanted to eat. She has been moulting and appears to be weak when she moves around. She has lost weight. She will not eat crickets dusted with suppliments. Is she hypocalcemic? What can I do since she won't "eat her vitamins"? Is there a suppliment that I can add to her pond or drop on her skin that would help? She seems to be stressed and unhappy. What can I do to entice her to eat? The crickets and worms are store bought so the food isn't the problem. I took her to a vet and he said she was too fat and that she just wasn't hungry, but that was 3 weeks ago. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Depending where you live and how warm it is you have 2 choices
1) release it back into the wild
2) or you can take it to a vet

Thank you pacman

I HAVE taken my toad to the vet, twice now. The first one said she was too fat and probably just wasn't hungry. Tonight I took her to the emergency animal clinic, they prescribed calcium gluconate syrup to put on her food. Hmmmm I took her there BECAUSE she wasn't eating and he didn't explain how to pry her mouth open to force feed her. So I have medicine I don't know how to give her and I'm out 100 bucks for the 2 vet visits. I could REALLY USE some constructive help here. It is still pretty cold here and I doubt there is an adequate food supply at this time, so I don't think turning her loose is a good idea.

OK, first of all I dont actually have any toads so take this any way you want to... These are things I would try based on my experience with lizards, snakes and torts...

Was she eating calcium dusted crickets before? Or do you mean she just stopped eating them recently. If she was never eating them it is possible that she is calcium deficient. You can try prying her mouth open with a credit card or similar. You have to weigh the stress of getting the mouth open to the benefits of the calcium liquid.

Have you tried alternative food items such as red wigglers or meal worms. I know meal worms are not great in the long run but you could try them temporarily and I think you could MAYBE inject mealworms with the calciquid if you can get your hands on a syringe from the vet. This is sort of a shot in the dark to get the ca into her. IF she resumes eating perhaps you can inject earthworms in the future so she gets the ca.

Have you considered that it is just too cool in your house this time of the year and it finally got to her that she should be hibernating/brumating? Is she getting thin or is she holding that weight? One thing to try would be a weak (25 watt?) bulb over one side of the tank during the day to simulate spring so that she goes, Oh, ok it is spring, time to resume eating.

Like I said, I dont have any practical experience with toads here but I figured I would toss my two cents in.

Good luck,
Carole

PS is it possible your toad is very old? Was it an adult when you got it?
reptilecare

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