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My fire bellied toad (Mac) has been acting wierd lately. I think he is about to die from something. He was my first herp pet i had gotten and we have been happy for 4 years until now!!!!! OK. I found him the other day upside down on the floor and he looked a lot bigger. I thought maybe he was playing so i picked him up and his legs were lifeless and his hands were curled up like he was praying. I touched his stomch and thats when he came to life and hopped back down to the ground. While I was touching his stomach it felt different then usual. It was hard and felt like he swallowed some gravel. Wierd thing is i dont have gravel in there. I use bed-a-beast with half water half land and the temps stay around the normal temp and he has an undertank heater which is new. PLZ n e suggestions on helping me save my little dude will surely make my day a lot better. Thx.

O yea, i also fed him large crickets couple days ago cause the petstore didnt have n e small ones. He is used to small ones but stil he ate the large ones. IS this the problem? If so plz tell me that my little guys will survive. Thx again.

i'd take him to a vet.
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~Nancy
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My Pets:
9 year old West Highland White Terrier - Bridget
River Cooter Turtle Hatchling - Herb
Red-Eared Slider Turtle Hatchling - Jared
Fire-Bellied Toad - Mohammed
Three Bettas - Depp, Shakespeare, & Jeremiah
Ghost Shrimp - Maude
Pleco - George
Ramshorn Snail - Bob
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Jamie - Red eared slider

I wish i could but the only vet we have here is a normal vet. I took him there and they said they would try a little research and try to help. They suggested that he might have impaction. They dont know how to treat this and said i could try web pages to find answers. How do i treat impaction or how can i make him fell comfortable before he dies. I really want to help him survive but dont know wat to do. Plz help.

It is quit possible that he ate a cricket that was just too big for him. They will go after what moves and if he got one and started on it, he may not have been able to get it back out. Since they can't throw it back up they just have to keep working it done. I have also heard stories about large crickets doing damage to the toad, basically I have heard that the large cricket may still be alive after being eaten and will injure the toad from the inside. I know this is a terrible thing to hear and I am not saying that is at all what may have happened. I would just watch getting crickets that are too big. I used to always feed my adults 1/2in crickets but when the babies where big enough to go into the adult tank (yes, they would have ate the babies if given the chance just because they were very small and they moved. Firebellies do not have great eyesight)
Since putting the babies in I use about 95% 1/4in and 5% 1/2in just to give the adults some bigger food and I have seen my smallest toad try to take a cricket that was at least half her size if not more.

He could also kidney failure for whatever reason and that will bloat them up.

Over the years I have had a couple of firebellies that basically had the same symptoms. I have taken them out and put them in a small critter keeper and put a light on the keeper to keep them warm. At first I would put the light close to the keeper and then as the firebelly got better I would move it farther away. I sure there are other more medical type things out there to treat them, this is just what I have done before and it worked for me.

Hope this helps and I wish you and your toad the best. Let us know how it goes.

Rhonda

Im thanknful u guys helped by giving me good advice but yesterday he died. I did some more research and found out he did have impaction and to treat it u should put him in warm water and let him swim. I did the water thing right by putting him in the water but didnt let him swim. Thx again for ur advice.