Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a few bufo americanus that are getting their frontal legs and are losing their tails. I have been feeding them lettuce. Is it time to move into live food, or can i wait until they lose their tales? I don't want to move into feeder insects until they are ready, since i am relatively sure bugs will foul the water section of my tank.
thanks for any help in advance,
Markanthony

when they are lossing their tails they will not need feed. they absorb their tails as nuritisment. (spell?). all though you might some small crix in and see if it goes for em.
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I also have toadlets(Bufo Americanus)6 of them. When their front legs finally broke through, I left them in the set up for 24 hours (which was tipped to one side creating a "land" area) mine never willing left the water, so I removed them myself. I keep mine in small critter keepers with paper towel (slightly damp) and a sprig of pothos. It only took mine one and half days to completely absorb their tails, I thought it would take longer. Anyways, it has only been a week and they are really trying to eat! I have been offering them fruit flies. I count how many I put in, so when I check I just recount them. I am also going to try feeding termites because the fruit flies even seem too large for them. It's really neat seeing these little guys "hunting"

I raised 18 tads into toads about 3 weeks ago. I left them in the water (with a land area) until it looked like their tail was 1/2 the size it used to be, then I took them out and put them in small "kritter keeper" containers. Be careful that they can get out of the water though, because I did have one that drowned before I could remove it from the water.

I tried feeding them as soon as they were out of the water, because an aquaintance of mine who keeps frogs told me they would feed while they were absorbing their tails, but I didn't see any of them eat until a few days after they had fully aborbed their tails.

I fed them only fruitflies. They seemed to be okay for them. You may want to try to get springtails though. I guess they are smaller than fruit flies. You can get them at www.edsflymeatinc.com

Also depending on how long you keep them, be careful about keeping large toads and small toads together. The larger ones may try to eat the smaller ones.

I still have 4 of the toads (I released the others) and they are going strong, but are still fairly small, about the size of my thumbnail.

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1.0 '01 Hypo snow cornsnake (Tesla)
0.1 '02 Ghost (pastel) cornsnake (Banshee)
1.1 '02 Bloodred cornsnakes (Desi and Luci Too)
0.0.4 '03 American toads
0.0.3 Goldfish (Kabuki, Isamu, and Yuki)
1.0 American Eskimo mutt (Rusty)