Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I purchased 2 fire belly toads last week and I just love them. I named them Oz and Spike. Go figure.

They are fascinating to watch and come to the glass when I enter the room. My question concerns the crickets that you feed your FBT. I have taken to feeding them every 3 days. Is this adequate? I also bought some of that calcium dust to sprinkle their food with. My question is...Can you keep the crickets in a small box/container and feed to the frogs as needed? It would be easier to go to the store once a week for fresh food for them but if not I can and will go twice a week to properly care for them.

Thanks for any info you can provide me.

Hello there,
Congrats on the fbt's!

Every 3 days for feeding, as you already do is a good schedule! But, personally I keep no record of how often I feed my lil guy. I may feed him twice a week one week, three times the next week, maybe one time the next week.

Also, I feed my fbt a variety of food items such as crickets, waxworms, earthworms, outdoor insects(such as grasshoppers), and occasional food item such as a tadpole, fish, etc.

Most if all herp keepers generally have a container to keep crickets in. This is where the crickets are gutloaded with commerical foods, or veggies, etc.

You do not need to keep going to the petstore by any stretch. As long as the crickets are thriving, you can feed them to your toad. No matter one week, or 5 months old.

Steven

Thanks for the feedback Buddy25. I will get some type of small housing to keep my crickets on hand to feed my FBT.

Chiacats.

Don't forget food and water for the crix. If you gut load them with calcium it is better for the toad too. I feed my crix on high protine cat food also on fish food mixed with calcium. Lots of people simply drop in a piece of raw potatoe. A shallow lid for water or just a moist paper towel or cotton ball does fine for water.

np

High calcium gutloading diets do not work for all animals as there may be insufficienty vitamin D3 in the diet to properly metabolize the calcium.

That said, if you feed the high calcium loading diet for more than 48 hours the calcium will begin to increase the death rate of the crickets however you need to feed the calcium for at least 48 hours to begin to get sufficient calcium in the crickets to adjust the calcium to phosphorus ratio in the cricket. However this does not usually correct the calcium phosphorus ratio in crickets larger than pinheads.
The crickets will also die within several hours after being offered the high calcium diet, if they are not offered sufficient water.

Ed