Reptile & Amphibian Forums

can someone PLEASE help us--we got two red belly frogs about a month ago---one will not eat!! One was eating and has stopped...we feed them crickets and tried waxworms. We tried feeding them in a different aquarium with both frogs and alone...tried morning/evening....have a glass container and they jump in and drown/stomp crickets to death. Put crickets on a large flat piece decoration and they commit suicide. dangled crickets in their face! help or we may have to give them up for adoption....

Temp level of ambient air in cage and temp level of water? Could be too cold. I don't know what it is for red-bellies but you can check hundreds of care sheets available online and at pet stores.

Have the crickets been dusted? I keep tree frogs and I dust food with calcium and us a 2.0 UV for amphibians (similar to lizards). Amphibians don't get calcium needed for bone health from insects and the UV vitamin D helps process the calcium. A bone deformity can be an issue, although this usually takes several months to a year or two to develop.

Try feeding them at night. Isolate the toads and feed separately. Measure X number of crickets into cage and leave them alone for the night at a comfortable temperature (for the toads). This works well for all amphibians that I have kept. Make sure that the toad can hide as well so that it can eat while concealed should it choose to.

As mentioned above, offer food then do not observe. The toads may see you and not be willing to eat because they think that you are a predator. Amphibians will sit dead still to try and hide until approached -- then they flee into a good hiding area.

As far as hiding areas, does the set-up look like a pet-store setup that has nowhere to hide? Lack of hiding areas can cause any herp to not eat after long enough time. The stress will eventually become too much and kill the herp if it can't hide. Several hides on both ends of the cage should be given.

Is there enough water? Fire-belly toads like to have plenty of water. Is there enough dry space for both toads to be on land when they want and be comfortable while doing so?

How often is the cage cleaned? If any feces is or was hidden from sight in the water for long enough a strong bacterial presence could have accumulated and infected one or both toads. This MAY or may not be a big issue depending on the bacteria species, assuming this happened.

Good luck with them.