# Frogs & Toads > Fire Belly Toads (Bombina) >  What can I feed my Fire Belly's?

## emfroggy

Hello fellow frog forum members, I have a few ques. regarding my fire belly's in terms of food. Right now I feed them crickets from petsmart or petsuppliesplus but I was wondering if I need to feed them more then just crickets everyday? If I do then what else do I feed them, I heard that you can feed them earthworms and mealworms. I have tried mealworms and they just ignore them. I put the mealworms in a dish and dug it into the gravel since I'm using water/land setup and mealworms like any worm dig down and they just let them sit in the dish and don't eat them. The first time I put the mealworms in they ate a few but not all. I put at least 4 in the dish. Also, the mealworms ended up dying after a few days. I put some oatmeal and cut up carrots in with the mealworms in the same container they came in and put it in the refrigerator to keep them from turning into beetles and they died. Was I doing something wrong with the mealworms? Or are they supposed to die after a few days? Also, a few questions about earthworms, can I get them from outside in my yard or do I have to buy them from some store like night crawlers used for fishing. The employee at petsmart where I got my first fire belly said not to feed them anything from outside because these frogs are not from around here and our pesticides are different.  Is that true? I know that they are not from the US but, about the pesticides being a problem to not to capture stuff from outside and feed it to my frogs. I know I have a lot of ques. but I'm still new to fire belly toads and other frogs/toads and I would really appreciate any responses to this thread!  :Frog Smile:  Thanks!!

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## The Fluffy Injun

> Hello fellow frog forum members, I have a few ques. regarding my fire belly's in terms of food. Right now I feed them crickets from petsmart or petsuppliesplus but I was wondering if I need to feed them more then just crickets everyday? If I do then what else do I feed them, I heard that you can feed them earthworms and mealworms. I have tried mealworms and they just ignore them. I put the mealworms in a dish and dug it into the gravel since I'm using water/land setup and mealworms like any worm dig down and they just let them sit in the dish and don't eat them. The first time I put the mealworms in they ate a few but not all. I put at least 4 in the dish. Also, the mealworms ended up dying after a few days. I put some oatmeal and cut up carrots in with the mealworms in the same container they came in and put it in the refrigerator to keep them from turning into beetles and they died. Was I doing something wrong with the mealworms? Or are they supposed to die after a few days? Also, a few questions about earthworms, can I get them from outside in my yard or do I have to buy them from some store like night crawlers used for fishing. The employee at petsmart where I got my first fire belly said not to feed them anything from outside because these frogs are not from around here and our pesticides are different.  Is that true? I know that they are not from the US but, about the pesticides being a problem to not to capture stuff from outside and feed it to my frogs. I know I have a lot of ques. but I'm still new to fire belly toads and other frogs/toads and I would really appreciate any responses to this thread!  Thanks!!


Don't feed them anything from outside, the disease. The crickets are a good staple diet, just make sure to gut load the crickets and dust with calcium also vitamins. 

You can feed them meal worms but only occasionally. They are really hard and cause impaction. Try one of those hanging dishes that they crawl through and fall down to the ground. Mine went nuts for that.

As far as the other food, worms and roaches are ok but only feed the waxworms occasionally as a treat.


I think that should cover all your questions. Lol hope this helps!

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## emfroggy

Thank you soo much, you most definitely helped me with fire belly toad food problem!! And you were quick to respond!! Thank You!!!  :Smile:

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## demon amphibians

I feed mine baby dubia roaches. the ones that i feed the roaches to are twice the size of the ones fed a cricket staple. you will need a shallow feeding dish for them or they will be hard for your frogs to catch.

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## emfroggy

@Demon amphibians I never heard of dubia roaches, I guess that's because I only buy my frogs food from nearby petstores. The petstores near me are petsmart, petco, and petsuppliesplus. Also, they probably don't sell them at those stores. I do have a feeding dish I bought for mealworms if I do find those roaches, but I doubt that my parents will let me have roaches in the house since I got very luck that they let me have the frogs. They do not like reptiles or amphibians as much as I do. But thanks anyway for the response, I might use your info when I move out and get my own house. Also sorry for taking so long to reply, I was on vacation with no internet.

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## demon amphibians

> @Demon amphibians I never heard of dubia roaches, I guess that's because I only buy my frogs food from nearby petstores. The petstores near me are petsmart, petco, and petsuppliesplus. Also, they probably don't sell them at those stores. I do have a feeding dish I bought for mealworms if I do find those roaches, but I doubt that my parents will let me have roaches in the house since I got very luck that they let me have the frogs. They do not like reptiles or amphibians as much as I do. But thanks anyway for the response, I might use your info when I move out and get my own house. Also sorry for taking so long to reply, I was on vacation with no internet.


I will give you the ins and outs of The dubia roach. 
They are none invasive even in the country's in which they are from. They are a tropical forest dweller. so the only state they have been able to thrive is florida.
They do not climb smooth surfaces such as plastic or glass.
they do not jump or fly, 
they are slow moving so if you drop one on your floor it will die in a week or less but they are so slow it is hard for them to get away in the first place.
they do not die off for no reason like crickets and they do not stink. 12 crickets stink worst then my colony of over 100,000 roaches.
they have up to 12 times the nutritional value as crickets.
they do not bite and are not harmful to your pet, crickets bite and they can harm your pet.
they can live for two years, crickets average 8 weeks. 
they come in all sizes for all sizes of pets. 
they are possibly the easiest feeder on the market to breed yourself.
once i got my colony I save 50-80 dollars a month on food for my pets. and now i sell them because they have been doing so well. and their breeding is easy to control. I live in So cal where it is quite warm and they can not survive in even my environment so for sure they will not live in yours unless you have a cheap and easy controlled environment. If you would like more information PM me. I know that the word roach sits badly with almost everyone but once you are educated with this particular species you will find that they are the cleanest type of insect you can breed as a feeder. Now when i see a common roach on the street or one in my house i freak out because i hate them so it goes to show the drastic differences between the two species.

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