Fire Belly Toad & Breeding

[firebellygirl]

I have had Fire Belly Toads for years and have never had them breed. It looks like my luck as finally changed ( I am not sure if it is for the good or bad yet) 2 of my toads have been in amplexus for hours. How long before my female starts laying eggs? Also, I have read where they will lay upwards of 250 eggs. What are the chances of this? Also, if she did lay that many, how many would be likely to hatch? Do I need to move the eggs into a separate tank or can I keep them in the main tank? Sorry for all the questions, but this part of keeping fire bellies is all new for me. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

[Zelthan]

Myne breed at week two, in order to breed them they must be keept at 16-18°C for 3 months so they can hibernate, they will stop eating during that cold season, so the must be well fed before that, after the cold season you can take them to a rain chamber, and floating plants, and raise temperature to 24°, I got 300 eggs or so at the first time, my bombina orientalis were kept 4 years in a vivarium before I got them and they never breed for that guy but they were on amplexus all time I take out the eggs and place them in shallow tupers with 4 litres of clean water, most eggs will hatch if adults are well fed, the incubate best at 24°C clean all death eggs, they turn white, because the tadpoles will eat them and die too make regular watter changes and when they began to swim freely feed them on hard boiled lettuce after a week or two add hardboiled spinach and low protein fish flakes( thats how my tadpoles are at the moment so dont know what will work best after that part) hope it works oh and they will keep spawning each two weeks or so , you must gut load those crickets in order to keep the female healthy

[firebellygirl]

ok, thanks.

[Ribbity]

I've just bought two firebellied toads today, a male and a female and have found this really interesting. Because if it does happen and more than likely it will I want to be wised up so to speak on the situation. Mine are called lily and paddy. They are amazing I know I'm going to sound like a newbie now, but can one of you tell me what "gut load" means and how would i achieve it? i've seen it said a few times in what seems like different contexts.

Thanks guys

Ribbity

[firebellygirl]

Cute names. Gutload is what you do to your feeder insects. You want to make sure your feeders are fed with good food at least 24 hours before fed to your frogs.

[Zelthan]

squash is good for gut loading so does carrot, and crickets seem to like it

[lmcca996]

I can't say how long before the female lays her eggs - mine laid fertile eggs in August - so it may be season based since I haven't seen many egg clutches since. Females lay about 150 eggs per clutch I believe. I feel like the more adult toads you add to a healthy vivarium the happier the individuals are. Males do practice what is called 'oophagy' - where the males eat the eggs (about ten eggs per day). Each life stage will eat the other - so yes, seperate the eggs, seperate the tadpoles from the eggs as well or they will eat them (very cannabolistic). I left my eggs with the adults and the tadpoles only because I had hundreds developing. When the tadpoles began becoming more terrestrial and sprouting legs I immediately seperated them. Realize that as toadlets you may have a rather large die off though - I wish someone would have told me that! Good luck - feel free to contact me with questions along the way. I have successfully raised some beautiful babies!

[Zelthan]

my female layd over 300 eggs, in less than an month and died, most of them survive , actually less than 20 died, I just got my first 3 toads with four legs and no tail wish me luck hungreds more are about to leave watter