How much food??

[Poly]

My toad is about the size of a SD memory card, or your thumb.

How much should I feed her?

Today, after her missing a grasshopper twice, I picked her up and set her down directally in front of an "injured" (I took off it's back legs... I actually felt sorry for it, but I guess the toad didn't...) grass hopper, I expected it to just hop away all scared from being handled and ignore the food, but after staring at it moving around for 30 seconds she grabbed it!

I notice with her, she's not aggressive going after her food, she hops up to it untill she is about 3 inches from it, then lowers herself to the floor, and "crawls" up to it sloooowly... then tries to get it with her tongue, the last time she did that, she caught the grasshopper, but because it still had it's back legs it managed to jump away.

So, my main point of all this was, how many grasshoppers should I feed her, there about .50" to .75" (Or for us canadian frogforumers' 1 to 2cm) in length, so she dosen't have a problem eating them, I've only managed to get her to eat one taday, and none yesterday. Will feeding her get easier over time, like she will eat on her own, and will not have to be coaxed by me?

Thanks

[LilyPad]

3/4 of an inch is too big for your toad even without the legs. The food shouldn't be any longer than the space between her eyes. My toads that size eat fruit flies, they probably eat 20 each and 1 or 2 tiny pieces of worms...the worm pieces are less than 1/4 inch. They COULD probably eat 1/4 inch crickets, but I haven't ventured there yet. Have you gone to your pet store to look at crickets yet? She probably would have no issues taking down small crickets or fruit flies. As young as she is, she should be eating something daily. If you haven't been to the pet store, I would get there soon, she also needs calcium and vitamin dust, or you risk stunting her growth because she doesn't have the proper nutrition.

If you really can't get to the store soon, go outside and find some small roly poly bugs (the adult shells are hard to digest) because they are loaded with calcium. I've also had luck feeding one of my picky eater toads those little green leaf hoppers. I'm not sure how healthy those are for them, but I was desperate because I have a small skinny toad that was refusing to eat fruit flies. She perked up hugely after eating a couple of those. She is back on the flies now and is doing well.

[Poly]

Okay, well I am going to the pet store this weekend.

Also, I'm not sure how accurate I was describing the grasshoppers & toad, but the grasshoppers are the size you recoment for the toad.

Also, I tried feeding her an ant today, and she caught and ate it the first time she seen it, so she has had 1 grasshopper and 2 ants today, is that enough?

[nicodimus22]

My advice would be to keep offering food items until she acts disinterested, and to feed her every day since she is a juvenile and in a stage of rapid development. They will stop trying to eat when they are full. Usually, I dump about 40 or 50 dusted fruit flies in with my two toadlets, and after about 15 minutes, they're mostly gone, or all gone. If they're all gone, I'll give the toads maybe 10 more at a time until they start ignoring the food, and then dump the few leftovers into their tank for later consumption.

[Poly]

I can't get those fruit flies, and ants just climb out of the tank, and I think the toad is full after one grasshopper, I did as amy said, and offer it small grasshoppers, but it ignores them and goes after larger ones.

[nicodimus22]

Ants are a pain, but the good thing about them is that they are free. I used them for the first couple of weeks, and catching enough was a hassle, and they would go everywhere once placed in the tank. I bet my neighbors thought I was crazy, making several trips up and down my apartment stairs each morning, and sitting in the garden, throwing ants into a cool whip container each trip.

I have another suggestion for you, although I have not personally tried it. This thing would pay for itself in about a month for me:

Amazon.com: Zoo Med Bug Napper Live Bug Catcher: Kitchen & Dining

http://www.google.com/products/catal...ed=0CDQQ8wIwAA


I would imagine this would work wonderfully in a rural area, assuming you have a place outside to plug it in.

[Pete]

At this small size, I'd agree with Pete. You want to load up your toad until he's full. When they're this small they need a lot of food to grow.

I've been keeping my toadlets in a rubbermaid-type container outside (with a lid at night to keep the cats and raccoons away.) So it's a semi-wild setup. Inside I have a little compost pile of melon rinds and banana peels. At this point it provides a steady source of flies and grubs for the toads. The toads spend most of their time in the compost pile and emerge quite fat and hide elsewhere in the container while digesting. I have also been supplementing them with my own cultured wingless fruitflies and wild caught ants if I notice that they are starting to get thin. Since I've started doing this, I've been very happy with their growth rate.

I'm not so sure it's important how you do it, but you do want make sure they're well fed. When I want to gather ants, I leave some fruit scraps in the yard, and in a day or two they're usually covered with ants, which I can stake with a pencil and transfer to the toad tank. With ants you have to be a little bit careful, because some species can be aggressive. I noticed that we have one small species here that must have a lot of formic acid in their bite. When that species is all riled up, the toads look like their eating lemons. But some toads love ants, so you just have to watch what's going on.

As long as you don't feed them extremely large food items you won't have to worry too much about overfeeding them, because they'll stop when they're full.

[Pete]

I can't get those fruit flies, and ants just climb out of the tank, and I think the toad is full after one grasshopper, I did as amy said, and offer it small grasshoppers, but it ignores them and goes after larger ones.

Also if you want to keep the ants in the tank. If you put a little dry dish in a water dish you can keep the ants on the island. (I use a 6 inch claypot bottom as a water dish and then put a dry 4 inch claypot bottom in the middle of it.) So with my ant-covered fruit. I just put it on the island, and then the ants are trapped, but I keep the water level low enough the toads can go over and eat the ants. Just an idea to try out.

[Greg M]

The oft-repeated rule of thumb is "as much as they can eat in a 15-minute period". The frequency depends on the age - every day for juveniles, transitioning to maybe twice a week when they are mature. Generally, as long as you are feeding just insects, you can use their appetites as a guide - the adults simply are not as hungry as the juveniles, particularly when the juvi's are having their growth spurt. As others have stated, make sure the prey is not too big for your toad, particularly if the food has a hard-to-digest shell (grasshoppers!). You have more latitude with earthworms.

Some wild-caught bugs that I have used as food for small toads and frogs (assuming that you and your neighbors are not spraying!!!):
earthworms (cut up as needed)
isopods (very high in calcium)
termites
aphids
fruit-flies
Sadly, because spraying is so prevalent in my current neighborhood, I only use home-raised or store-bought food now... I would add to the suggestions made by others above that baby Dubia nymphs are great and are extremely easy to keep (my absolute favorite feeder for toads, period).

If you use mice as food for your toads, which some do and some don't, then you have to use more discretion with respect to frequency and amount fed - feeding rodents can produce obese toads, which may develop corneal opacities. IMHO, the occasional pinkie mouse or other "fatty" food can be handy (for the larger species) when the juveniles are growing super fast and have high calorie needs - for Woodhouse's toads, this usually happens between about 1.5 and 4 inches in length...

[Poly]

Well, my toad may in a high growth state right now, I have noticed since a captured her about 2 weeks ago, she has almost doubled in size!

Hahaha "you and your neighbors", not everyone has neighbors buddy! () I live in the country, 220kms for the closest town, and my closest "neighbor" is over 15kms away. We don't have a nice groomed lawn and white picket fences where I live, we have a small lawn (in front of our house) surrounded by Jackpine conifers (there out white picket fence... lol) and we never spary anything... oh, and behind my house is 160 acers of my backyard... sooo I have plenty of room to look for insects!

As for the food, thanks for the suggestions, I've pretty much got it down pat by now, I've had her for almost 2 weeks, and everything has been working out, she wouldn't eat anything for 3 days, but honestly, I think it was because she was extremely "full", within three days, she defecated 4 or 5 times. Today, I set her on the floor, dropped a small grasshopper in front of her, and she snapped it up in a second, then, just to see what she would do, I put a large grasshopper in front of her, (it was about an inch long) I thought she would just ignore it because it was too large, but as soon as it moved, BAM! She snapped it up, "swallowed" about 6 times, and finally got the whole thing in her mouth... after that, I think she was full because she wouldn't eat anything else!

I'm not sure how old she is, I would estimate a few months old, but I am figuring within the next 4 months or so, she will be large enough to eat pinky mice... and is there really Obese toads? I thought they were similar to Pacman frogs where as they can grow very large.

Thanks

[nicodimus22]

Today, I set her on the floor, dropped a small grasshopper in front of her, and she snapped it up in a second, then, just to see what she would do, I put a large grasshopper in front of her, (it was about an inch long) I thought she would just ignore it because it was too large, but as soon as it moved, BAM! She snapped it up, "swallowed" about 6 times, and finally got the whole thing in her mouth... after that, I think she was full because she wouldn't eat anything else!

I'm glad your toad is doing well, but I kind of cringed reading this. If you think a food item is too large, it probably is, and you should not offer it. Doing so only puts the toad at risk of choking or impaction, especially with a hard-bodied item like a grasshopper. It's always better to feed several small items than one huge one.

[LilyPad]

I also am glad that she is eating, but an inch long grass hopper with a hard body inside a small toad is a recipe for disaster. You should not be feeding food bigger than the space between her eyes or you risk different digestion issues including impaction. They might snap up that stuff in the wild, but most of them never make it to adulthood in the wild either.

[Poly]

Alright, well again, not too sure if it was too large, but it did seem like that, but I will stick to feeding it small grasshoppers from now on, that is, until it does get bigger. How old is a toad when it reaches "adulthood"?

Thanks

[nicodimus22]

Usually, adults are between 2.5 to 4 inches long. They can reach that in a number of months, once their growth spurt kicks in.

[Greg M]

Two quick points.

First, in response to Poly's question, toads certainly can become obese. Adults don't need as much food relative to their size as the rapidly growing juveniles. Fed an excess of high-calorie foods (mice, waxworms, etc.) can result in extremely fat toads which may suffer health problems, including corneal opacities (eye condition, can result in blindness). Transitioning to less-frequent feedings after they are mature and keeping low-fat insects as the staple of their diet is best for the long-term health of your pet.

Second, the size of the prey item is partly a matter of common sense. The "space between the eyes" rule is a good idea for the more "hard-shelled" prey items but I don't believe it should be slavishly adhered to for soft-bodied prey. I think you can bend the rule for silkworms, hornworms, earthworms, etc. As an example, I have an extremely large female Cranwell's horned frog (named Ralph, of course). She might be 1.25 inches between the eyes but she is now pushing 6 inches in length. She can easily eat a dozen or so ~6 inch nightcrawlers or 4 inch hornworms at a feeding. I can't possibly imagine feeding her a hundred or so ~1 inch crickets! GADZOOKS! Ditto for some of my larger toads... I personally have no problem with feeding a 6 inch nightcrawler to my 6 inch frog (or a 1 inch earthworm to a 1 inch frog, if I had one). Just be cautious and use your discretion and common sense...

[Wormwood]

I've never had any issues with night crawlers either. They do carry a decent gut load of dirt in them so be wary with how many you feed your toad at one sitting. I've always been wary that the dirt inside them might be a cause for impaction. Because of this I usually offer a earth worm and some crickets, wood lice or meal worms.

[LilyPad]

I agree with you Greg. But you have to keep in mind that sometimes you need to focus on the space between the eyes rule for people who are new to the hobby, otherwise they'll be feeding 1 inch grasshoppers to a baby toad. My toads are about the same size as his, and they are eating fruit flies still along with worm pieces. They could handle 1/4 inch crickets right now and possibly 1/2 inch, but they are happy and growing well right now so I will leave it at that for a while yet. A 1 inch grasshopper could easily cause choking or impaction in a toad that small.

[Poly]

Okay... well now that (I know) large insects are off-limits for my toad, and I have been catching small food, I caught 5 feild crickets and 4 small grasshoppers yesterday, so that is what I will be sticking to feeding her.

Also, I had once caught a toad in the wild by a remote lake, and it was easily 7" accross the back, it was huge, what would cause this toad to grow so large, I mean espically in the wild?

Also, I caught a breeding pair of crickets... so we'll see where that takes me, not normal crickets either, the small black feild crickets.

[kueluck]

I'm happy to hear the toads are doing well. I've captured four toadlets about a month ago and the two that I've kept seem to be happy and healthy. I'm always pondering about the feeding thing because the one will eat until she looks like it will explode!! I feed the pinhead crickets, mini meal worms, fruit flies and the occasional small moth or fly. They actually figured out the worm dish and will go and eat as they please when there is nothing to hunt in the habitat. I love watching them stalk their pray, crazy toads. I've also captured adult field crickets and the eggs hatched yesterday. The crickets are about the size of the small black ants, guess I'll be waiting a few weeks before they can be food. Enjoy your new friends!!

[Greg M]

Wormwood: you can always "squeegee" the dirt out of the night crawlers - that's how you prep them for human consumption !! Seriously, you squeeze the dirt out the worms and then cook as desired. The best strategy is to dry them, pound to powder and add to stews/broths, then you can't really taste them!!! Yum, yum! (According to my SAS (Secret Air Service) wilderness survival skill book)...

Lilypad: I agree - I always tell people the "space between the eyes rule" if they are new to the hobby... If in doubt, go with smaller feeders. Frank Indiviglio, an expert in the field, attributes his success with American toads to [in part] feeding them appropriately sized (i.e. smaller) food items...

Poly: Over the ~35 years I have been catching wild amphibians, I have noticed that there are often pronounced geographical differences in size, coloration, etc. I remember reading a report of a population of American toads with females reaching 6+ inches in length. This is much larger than typical for American toads! I'll see if I can find the report. There are also the occasional atypical individuals in any population...