# male fire bellied toad not eating much, mainly earthworms, and stressed



## twydell (Jul 29, 2008)

i have 2 fire bellied toads, and for some reason the male is always stressed, he seems it, as i type this now he is climbing up the aquarium glass wall trying to get out. he is really jumping and is constantly doing the mating call and trying to mount bubble (female).

he hardly eats, he used to eat about 4 crickets a week if i was lucky - and so now i offer him an earthworm every other day he prefers them over crickets... is that okay instead of crickets?


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## Pipkin28 (Oct 6, 2007)

Don't worry, sounds like he's being a typical toad! Even though they are terrestrial, they will climb and explore. I hadn't seen mine try to escape for a while but I revamped their tank this weekend and as soon as I put them back in they were off checking out their new home and climbing up the glass!

Male fbt's don't take 'no' for an answer, I'm afraid, and will try it on pretty much constantly whether it's with females or males. And they are quite vocal, mine were barking for Britain last night!!

I don't know what effects an all earthworm diet will have, but try mealworms and an occasional waxworm just so there is some variety and keep trying with the crickets.

Good luck.


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## kinger88 (Aug 1, 2008)

Mine liked its earthworms aswel, they are aparently good for vitimins etc so cant see why it would be a problem


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## Python08 (Sep 8, 2008)

Just try and give him as much variety in his diet as possible. Have you tried some small crickets? Mine love them.


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## twydell (Jul 29, 2008)

Success!

Well, somewhat - I just chucked about 6 or 7 crickets, bubble didnt seem her usual self for once, and left them alone! (then again she had a big fat juicy worm last night :lol2... so squirt just spent about 10 mins attempting to catch one, which he did so i was pleased!

he seems to miss a lot - he will leap and miss them, maybe hes blind or just very bad at stalking and catching dinner lol. he didnt give up though..

Yeah he always seems interested if its a worm, especially waxworms he never says no. so i think I will try the mealworm you suggested, although ive heard its hard for them to digest? Ill give it a shot anyway

Thanks everyone
xo


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## twydell (Jul 29, 2008)

oh and pepkin28 - 255 baby toads?!? oh im going to panic when my 2 decide on a family!!!!!!!!


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## Pipkin28 (Oct 6, 2007)

Yeah, they're eating me out of house and home!

The process of watching them develop from spawn into toads is fantastic to watch but it's hard work, so if they should start breeding don't let them get too carried away, like I did!!!


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## Amyboo (Nov 11, 2007)

we started off with two fire bellied toads (gollum and smeagle), they have always been fussy eaters due to the stupid pet shop only feeding them wax worms. Now thats the only thing they will eat. Had them for a year now and in that time they have only eaten one cricket each!!!!

we now have two more (frodo and sam) and they used to eat like pigs when we first got them. Now they only eat a couple of crickets in a week. I dont think that there is anything wrong with them. I just think they know that my OH regularly feeds them and expect it. (we picked them from the petshop as they were on deaths door - soooo skinny).

Dont worry about them climbing/jumping around, we used to have them in a 3ft fish tank with a plastic lid and they managed to escape from that. very cheeky! found them on the sheepskin rug next to the dog once! lucky! decided to go with two exo terras after that, much safer!  its just natural toad behaviour!

Amy x


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