# help!!!! fire belly not eating :( will he live?! :(



## grimfandango (Feb 28, 2008)

hi, new here! 

my girlfriend has 3 firebelly toads, she has them in a half water half land tank. nice and warm with good humidity. two of them are fine but recently the small green one has stopped eating and doesnt move about much at all

its been at least 2 weeks since he last ate anything, we seperated him from the other two (not sure if the other two could have been bullying him?, hes smaller than them) we took him to the vet but she said he seemed ok?! after that we tried force feeding him a little worm thing, but then read that we shouldnt really that either as it could just as easily kill him due to stress. 

really dont know what to do, all he does is sit really still in the same place, think he's getting worse can any body help, really don't think he's got long left


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## emmzy (Jan 24, 2007)

u tried diffeent foods maybe he just doesnt like the wee worms? my fbt wont touch them, mines also has a habbit of going for a week or more without food and is still perfectly healthy also u said hes the smallest one, is the food your feeding maybe too big for him? try smaller/different beasties hope hes ok x


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## grimfandango (Feb 28, 2008)

thanks for the help  yeah she's tried feeding him tiny crickets, she tried the worms instead to see if hed eat them. but no he didnt seem interested.

before when he was healthy he would eat great big crickets, but now he doesnt seem interested in anything


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## emmzy (Jan 24, 2007)

right ok, try putting just him and a cricket/worm in a tank(or one of they wee tubs crickets come in) and putting a cover over it so its nice an dark and put it somewhere quiet and leave them in peace for half a hour or so and see if he eats then


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## berksmike (Jan 2, 2008)

Have you been dusting or gut loading your foods?
Metabolic bone disease from calcium deficiency can actually affect the jaw preventing the toads from eating and you get into a viscious circle.
Was the vet a specialist herp vet?


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## madelene (Aug 24, 2006)

What temp are you keeping them at?
Maddie


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## grimfandango (Feb 28, 2008)

ok, temps are about 20-25c, she dusts them (crickets, meal worms, and wax worms) with vitamin and calcium supliments a couple of times a week. 

not sure about gut loading, she feeds the crickets with carrot?

ok will try putting him in a tub, we tried putting him in a little tub with a cricket a few days ago but he didnt seem to be interested. but we will try and cover him up and leave him a bit with one and see what happens, hopefully he will eat something


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## serz (May 8, 2006)

dont no much about FBT but good luck i have my fingers crossed for you


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## grimfandango (Feb 28, 2008)

thanks 

tried putting him in a tub with a small worm, but no luck  he went a dark brown.
put him back in with the other two tonight see if that makes a difference? changed back to his usual green colour now!? 

not sure but he could be swelling up? he looks a lot rounder now? to start with we thought it could be impactation, but read somewhere that if you put them in warm water it helps them crap, and it did! 
but could that still be whats wrong?


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## emmzy (Jan 24, 2007)

the colour change is nothing but camoulflage(sp?) they go darker colour at night to hide better and if hes pooping fine its not a impaction, is he anorexic looking? as long as hes not too thin to start an adult can last a few weeks without food and when he gets hungry enough he may just start eating himself? i cant think of anything else to suggest if the vets gave him a thuro(sp?) check up and hes not showing any signs of illness apart from being off his food, sorry keep me updated tho!


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## grimfandango (Feb 28, 2008)

well hes defiantly not thinning if anything hes swelling up  hes allot fatter now then he was and we know he hasnt eaten anything .


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## grimfandango (Feb 28, 2008)

sorry doublepost!


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## grimfandango (Feb 28, 2008)

ok well he's been back in the main tank with the other two for a day or two now, hes slightly more active, but still seems very lifeless but i suppose that a slight improvement at least

tried feeding him another small worm and he rolled on to his belly????? so not really sure whats happening there???

another slightly different question, can anybody recomend a water filter for firebellys


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## Pipkin28 (Oct 6, 2007)

If your girlfriend is dusting the food, then it shouldn't really be MBD. As MBD can take a while for the symptoms to be noticeable and by then it's usually too late.

I have a FBT with a similar sort of problem, I took it to my vet, who is a zoologist and has kept reptiles, and after immediately ruling out MBD and an ear infection, he gave it an antibiotic injection just in case it was internal parasites but was more sure that it was some form of brain injury (possibly a stroke), because of the way it was behaving - but this diagnoses can only be confirmed by doing a post-mortem. 

I have this one separated from the others as it was receiving too much amorous attention from the males. I put 'her' (unconfirmed) in a kritter keeper, on damp kitchen towel to feed her as she misses the target quite a lot and it saves getting a gobful of moss!

All I can suggest is persevere and maybe contact Andrew at Pollywog for more help and suggestions.

Keep us posted. Hope things improve soon.


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## grimfandango (Feb 28, 2008)

hello i would just like to thank you all for all your support and suggestions but im afraid he died about a hour ago but thank you for trying . i was just wondering weather there is a way you can find out the reason for his death after he has died as i wouldnt like it to be anything that my other two could catch and die from i would like to tackle the problem. thank you


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## Pipkin28 (Oct 6, 2007)

So sorry to hear that.

The only thing I can suggest would be for a vet to do a PM, it may cost you, though. But if you have a vet who has an interest in exotics, they may also be interested. Any research they can do helps for future animal treatment. 

If you do consider this, don't freeze the poor mite, ice crystals forming in the body will do too much damage.


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## joe0709 (Sep 22, 2007)

sorry to hear that itts always hard when you lose a pet


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