Have you ever thought of making a Fire belly toad your close friend? Did you know that the bright colors on their bellies make them wild?
Well, here you’ll learn about what to do fire belly toads eat. But first, let’s first look at the biology and habits of fire belly toads.
Fire Belly Toad’s Habits and Biology
This type of toad has quite exciting habits. Some will be scary, while others will make you fall in love with them.
It’s why you can make them your friend or be scared of these animals. Read on to see the biology and habits of these toads.
Biology
These toads have an average size of 2 to 3 inches. So, besides making them wild, you can keep them around because of their small size. Remember, their scientific name is Bombina orientalis.
The colors on the body are what make them unique. Fire belly toads come with olive green backs but with black dots. Also, their bellies are either bright red or orange with black spots to make them more unique.
Habits
These toads use the underbelly as a weapon. So, when a fire belly toad feels that it’s under threat, it will show the stomach to the predator.
Then, the back will form an arch as the legs rise. The bright colors from the belly can scare the one hunting them.
Remember, if the predator picks them the toad up, it will release a milky poison. This fluid comes from many pores in the belly’s skin.
It makes the enemy go away. Next time the person or enemy tries to attack the fire belly toad, the red or orange belly will scare them.
Also, expect to find many of these toads in groups called knots. These groups make fire belly toads very social.
These sets can be in dozens. It will depend on the size of the pond or stream.
While in these groups, they’ll be active but shy during the day. They’ll always try staying out of sight. But their bright colors make them hard to hide.
Here are the fun facts about Fire Belly Toads. These animals have a longer life span than other breeds of toads (10 to 20 years).
Expect Fire belly toads to hibernate from the end of September to May. They’ll hide in rotting woods, piles of leaves, and sometimes at the bottom of streams.
What do Fire Belly Toads Eat in the Wild?
When in the wild, Fire belly toads have a simple eating habit. But these eating habits keep changing with the age of the animal.
While young, these toads eat algae and other small plants. As they grow up, fire belly toads can eat snails, insects, and even worms. Remember, they can live for two weeks without any food.
The foods that these toads eat will always be present for them in the wild. So, in most cases, it’s always easy for them to get what to eat.
Also, they don’t feed by sticking out their tongues like other toads. Instead, they jump on what they want to eat. Well, it’s because they don’t have this sticky tongue.
These toads can eat both greens and smalls animals in a while. Each will bring some benefit to the growth of these animals. So, below are the foods that fire belly toads eat out there.
- They feed on insects. Yes, every animal and even human beings eat insects to get proteins. This feeding habit happens only for the adult fire belly toads.
But sometimes, these wild insects tend to be harmful to these toads. It’s because they have diseases. So, after eating, the toads die.
- The toads eat snails and worms. They help in repairing the tissues and growth of these toads.
These foods are the ones found in the main habitat. Remember, they are also good hunters.
- Fire belly toads also eat greens. Both young and adult ones can green plants like algae. It helps them in general body growth.
Also, the young ones eat these greens because it becomes easy for them to digest. Yes, they could eat the insects, but it won’t be easy for them. So, the greens become the easy target.
- They eat fruits. Fire belly toads eat fruits because it helps them grow faster.
What do Fire Belly Toads Eat as Pets?
Feeding these toads may seem easy and challenging at the same time. But know that feeding Fire belly toads will give you an easy time. So, read on to see what fire belly toads eat as pets.
- Give them protein foods. Every fire belly toad that’s an adult should feed on things that build their bodies. They include things like small crickets, small feeder fish, and worms.
- Under the worms, know that they can eat many earthworms, mealworms, and wax worms. These foods will give the toads energy and makes them also grow faster.
- It would help if you also gave them insects, but not the wild ones. They are also good proteins. These foods will help the toads have a strong body and even grow faster.
- Give the toads the insects that have many calcium elements and vitamin D-3. It will include fruit flies and very young crickets. These foods will help the young fire belly toads grow.
- The young fire belly toads can also have non-living foods. It entails things like raw beef, fish cuttings, among others. You can give them using tweezers.
- Know that fire belly toads are carnivores that take the opportunity while hunting. So, they’ll even eat the eggs of small animals like insects, spiders, tadpoles, among others. It’s from here that they get many proteins for their body growth.
- The toads can also have supplements. These things can either be vitamins or calcium. It’s through these two things that the toads can glow their bellies.
- Also, the vitamins and minerals help the fire belly toads make the poison from their bodies. It keeps them safe.
- Your fire belly toads will also need water. Yes, besides placing them in an area with water, the toads need to drink the water. It will keep their bodies fresh, and their skins will look new and beautiful.
- Feed your fire belly toads with many fruits and vegetables. Here, it would be best if you focused on those with a high level of beta carotene. It will entail things like carrots, spinach, tomatoes, lettuce, and broccoli.
- Remember, the deeper the color of the fruit, the more beta carotene it has. These fruits and vegetables will be good, especially for the young fire belly toads. It will help the toads improve the color of their bellies.
Tips to Feed Fire Belly Toads
You’ve known what your fire belly toads should eat. Now let’s get to the bigger task, which are the tips you can use to feed the pets.
But don’t worry. The tips below will help you. Read on to see what you need to do.
- As you feed the toads, be careful with their weight. It’s because they eat anything they get. Allow them to eat through a schedule and not freely.
- You should feed the adult fire belly toads two to five items in a week. Do this three times a week.
- As you feed the adult toads with worms, crickets, please don’t give them food larger than their mouth’s size. So, to make this activity easier, chop the worms into small pieces and feed them.
- The best way is that if you feed your toad with a cricket or worm, it shouldn’t be larger than the distance between the toad’s eyes.
- Don’t feed the toads using the wild insects. It’s because they carry infections to your toads.
- You can get the safe insects in bulk from a pet store. Remember, these insects you get from a store are easy to grow under your care. Also, they carry high numbers of proteins.
- 24 hours before giving the insects to the toads, ensure you feed them well. It will allow the frogs to get more and high levels of nutrients.
- Place the insects in a dish that doesn’t allow them to escape. The toads will quickly learn that it’s food before them.
- The insects should have recently undergone molting before you give them to the pets. It will give the toad an easy time during digestion.
- Also, with the insects, dust them every week with vitamin D3 supplement. It will help increase the levels of calcium. You can also follow your vet’s instructions as you apply the supplements.
- Avoid any supplement with added phosphorus. This act can make the toads have a kidney issue.
- The toads should always take freshwater. All water, whether for drinking or swimming, should be no chlorine. Remember, not every home tap water is free of chlorine and heavy metals.
- If you can only access tap water having chlorine, then dechlorinate it. Also, you can leave the water open in the sun for 24 hours.
- Don’t give your toads distilled water. It can cause serious health issues.
- Ensure you change the water after every two days.
Conclusion
All fire belly toads aren’t that hard to feed. You have to be keen with what you feed them. Also, monitor when they eat because they can overfeed.
So, do you have fire belly toads as your pets? Do you plan on getting one? Please share your insights with us.