Fire-bellied food, I dont know how to feed them

[Syrus]

I just got them, so I'm in the new phase still. Their cage is about 95% water, and I am not sure how to feed them. I tried putting crickets on the land but they never go on it. I have put bloodworm's in the tank and they disappear, but I don't know if its just the filter or not. What should I feed them? Plus I have one with a weird need to burrow, and it doesn't look like its eating. When I moved him into the water tank he just hides constantly, any reasons on why he would do this?

[Shadow]

Wow, that's a lot of water! Cut it down to about 75% or so. You can try putting floating landmass and silicone it to the walls, or your can pile up pebbles gradually till they are above the water.

What do you have in your tank as a substrate? Anything else about your toad's in general or the one who's burrowing?

I'm 6 posts too late, but welcome to the forums!

[keechoo]

I agree with Shadow that you need more land.

What is the humidity in the tank? If the humidty is too low they will stay in the water because they need to be moist. They dry out very quickly so being in the water is their way of protecting themselves. Another reason for being in the water is if they feel vulnerable or threatened. Normally, I keep my humidity between 80 - 100 and they spend most of their time on land...diving in for a quick swim now and then. Right now I lower it during the day because of the girls with eggs.

I had a couple who hid for about a week before they came out to be part of the group. It's normal...he's probably shy...give him time.

For food, yu can give them small crickets, baby mealworms, bloodworms, waxworms, and small earthworms. During the summer, I fed them caterpillers I found in the house.

[Syrus]

sorry, when I posted the '95% water' its really not that deep so they can comfortably sit with their heads out of the water. And looking at it now, I would actually say its more like 80% water. Humidity is naturally high where I live, plus I mist the cage about twice a day and all the water in the tank also adds. The main thing I want to know is if they are eating the bloodworm's or not, I'm just a paranoid herp mom.

[Shadow]

They probably are eating the bloodworms. If you have a substrate at the bottom, they will burrow and come out when it's dark. That is usually when they're eaten.

80% water seems okay. It might be a good idea for the land mass to be a little higher so that the frogs can safely climb out of the water without staying in it. A sign of bad water is when they leave the water and stay on land while refusing to enter the water.

When you mist the cage, is it with normal water, distilled water, or reverse-osmosis water? The latter 2 won't leave any salt residue outside the water (such as the glass or an unsubmerged rock).

[Syrus]

I changed the tank around again so now its 65-35% water-land ratio, I found a lot of blood worms in the bottom of the tank so I don't think they were eating them. But with the extra land mass I am just changing it to crickets and eventually guppys

[Shadow]

The ratio seems pretty good! Blood worms have a habit of burying themselves and coming out at later times (even earthworms do that).

Though I haven't tested it, I have seen cricket feeders at my lps. Tell us how you feed your fbts in the end!

[Syrus]

Well, it works perfectly. They are eating the crickets wonderfully, and so far no cricket drownings. I haven't tried guppies yet, but I' am happy with the crickets. I decided to try and make a vivarium for them, but I haven't gotten all the supplies yet. When I'm finished look in the vivarium section for me.
With the bloodworms, since their dead(being frozen) they never attracted the frogs to them, thats why I gave up.

[Shadow]

When you get all the supplies, take pictures and make a little journal for us! I'm sure we all want to know how it goes.

Congrats on getting the crickets to work! Are you dusting them with vitamin supplements (since the phospherus:calcium ration is low)?

[Syrus]

I don't dust them, but I gut load them before hand. I probably should dust them also, I just need to find out what I did with the dust.

I have the basic idea already started, tomorrow morning I will take some pictures of what it looks like.

[Shadow]

Cool! Gut loading is far better than dusting since the dust usually falls off by the time the frog catches the insect. Gut loading is a very good method!

Can't wait to see the set up!

[keechoo]

Gut loading is good but it still does not supply all the calcium FBTs need. There is a dust made specifically for FBTs.

[Shadow]

I never knew that keechoo. Nice advice!

[Syrus]

The gut load I use has extra calcium, I only buy gut loads with high calcium. I am feeding them calcium water and some grainy food by the same company. Do you think I would still need to get a supplement or not?

[Shadow]

I think supplements are always a good thing, as long as the ratios are good. I forgot to mention that they have these rock things made of calcium for crickets.

If I am not mistaken, crickets are high in beta-carotenes which makes their color look nicer!

[keechoo]

That's only true if you feed the crickets fish food. I feed my crickets gut load food, fish food, and whatever fruit I have left over. I would still suggest dusting them if not only for an extra safety precaution.

[Shadow]

What exactly is in gut load food? I am sure there must be something naturally attractive to crickets.