[Bombina orientalis]

Feeding Adults

One of the most frequently asked questions I am asked is, "What do I feed my firebellied toad?" I dislike that question in the extreme; it implies that the toads were just an "impulse buy". It is the height of immaturity to purchase an animal without researching such a basic aspect of its care as its food needs. I'd much rather be asked, "I'm thinking of purchasing a firebellied toad, and I was wondering what they like to eat?"

The answer to that question, in any case, is variable. Firebellies are carnivorous, specifically, insectivorous. As the name implies, firebellies eat mostly insects. If you balked at that statement, you'll panic at my next one: Firebellies require live insects as food items. They hunt their food by movement - dead insects don't move, so they don't trigger the feeding instinct. If you are unwilling to interact with live insects, you should not purchase a toad. If it's any solace, you might be interested to know that some larger frogs require such food items as baby "pinkie" mice. With firebellies, at least you won't be required to kill "cute fuzzy widdle mice".

Firebellied toads can live a perfectly happy life with a staple diet of crickets [Acheta domesticus]. When young, they are often fed Vestigial winged fruit flies [Drosophila melanogaster] in addition to pinhead crickets (Pinheads are just newly-hatched crickets, usually in the 1/16 to 1/8 inch range)

Crickets are amongst the easiest of all prey animals to deal with. They are also amongst the stupidest animals you will ever deal with. These little guys haven't evolved for millions of years, and it shows. The first time you see them jump from the precarious safety of land into a deep container of water, you will be shocked by the absolute idiocy of crickets. I've observed them crawling on the mouths of hungry firebellies. Absolutely stupid.

Captive-bred crickets aren't exactly the most nutritious food for frogs and toads, but they are the most available and often cheapest. To combat their lack of nutrition, crickets must be "gut-loaded". Gut- loading is the process whereby you give a feeder animal an extremely good, nutritional diet, which will in turn be utilized by the insect's predator. Many commercial foods are available for this purpose (I use a product called "T-REX Calcium Plus"). Likewise, one can go the alternate route of placing the crickets in a bag containing a calcium/mineral "dusting powder" and shaking gently them until well- coated. Care should be taken not to over-supplement the frogs. Generally, you want to feed commercial-feed gutloaded crickets every third feeding (every other feeding with young, growing toads). The remainder of the feedings, give the crickets a nice mix of carrot shavings, dark-green vegetables, and if you wish, tropical fish food. You should place the feeder insects in their holding container with the gutloading food for at east 24 hours before feeding them to the toads. The crickets should also be supplied with a water source in their holding cell; a container of wet cotton balls or a natural (untreated with an anti-bacterial) sponge should be provided to avoid cricket dehydration.

As for sizing the crickets, as a rule, just make sure it can easily fit into the toad's mouth. I use 1/2" to 1" crickets for my adults, but when they were smaller, I used 1/8" to 1/4". Unless you notice a tendency towards severe obesity in your toads (being plump is okay - a sign of good health, in fact) you may allow your toads to eat as much as they want every three days. You don't want to have a lot of loose, surviving crickets running around after the toads are full, but don't feed so few insects that the toads' bones start to show. Vestigial winged fruit flies are good small for young toads, but aren't really big enough to feed adults. For an occasional treat, small mealworms may be fed (freshly molted, to reduce chitin), however some keepers recommend against their use, citing instances of the mealworms surviving ingestion and eating their way out. Flightless fruit flies, with their genetically impaired wings are very useful for feeding young firebellies. They should be dusted before feeding and fed in conjunction with pinhead crickets. For more on feeding juvenile toads, look below.