# Firebelly Toads



## Sheppard (Jul 8, 2004)

hey everyone
i can get these firebelly toads from this store nearby so i have afew questions hopefully i can get answered.

do they get big?
what do they eat?
do i need a filter for the water?
do they need heat? and lots of light?

thanks in advance


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## Roger (Nov 14, 2004)

I had them before there cool, you can feed them crickets and blood worms. well as for the heater i really don't know i always just had a light on them and they were fine at room temperature. and yea you should probably get a filter for the water, a cheap one would do the trick. and they don't get big at all, don't put other frogs in their cause i heard the toads have some kinda poisious sh*t on their skin that will kill other frogs, and most likely a bigger frog or toad will try and eat the fire belly i seen it happen, but i saved it.


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## Guest (Nov 18, 2004)

I used to have a fire bellied toad. I kept it all wrong and it still lived for about 10 years.

I had it at room temperature without a light. It had a single water dish for water that dumped and refilled several times a week. I fed it small earthworms and smaller-sized crickets. It never grew much bigger than the size I bought it at.

I had a baby bullfrog in with it for a while, but the fire bellied toad eventually poisoned the bullfrog and it died. So I learned the hard way that FBTs can only be kept with each other.

Most people keep them in a semi-aquatic environment with a light raising the temp on one side of the aquarium.


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## BoomerSub (Jun 23, 2003)

Roger said:


> , don't put other frogs in their cause i heard the toads have some kinda poisious sh*t on their skin that will kill other frogs, and most likely a bigger frog or toad will try and eat the fire belly i seen it happen, but i saved it.


 A coworker of mine ate one on a bet once, he was quite sick for about three days. Big guy too, about six-three or so, 220-230. If one of these can do that to him, imagine what it can do to something that weighs a thousandth as much as he does.



> do they get big?


About 2", not too big.


> what do they eat?


Small insects (read: crickets), I've never seen one eat bloodworms.


> do i need a filter for the water?


Yes, they are much more aquatic than the _Bufo_ species and will be hit harder by poor water quality.


> do they need heat?


I keep mine at around 75F, they do fine.


> and lots of light?


They don't need UV, if that's what you're asking. As long as you avoid extremes (metal halide uberlights or 24/7 total darkness. you're fine. 12 hour photoperiod is fine.

-PK


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## Roger (Nov 14, 2004)

LMAO ate a fire belly toad i would pay to see that LMAO. i kept my in a semi-aquatic tank like someone above said


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## syd (Nov 6, 2004)

wow he could of died from it


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## CrocKeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

> Bombina
> 
> Effects of Bombina are extremely mild in simple dermal contact, with dermitis being rare. Contact with mucous membranes can be more severe with the potential for severe ocular effects. This genus, however, has yielded some very interesting substances that may prove to be quite useful.
> 
> ...


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## slckr69 (Feb 21, 2004)

its not the same with fire belly newts is it.? maybe thats how my first p died. hmmm


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## BoomerSub (Jun 23, 2003)

syd said:


> wow he could of died from it


 He brought it on himself, don't sympathize. They have the blaze-orange underbelly specifically to advertise their unpalatability to potential predators.

*slckr69*, could be. All amphibians that I'm aware of have some level of toxic compounds in their skin, some more than others. Although the newt's is probably weaker than the toad, there's still enough there to kill your average piranha several times over. For future reference, amphibians make poor feeders unless you're feeding something that would normally eat that particular amphibian in nature (and therefore has some mechanism to deal with the toxins) and cannot be safely switched over to more common prey (the eastern hognose the redbellied snakes fall into this group, as I recall).

-PK


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## Burf (Nov 3, 2003)

CrocKeeper said:


> > Bombina
> >
> > Effects of Bombina are extremely mild in simple dermal contact, with dermitis being rare. Contact with mucous membranes can be more severe with the potential for severe ocular effects. This genus, however, has yielded some very interesting substances that may prove to be quite useful.
> >
> > ...


 Some very interesting info there CK :nod:









Where do you find all your quotes from? Do you have a huge library of publications or is it all on the web somewhere?


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## Roger (Nov 14, 2004)

Well I dunno abou that guy, but im gonna say Google.


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## Burf (Nov 3, 2003)

Roger said:


> Well I dunno abou that guy, but im gonna say Google.


 nah, i think CK has access to something a lot better than just a search engine


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## CrocKeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

"google"









Many different scientific journals over the years as well as abstracts and papers collected, a HUGE library that is always looking to grow, and several medical databases, etc.... Many of you if enrolled at a University could also access University databases for quite a bit of this information...but I use a combination...sadly a lot of the information is crammed also into my skull....not as much as I would like, and I have to resort to my library more than I used to







, and of course scietific changes occur seemingly daily so it is hell keeping up...but hey it wouldn't be worth it if it was an easy road..LOL


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