Looking for care info on Frogs/Toads

Lostkat

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 18, 2003
Messages
341
Hi. I recently went to my boyfriend's local pet shop, and there was a huge communal tank with different species of frog, toad and cockroach alone with some anoles and other animals. I took an interest in some fire-bellied toads (Bombina orientalis). I've decided that I would really like to keep a communal tank of a few different species of tropical frog or toad.

Does anyone on here keep them, who could give me some general beginners info, or point me to a good webpage which can provide tips on general care as well as care sheets for various species.

Thanks in advance :)
 

Lycanthrope

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 10, 2002
Messages
622
IME firebellies are best kept with their own species. I'm not sure how theyd do with bugs and lizards, but they secrete a mild toxin that will give other amphibious cagemates redleg fairly quickly. They have a tendency of floating around in their water source, contaminating it with said toxin also, which probably wouldnt be good for any animals drinking from it, themselves included. Now i guess if this communal tank was large enough you could do it successfully, you said it was a large tank. but if you want to do a smaller tank id avoid mixing firebellies and other frogs and toads.
 

Bearskin10

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 13, 2003
Messages
1,405
I had a communal tank with fire bellies and some other things and what I learned from it is that they pretty much do ok with lizard but most other frogs will die from the toxins just like Lycanthrope said. Got rid of the fire bellies and have no problems anymore. Greg
 

KingBollock

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 15, 2004
Messages
110
You can safely mix Fire Bellied Toads (Bombina orientalis) with Yellow Bellied Toads (Bombina Varigata) and Fire Bellied Newts (Cynops Orientalis). You're not supposed to keep them with anything else but I also had fish (Algae eaters are very useful for cleaning the tank), shrimps and small red freshwater crabs in there. The majority of the tank was aquatic as only the Toads would leave the water. I'm sure I had other stuff in there too but I can't remember what. I know I had no success introducing Hermit Crabs. The tank did very well for a couple of years and then I made the stupid decision to splitting it up.
The main reason I added other creatures was so they would eat the Toad spawn because they were spawning all year round, non stop.
 

Louise E. Rothstein

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
430
Had you wished to keep the "Toad spawn" you would have had to separate the eggs from the adults.

Had you wished to keep amphibian species with big size differences you might have had to separate them by size.

"If it's prey size it's prey unless it tastes terrible or remains effectively out of reach."
 
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