FBT Cricket Concern

**VoidParadigm** · 09-29-2012, 08:08 PM

I've recent|y purchased a Fire Belly Toad (Fire Belly Frog? I don't know, I'm finding mixed results on whether they're toads or frogs.) The pet store sold me a dozen "small size" crickets, saying that's what they'd been feeding the tank of frog/toads, and most sites I researched claimed crickets were an acceptable food source.

One curiosity came into my mind on the way home, though. If the habitat is about 50/50 land/water, isn't there a good chance the crickets will jump into the water and drown before the frog/toad catches them? Or will the hungry creature probably see and recognize the food before it has a chance to die, even if it falls into the water? Does anyone have experience with seeing their FBT catch crickets even if they fall/jump in the water?

Maybe I'm too paranoid and nervous about the new pet.

Anyways, any help appreciated.

**smaug** · 09-29-2012, 09:15 PM

I kept them for years and it is an issue with cricket loss due to drowning. Most fbt won't eat a dead cricket so it leads to waste. You should also dust the crickets once week with vitamin powder to supplement them with added nutrients and going in the water negates that benefit. What I did was change how I kept the toads. I got habitat pond from zilla that holds about a qt of water for the toads to hang out in and kept the rest of there tank with coco husk bedding. In this way crickets could be kept alive longer and not so many lost to drowning.

**VoidParadigm** · 09-30-2012, 12:32 AM

We||, curiosity got the best of me, and I did her first feeding this evening. One of the crickets jumped in the water, but she sti|| saw it and jumped in after it. So maybe things won't go so bad if I feed them one at a time.

**AVN** · 10-04-2012, 04:51 PM

I had similar problems with my own Fire Belly once.

My solution? Elevate the water dish slightly so that the FB can still get in easily, but crickets will have trouble unless they climb.

Place the dish somewhere in the middle of the tank, crickets tend to hug the walls and won't climb into the bowl in the middle. (unless they end up in there accidentally)

This last method is the one that worked the best for me, but it requires a bit of effort.

I cut off the last segment of the cricket's rear legs. They can't chirp or jump. They can only crawl along as they get singled out for food.

**VoidParadigm** · 10-08-2012, 05:05 PM

I'll be keeping the tank as is, 50/50 water/land as almost by clockwork she seems to enjoy taking a nightly swim and dive around 11 pm.

Only the crickets that land upside down in the water have been a problem for me so long as I supervise the feeding. And those upside down ones I just use a stick to get the cricket to latch onto then dump them back onto land. Those that land right-side up just doggy paddle around for the duration of their stay. The absolute longest Ruby has let any cricket live was three minutes. Most are gone within seconds water or not.