Care Guide and General Information
The fire-bellied toad (Bombina orientalis) is a small toad with easy care. They originated from Denmark and Russia, and now have made their way to becoming one of the most popular toads. The toads live in forested areas near streams.
Appearance
The fire bellied toad stays at a small size of about 2 inches. Since they are so small, their bellies are bright orange, yellow and red for a reason. These colors scare predators into thinking that they are poisonous to eat.
Do not mistake these creatures as frogs, even though they may look so. They are bumpy, not smooth.
Handling/Aggression
Fire bellied toads will not bite because they are so small, but they don‚Äö?Ñ????ë?¬•t like being held. These toads are fast. They are better off not being touched, and your touch will also stress it out.
Feeding
These colorful toads will eat a variety of insects including crickets, mealworms, and wax worms. Most keepers provide a staple of crickets and mealworms. Make sure that the food items are appropriately sized or else your toad will not eat them.
The insects should be no longer than the width of the toad‚Äö?Ñ????ë?¬•s head. It is better to provide more of the smaller insects than fewer of the large ones.
Housing Requirements
Fire bellied toads require hardly any space. One can live in a roomy cage of 5 gallons. You can keep about 6 adults per 10 gallons with extra room. Tadpoles can even be kept in a cricket keeper without the tubes.
Substrate
Your substrate should be able to hold humidity, so sand is not good for them. Bark chips can be an excellent place for crickets to hide and breed. The crickets will also bother your toad at night when it is not active.
Bed-a-beast and moss work well for a fire bellied toad. Your substrate should be about 3 inches thick.
Shelter
Fire bellied toads enjoy having something to hide in, so you should provide one hide for every two toads. Coconut hides with a hole cut into them work well, and can be bought inexpensively at the pet store.
Temperature
Your may not need any special heating if your house stays about 77-80 degrees year around. If you do need to provide heat, a heat lamp works best. If you use a under tank heater, the glass will crack because it will be moist.
The basking spot should be kept at 78-85F, and the rest of the cage can stay at room temperature.
Water/Humidity
The 1/3 water, 2/3-land rule works well with these toads. The easiest way to do this is to buy an appropriate sized Tupperware container and put it on the bottom of the tank with no substrate under it, and fill in around it.
Next, place rocks that slope deeper into the container because fire bellied toads prefer to float than swim. You can also provide a lily pad or other floating object for them to float on.
Cleaning
Be sure that the water is kept clean at all times, and should be replaced once a week. Also spot clean and replace the substrate as needed. Make sure that you clean out any feces.
Breeding
In winter, have a cool down period of at least six weeks. Put your frogs in a cool place like your basement so the temperature doesn‚Äö?Ñ????ë?¬•t go below 40F. When the cool period is over, start raising the temperature back to normal. This will signal that it is breeding season.
When frogs are ready to breed, they should be a year old. Males will call out with a croak that attracts the females. If you keep 2 males and 4 females in a 10-gallon tank, you will have plenty of eggs.
The males will hop onto a female‚Äö?Ñ????ë?¬•s back in the water, and begin breeding. Sometimes he will hop on a male‚Äö?Ñ????ë?¬•s back, the male will croak, and he will hop off. This will happen from April into summer, there is no specific time.
Females will deposit up to 200 eggs in clusters along the shore and in between rocks. Females can lay up to ten clutches a year, and each clutch will have fewer eggs than the last. Once the eggs have been laid, separate them from the tank, and place them in a separate tank. This hatching tank should be kept at about 77F and be about 2 inches filled with water.
After three days, the eggs will hatch, and another three days, they will feed on their yolk sac.
Hatchling Care
On the 4th day, start feeding them finely crushed fish food. They will be tadpoles and cannot swallow prey yet. You will notice after a couple of weeks, your tadpoles will start changing. At this stage in life, they will start coming onto land.
Provide a tank like your adults‚Äö?Ñ????ë?¬•. It only takes about five to six weeks for the toad to go from a tadpole to a fully-grown fire bellied toad. Now they will eat, and be housed the same as adults.
Conclusion
Fire bellied toads are the one of the best beginner amphibians to own. They do not require much care, and they look beautiful. Good luck caring for them!
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