Bombina
orientalis
Bombina
orientalis
My pal "Sprocket" is an Oriental Firebellied Toad.
Oriental Firebellied Toads are great for pets whether or not you are an experianced frog owner or a begginer looking for a great pet frog.
Price - They range in price from store to store but my little guy was $9.99, quite inexpensive.
Food - Firebellies eat crickets, mealworms and small bugs. Although it is suggested to give a bit of variety to their diet they can get along quite well eating only crickets with a vitamin suplliment. I bought a small jar of cricket food which helps to "gut pack" the frog full of vitamins. I buy two dozen crickets every one or two weeks and keep them in the smallest "little critter pen" that you can buy at most pet stores. I find that it houses the crickets quite well and has a plastic door at the top that i open and shake the crickets in. I hate bugs and prfer not to touch them so i bought an eyebrow tweezer that I use to pick the crickets up with when ever I have to. Make sure that if you are housing crickets that you keep the area they are in moist.
Living Enviroment - To create the ideal Firebellied Toad enviroment I bought a ten gallon glass terrarium tank with a screen top. A ten gallon is a good size for 1-2 toads but if you wish to have more in the tank them i suggest buying a 20 gallon tank so the toads will not be overcrowded. A terrarium is set up with half land and half water (in many cases your toad will prefer the tank to be 3/4 water and 1/4 land because thery love to swim) My tank is set up by first putting aquarium gravel down to completely cover the glass bottom of the tank, then put more aquarium gravel going up on a slant toward the left back corner of the tank (when the aquarium is filled up with water it comes over the gravel is the back corner about a 1/2 an inch and my toad loves to sit here because he is in water but still sitting on land.) Then I have hanging plants from the back two corners and a plant in the middle of the tank. On the right hand side of the tank I have 5 rocks set up so that the toad can climb up on top of them and also hide in and around them. (I left a space in the corner behind the largest rock so that when the toad is startled he jumps in the water behind the rock and hides. make sure that your Toad has a place like this because when he is startled if he has no place to hide he will become stressed and that is not healthy for your toad. I also have a few aquarim decorative frogs that you can buy at a pet store for the bottoms of tanks. I have my tank filled up with water about six inches deep. I bought a great filter that works even with though your tank will not be filled up to the top. It has suction cups on it and it sticks the bottom or side of your tank. When you clean your tank make sure that you replace the tanks water with water that has been sitting for 24 hours. Sometimes tap water has to much chlorine in it and this can be harmful to your toad. You can buy chlorine drops at your pet store that will help also. The tank does not need to be heated unless you live in climates with extreamly cold temperatures. I have a Firebellied Newt in the tank with my Toad and they seem to get along well together. Never put other species of frogs or toads in with a Firebellied Toad because there are harmful toxins in the toads skin which can harm the other frog and possibly even kill them.
Disposition - Firebellied Toads are VERY active and hop and swim around most of the time. They are a great toad for young children because they are so active and will not become boring after a while like some tree frogs. ( Most tree frogs find a nice place to sit and will sit there all day only moving to eat. For this reason children become bored of them more easily)
Frogs and Toads don't particularly like to be handled too much but when you do handle them make sure that you wash your hands before and after.
Click Here to see a picture of my Firebellied Toad...
Click here to see a picture of me Firebellied Newt...
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