Fire-bellied toad advice

[jimbo86]

Hi everyone. I'm fairly new to the "amphibians as pets" way of thinking and I was wondering if I could get a little bit of advice before I take the plunge!

After a fair amount of consideration, and rediscovering the wonders of my local library, I've decided I'd like to build a vivarium to house some fire-bellied toads. However, before I start actually making any of that happen, I thought it'd probably be best if I knew a bit more from people who can talk from experience. If anyone could answer some of the questions I have been thinking about, that'd be great!

From what I've read, it seems like the toads are much happier in the situation of a single male with a harem. What kind of ratio of male to females would people recommend? Also, when it comes to heating the enclosure, it seems there's a bit of a clash between some things saying it's best to use a water heater and leaving the land at room temperature or using a heat mat to heat the land and leave the water unheated. Which would you say was the best set up or is there no difference really? Finally, I'd like a live-planted vivarium but something fairly low maintenance, so do the toads really need tall leafy plants (like ferns) or can I get away with some nice mosses in combination with some logs and branches for the toads to climb on?

Thanks for reading all that! Looking forward to reading some suggestions hopefully!

[blackbat67]

I'm no expert, but you don't need any extra heat for fire-bellied toads, they're fine at room temperature

And from what I've seen of other people's setups, a lot of people just use mosses with logs and branches.

Been looking into getting some of these myself, especially now I have an empty tank... Lol

[Pipkin28]

FBT's are fine at normal room temp, so you don't need to bother with heatmats/water heaters/heatlamps etc.

What size viv do you have? I think it's probably better to have more females than males as males are insatiable but be prepared for spawn and lots of it! You could have an all male group instead, they can "cuddle" each other to their hearts content then and you get serenaded by them barking!!

I used to have a planted viv, with moss and lots of Syngonium Podophyllum (Goosefoot Plant) which is very easy to look after and looks great, Dieffenbachia (Dumb Cane), Asplenium nidus (Bird's Nest Fern) and Pothos (Devil's Ivy) all of those are really easy to care for but I've since changed to a more aquatic set up with big flat stones and bog wood for them to haul out on and aquatic plants because I got fed up with soil and moss getting in the water. They seem to be happy with either set up, so it's your personal taste really. They don't need tall, leafy plants though they will hide themselves under them if provided.

Just make sure the viv/lid is secure, as they climb glass very well and are always on the lookout for an escape route!

[syufbx]

Hi there, i have four fire bellied toads in my 50/50 tank set up and an thinking of changing it from a pebbled floor to sand substate- what do people think about sand subsrate for fire bellied toads?

[Pipkin28]

I've never used sand, I don't know if it's a no-no for them regarding impaction. They might stir the sand up a bit as they're swimming about and if you have a water filter it might clog that up.

I used to have some river pebbles in my set up but I lost a few juvies that way because they used to squeeze themselves into the gaps and then couldn't get out again. I now have a couple of large flat stones for them to haul out onto and no gravel or other small stones for food debris and poop to get stuck in and foul the water.

[Joe1507]

What exactly do you need to know.

[steffy curtis]

i personally wouldnt use sand for my toads. i got mine the other day and in their tank they have plants to climb on, moss, big peice of bark to climb on, half the tanks land n other halfs water i have a male and female and they live quite happily together

also mine are at room tempreture

[syufbx]

yeah probably going to stick with the large gravel- I'm thinking of putting some more live plants in the water section which is only 3 inches deep- already got a moss ball. Any ideas on plants?

[captaincarot]

java fern