Dont stop you two...im leanring allot a out amphibians/reptiles.
I havent kept reptiles since i was a kid.
I havent kept reptiles since i was a kid.
Fire belly toads
- Thread starter jaws7777
- Start date
I assure you my personal pets have never eaten waterfowl.....Hmm, interesting. Although, the digestive system of a small toad that eats bugs and a massive saurian that eats large vertebrates. A pebble in the stomach of a gator is nothing... a pebble is probably about the size of a firebelly toad's stomach.
Were Nile monitors and alligators documented eating rocks? Come to think of it, both of those (particularly gators) are known waterfowl eaters. Maybe they just contain the pebbles that were in the ducks they ate
You are from the U.K.?
Also
Bottomfeeder
, 2 things you may want to consider :
1.) I have no idea why you feed mealworms if you are so concerned about gastrointestinal impaction, their hard chitinous shell is notorious for causing it and it's very difficult to digest. In the reptile trade we abandoned using mealworms for anything except FISHING years and years ago lol
2.) You may wanna take it easy on the vita-dusting since you don't have a UVB light on them. Without the UVB to activate their body's "Vitamin D3-processor", most of it is just going to waste or building up in their systems and like mercury, after enough builds up, it causes serious problems. Without the body processing D3, it cannot absorb Calcium since they are not nocturnal except in extreme heat. You can certainly overdose on D3 without proper lighting. Just give them a low watt like a 2.0 UVB Strip-light (T8, T5, whatever) that doesn't create a copious amount of heat.
To boot, without a FILTER in your RUBs, ammonia will build rapidly, and at the same time, your water will always get harder and harder via excess Vita-dust lingering in the water during and after feedings, leaving deposits of minerals behind. More minerals = harder water
Bottomfeeder
, 2 things you may want to consider :1.) I have no idea why you feed mealworms if you are so concerned about gastrointestinal impaction, their hard chitinous shell is notorious for causing it and it's very difficult to digest. In the reptile trade we abandoned using mealworms for anything except FISHING years and years ago lol
2.) You may wanna take it easy on the vita-dusting since you don't have a UVB light on them. Without the UVB to activate their body's "Vitamin D3-processor", most of it is just going to waste or building up in their systems and like mercury, after enough builds up, it causes serious problems. Without the body processing D3, it cannot absorb Calcium since they are not nocturnal except in extreme heat. You can certainly overdose on D3 without proper lighting. Just give them a low watt like a 2.0 UVB Strip-light (T8, T5, whatever) that doesn't create a copious amount of heat.
To boot, without a FILTER in your RUBs, ammonia will build rapidly, and at the same time, your water will always get harder and harder via excess Vita-dust lingering in the water during and after feedings, leaving deposits of minerals behind. More minerals = harder water
doesn't have to be amazing lol, just a small submersible that can handle 5-10 gallons ....you only put a few inches of water in anyway, right?
Also
1.) I have no idea why you feed mealworms if you are so concerned about gastrointestinal impaction, their hard chitinous shell is notorious for causing it and it's very difficult to digest. In the reptile trade we abandoned using mealworms for anything except FISHING years and years ago lol
2.) You may wanna take it easy on the vita-dusting since you don't have a UVB light on them. Without the UVB to activate their body's "Vitamin D3-processor", most of it is just going to waste or building up in their systems and like mercury, after enough builds up, it causes serious problems. Without the body processing D3, it cannot absorb Calcium since they are not nocturnal except in extreme heat. You can certainly overdose on D3 without proper lighting. Just give them a low watt like a 2.0 UVB Strip-light (T8, T5, whatever) that doesn't create a copious amount of heat.
To boot, without a FILTER in your RUBs, ammonia will build rapidly, and at the same time, your water will always get harder and harder via excess Vita-dust lingering in the water during and after feedings, leaving deposits of minerals behind. More minerals = harder water
If you don't know the difference between eating rocks and eating small amounts of chitin, please take a biology class.
Mealworms are an infrequent prey item. But toads have very strong digestive system, and they can break down the chitin. The benefits of eating the occasional mealworm far outweigh the downsides of consuming chitin.
Anyway, my friends and I have found that filters drive firebellies nuts. A friend of mine observed their toad perched near the filter, trying to eat the filter bubbles, for a very extended period of time.
The calcium will definitely make my water harder, but the driftwood pile in there is constantly making it softer, too. So, they balance out.
Toads are definitely big creators of biowaste. Frequent water changes are a MUST with any large aquatic amphibian, regardless of your setup. One of the reasons I prefer using a rubbermaid crate without substrate is that, when the time comes, I take out the toads, throw their furniture in a bucket, carry the crate to the bathroom, dump it out, and then fill it right back up. Massive water changes, if not 100% water changes, are the way to go. I don't even bother cycling my amphibian enclosures... I think they foul the water so thoroughly that the beneficial bacteria would struggle to grow. They're also somewhat toxic, which can also hinder the growth of a normal aquarium system. The toxins are far muted in captivity, because it's dietary, but they definitely retain some level of toxins in their skin, even in captivity.
Kind of a shame that wherever you're from stopped using mealworms. Even though they are difficult to digest, they make fantastic food items for larger herps... my skink and my eublepharid geckos love them. I do offer them occasionally to my house gecko, firebelly toads, and tiger salamander, and I chop them up and offer pieces to my newt. My spiders and assassin bug also really relish them. They don't need to worry about consuming the chitin because their venom dissolves the entire thing... inside and out. (Well, the spiders do... not the assassin bug)
lol why you take it personal and go to insults? I'm not taking it personal. This is how science works.
Yeah that was a little pointed, I apologize. I was just a little taken aback by the comparison between a two inch animal eating a piece of gravel, and a minute amount of chitin, which is present in the exoskeletons of almost all of their prey items. The difference, to me, is so clear-cut that to compare the made my head spin a little, but again, I apologize for putting a bit too fine a point on it
