Does anybody know about Fowler's Toads?

[abcat1993]

I am fairly sure (85%) that the toads in my pond are Fowler's Toads. Would garters eat them and how easily do they breed in captivity? Is it even worth breeding them?
PS: This would also kind of be like a rescue mission since my dog or other things eat them (including the lawnmower).

[ssssnakeluvr]

garters do eat toads. However they can carry a lot of parasites, the main reason very few people feed amphibians. Breeding them would take time...lots of time to raise tadpoles up to feeding size.

[abcat1993]

Well, I guess that I could just wait until they naturally raise themselves (they only get eaten when they start hopping around the yard and the grass gets taller) then feed them to the garter. But first I would have to make sure that it will even eat them. Right now the only thing my garter is eating is worms.

[ssssnakeluvr]

I have had great luck scenting pinkies and parts with worms. wouldn't recommend feeding amphibians...

[KITKAT]

Just one additional comment here... if you are determined to feed frogs/toads, an easy way to do this is to use frozen/thawed tadpoles in the water dish.

I had a Florida Blue (42 inches) that lived MANY years and was never noticeably sick, who lived mostly on f/t bullfrog tadpoles and live nightcrawlers, with an occasional minnow. I got the bullfrog tadpoles from a pet store where they came in with the goldfish feeder shipments.

Fowler's toads are not as common as the American Toad in my locale, but the tadpoles of both species are pretty durned small!

[GarterGuy]

Yeh, I'll have to jump on the bandwagon of feeding toads to you snake is not good. Not only is there a very good chance of intruducing a parasite to your snakes, you could also introduce something else. Anytime you feed with a "wild caught" animal....what ever that animal happens to bring along with it, goes into your snake. I really don't think it's worth it....in my earlier days of reptile and invert. keeping, I lost several animals to some "mystery" cause after feeding them a wild caught prey item. I just don't risk it anymore....the world is just too full of nasty stuff that I don't want to expose my animals to. (Believe me I know!....I test water and soil samples all the time...it's my job!) And even though I know there are those who are going to say...."Well they'd be exposed to it in the wild.", the snakes aren't in the wild, they're in captivity and they under our care and we should do the best to try and not expose them to such threats. Sorry, but this is a bit of a sore spot for me. While at the pet store I heard about how people would "experiment" with their animals just to see what it'd eat. It usually ended up with one or two animals suffering needlessly. There is plenty of clean, healthy prey animals available for sale to go out and just pick something up. Ok I'm done now.

[abcat1993]

I didn't mean that I would feed the wild caught ones, I meant captive breeding of the toads. I would only do this to save money on pinkies (at PetCo they are 4.75$ for 3 or 1.50$ for 1. At PetSmart they are a slightley better deal but I don't remember exactly. CB fowler's toads would be cheaper.

Actually, now that I think about it, they do get kinda big (2 inches long, 1.5 inches wide). Maybe it isn't such a good idea. Maybe I should just stick to attempting to breed anoles. But that is what this thread was about, whether it was worth it or not.

[Boots]

I would have to say that it is not worth the effort needed to breed toads just to use them as feeders. If it were economical they would be available on the market today. You would be much better off breeding mice since they are easy to raise, cheap to feed and mature fairly quickly. Not to mention that they can have many young, a couple times a year verses the toads which would only reproduce once a year in one big clump or strand of eggs. Then you would have to worry about how to raise a hundred or so tadpoles into toads. For the effort and expense mice are a better choice.

Jason

[abcat1993]

Thanks, that's what I wanted to hear.

[GarterGuy]

I would only do this to save money on pinkies (at PetCo they are 4.75$ for 3 or 1.50$ for 1. At PetSmart they are a slightley better deal but I don't remember exactly.

WOW! That's really expensive for pinks! I usually pay maybe $12 for about 50. If there's any reptile shows where you live, you might want to look for someone who's selling frozen mice....you should be able to get them LOTS cheaper. You might even want to check out some of the online sellers.....they usually make you buy at least 50, but they'd still be cheaper than $1.50 a piece! That way you'd have an excuse to get more snakes....you have to use up the mice that you have before they go bad.....LOL.