How to Care for Toads

Series Summary

Frogs and reptiles make unique pets for kids and give owners a chance to decorate elaborate terrariums to house their favorite frog or toad. Frogs come in great variety, ranging in size from a few ounces to 15 pounds. More than 88 percent of amphibian species in the world are frogs. They populate arid and subarctic climates, and most species live exclusively in tropical rain forests. Frogs are known for their interesting life cycle, a developmental progression that sees each frog begin as a swimming tadpole before growing hind limbs and taking to the land to live. In this free video series, a veterinarian provides tips for taking care of a variety of frogs and toads. Find out how to care for toads, how to grow frogs, and how to tell the difference between frogs and toads. Learn about the life cycle of frogs, identifying frogs, and caring for various types of frogs. Discover how to keep frogs and toads as pets with information from these free videos.

Video Transcript

"What we're going to talk about now is how to care for toads. Now toads differ from true frogs in that they have a wide, flatter body. They're generally terrestrial. They have smaller eyes and non-webbed rear feet. They're warted and dry, usually over the back, or a little bit semi-moist. In these warts, there, they can produce a little bit of toxin or alkaloids and so toads, you really don't want to handle. Never wild catch one of these things. Most states have laws against catching them and keeping them. It's illegal to do so, so we're talking about a purchased frog or a bred frog. So anyway, with with toads, they're generally not aquatic, or semi-aquatic, so they are terrestrial. And make sure you know from the pet store, what species you're getting. Set up an aquarium first. Most of these guys, being terrestrial, are going to be on a soil, or Peat moss or something like that that might be moist, a little moist. Some of them like a little bit drier environments, depending on what species you're getting. Now toads, generally, when you set them up, they're insectivores are going to eat generally three times a week, with a calcium supplement with them as well. They usually eat, they're insectivores, usually eat talking about crickets, meal worms, wax worms, flies, things like that. Some of them will actually take small mice on occasion as well, and so make sure again that you know the species and that you have the set up ready first so that toad can come into it. Also, they don't like to be handled a lot. That stresses them out, so most toads are kind of a...hands off species that you want to just kind of look at and just get entertainment from just keeping them."