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lizziej
Pondweed
1 Posts |
 Posted - 23/12/2009 : 00:39:34
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Hi all, i recently brought 2 fire bellied toads, i've been reading through some caresheets on differant websites, they all say differant things so i'm abit confused, i brought the tank with the toads, it has some plastic plants stuck on the sides of the tank, also a log which is like a bridge they can hide under it, a small pot filled with water.. then covered the bottom of the tank with 3 inches of bark.
The guy in the amphibian shop i got the toads and the tank from said this is the perfect setup. but like i said i've been reading caresheets around the net and i see alot of sites say the tank should be 60% water 40% land or around that, some say DO NOT use plastic plants, some say plastic plants are fine, some say DO NOT use bark, some say its fine. One even said FBT's need a heating mat??  so you can see why i'm confused. ^^
Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance |
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Kazerella
The Amphibian Administrator
United Kingdom
969 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2010 : 09:39:20
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I would keep Fire bellies on a more aquatic set up than the one you've got (around 60-40% sounds about right), because I do know they spend a lot of time in the water. If I were you I would buy the biggest water bowl you can fit in the tank and adapt it so that your fir bellies can get in and out.
I would say plastic plants are fine, but I prefer live ones because they can help keep the tank clean by absorbing up some of the waste.
I think some people would be wary of bark because of the impaction risk, so I would probably go with something like coco-fibre or eco-earth. Alternatively, have a mostly aquatic tank and just have islands as the land area. You can buy plastic ones that should be easy to remove and clean.
FBT's probably don't need a heating mat in summer, but if it got too cold in winter then I'd probably invest in one.
At the end of the day it's up to your judgement really. You can only do what you think is best for your pet. Care sheets are valuable, but no care sheet can ever claim to be 'the ultimate and only way' to keep an animal. Researching multiple care sheets is recommended and then bring all the info together to work out the best advice that would work for you and your FBTs.  |
 
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crazysnakeman
Pondweed
1 Posts |
Posted - 31/12/2010 : 12:05:35
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Ive never used heating for my guys - ive had em since 2005 - aslong as you dont live in a barn you'l be fine without it! I use 50/50 set up for mine, I have a glass hexagonal tank that I glued a piece of glass across the middle of, and made a fake rock wall to cover that up. I then filled one side with ORGANIC - amphibs are so sensitive to chemicals - compost, wedged a bit of wood into the soil, glued coco fibre matting up the back 3 walls, then planted it up!
I have ficus pumila covering the walls and creeping up the wood, along with wandering jew. I also have a strange purple plant that I found on dartfrog.co.uk that works really well! to cover the floor, I actually used irish moss, or mind your own business/babys tears to cover the floor of the land area, and it looks REALLY good (if i can say so myself!) I then used a fine grain aquarium gravel in the water area, planted it up with some random aquatic plants - its about 6 inches deep - and then added a few pieces of aquarium wood - make sure if you use it, that you boil it for a few hours to seal it! otherwise it turns your water a deep brown.. then added some smooth pebbles where i thought they looked good, and finally put in some live floating plants.
Its a great little show piece - I keep loads of snakes, and again, their vivs are all show pieces, but you cant use live plants with the larger snakes, cos a boa will just flatten them.. ha ha, but I have some of the smaller snakes like hognoses in planted vivs, and I get so much pleasure out of using the live plants, i'd really really recommend it! if you can get hold of plants that stay small, you can create a stunning tank, and my toads seem to love it! I do feed them with a pair of big tweezers though cos if you just through crickets in the tank, they tend to chew on your plants.. ha ha, but its a small price to pay!
Loads of care sheets do say different things, but the best advice I can give you, is the more water you give them, the happier they are! They seem to spend a huge amount of time in it if you give them the opportunity to, so id really reccomend it! my guys have a water area 6 inches deep - with the aquarium wood placed so they can easily climb out! and is about.. a foot and a half in length, and 10 inches wide.. the floating plants and wood give them stuff to hold on to and float with, and they use the entire depth of water on a regular basis.. they appear to use the land area most at night though, and babys tears does work really well for that.
Hope this helps!
josh |
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Fire Bellied Toad Questions
