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Fire Bellied Toads...need help please

Trapper7

Loves VFT's!
I have two Fire Bellied Toads. Their names are Moss and Ziggy. I thought at first Moss was a female and Ziggy was a male. Ziggy would get ontop of Moss, but now it's the other way around. Moss is doing it ALL THE TIME and I don't think Ziggy is happy. Moss gets ontop and won't let go! She(he?) makes a lot of noise too and now I can't figure out if she(he?) is trying to mate with Ziggy (who might be a female??) or if I have two males and this is a dominance thing. Ziggy doesn't fight Moss off right away, but after a few seconds he(she?) has to really fight to get away. Moss holds him under water and doesn't let go! Ziggy has to turn upside down under water to get Moss off! Then when Ziggy tries to leave, Moss holds onto his leg! I used to have three of these in Canada, and I think they were all males. Sometimes they would do this, but once they realized that the other was a male, they would stop, and that was the end of it. But Moss keeps doing it! I just read on a website that Ziggy may be a female that just isn't ready to mate. My question is, would a male keep doing this to another male (so it is a dominance thing?) or is Ziggy a female and sooner or later she will accept Moss and lay eggs? I will post a pic so you can see, but Ziggy is the larger one with slighty larger forearms, so that's why we thought he was the male. Now Ziggy spends most of his time in a corner, and I think it's because he (or she!) doesn't like the other one :(

Ziggy is the darker one


MossandZiggy036.jpg


Any ideas as to what's going on here?
 
Are they supposed to be brown? The ones I had as a kid were always bright green.
 
The ones I had in Canada were bright green too, but they are sometimes brown like that. It's not because they're unhealthy. They might turn green, but radjess told me that he had some that were always brown.
 
what temps are you keeping them at?
 
i dont see any water in there, they have plenty of clean water right?
 
Of course, lol.
 
Do they have numerous hides??
 
No. They have a piece of driftwood they can go under and a couple fake plants, one being very small. I guess they need more? Is Moss mounting Ziggy because they don't have any hiding places?
 
  • #10
Maybe they are both males and have just now matured and are kinda fighting for dominance? Just a guess........
 
  • #11
That's kinda what I think, because Ziggy did it first, but not to this extent! I just wasn't sure if male fire bellied toads did that. Mine never did in Canada. I thought they all lived together happily, lol. Is there a chance Moss could kill Ziggy, cause it really looks like Moss is trying to drown Ziggy! He dunks him underwater and keeps him there! Geckoman, I live very close to Orlando :) Hi! :wave:
 
  • #12
Provide numerous hides. That allows one frog to "escape" form the other. It may be a dominance war and if so leaving the submissive in the open all the time will stress it, possibly to the point of death.

Toss in 3-4 terra cotta pots (8cm pots should be big enough for red bellies). If you can place them such that they create a full hide, not just set on their side, open to the world. One good way is to knock a half dollar sized hole in the rim on one side and then place the pot in upside down.
 
  • #13
Thanks Pyro, I will do that today. I really think I have two males. Now Ziggy is always hiding in a corner :( I'll set up something for him so he can escape the mean Moss! Thanks :)
 
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