The question: What do toads eat? The answer: They eat meat, usually in the form of insects and other small animals!
Toads will eat anything and everything that moves, as long as it happens to be small enough to fit in their mouths. They are not super fussy about the size of the prey item or if it is nutritionally beneficial or even dangerous to them. This is where being a prudent owner comes into play.
You will need to decide what to include in your pet toad’s diet in order to keep them healthy and happy for the length of their rather impressive lifespan! On average, most species of toads live for 10 to 15 years!
Toads are carnivores, as I touched on above, which means they only eat animal protein. In the wild, they normally eat a variety of insects and small animals because they are opportunistic hunters and will gobble up what they can, when they can.
Thankfully, you have a wide variety to choose from when you are considering what to feed them in captivity or in your garden or
Read on to find out precisely what toads eat so you can help them have a full and healthy life!
What Are Toads and How Do You Spot Them?
Did you know that all toads are, in fact, technically frogs? There is no true scientific distinction between toads and frogs; they just look a little different. When frogs are classified as toads, it is usually because they fit certain criteria.
Toads generally fall into the family Bufonidae, and they have fairly dry skin compared to the moist skin of frogs. Frogs generally have smooth skin, while most toads have the stereotypical ‘warts’ covering their skin, which makes them rather bumpy.
Toads can also be characterized by their high eye ridges compared to those of frogs. Frogs typically have rounder, more bubble-like eyes and eye ridges that are relatively smooth and low down onto their heads. Similarly, frogs have longer bodies with very long legs, while toads more commonly have shorter and stockier bodies with short legs.
Toads and frogs also differ slightly when it comes to their preferred habitats. You will most likely find a toad in a drier terrestrial area, while frogs usually need more access to water and more humid environments to keep their skin moist.
This is important when considering the type of food items you should be feeding your toads. For example, feeder fish that would be ideal for aquatic frog species would be inaccessible or inappropriate for toads.
So, now that you know how to spot the difference between toads and frogs, let’s get on to what you should feed your toads.
What Do Baby Toads Eat?
Tadpoles start out as herbivores. This is because their digestive systems are long and folded. This means the food that passes through their systems has a long time to be digested. This time allows the tadpole’s body time to extract plenty of essential nutrients from their food so they can grow rapidly.
Toads start out the same way as any frog: as a tadpole! They will start out eating the algae in their enclosure or in the wild. As these tadpoles hit the one-week mark, you can add in some tadpole and fish flakes as well as some chopped-up vegetables such as collard greens, spinach, and beet tops.
Aquatic worms like tubifex, bloodworms, and blackworms can all be fed to your older tadpoles, as they are high in protein and nutrients that will help them grow and develop vital organs and strong bones.
As your tadpoles start growing and pass the two-week mark, they can be introduced to larger foods like brine shrimp, insect larvae, and more tadpole flakes. Remember, at this time, you should start offering your tadpoles a piece of terrestrial land in their enclosure so they can start leaving the water as soon as they are comfortable.
What Do Adult Toads Eat?
Adult frogs should be fed a diet made up of only animal protein. They are pure carnivores. As the toads get older, their digestive systems shorten and straighten out. As a result, the distance from point A to point B is very short, and nutrients need to be absorbed quickly. Toads’ digestive systems do this by quickly absorbing the protein and nutrients out of any animals they eat.
Staple Food Items for Adult Toads
Adult toads can eat a wide range of staple food items. Staple items are food items that should be included in the regular, everyday diet of your toad, as they are high in nutrients and low in things like fat that are not very healthy to consume multiple times a week.
There are many aquatic and non-aquatic worms that are suitable for toads to eat as part of their staple diet. Nightcrawlers, for example, are essentially very large earthworms. They are very nutritious and have a high protein content without much fat.
Hornworms, superworms, mealworms, and phoenix worms all make excellent feeder items because they are also full of nutrients and are easily accessible through pet stores or online distributors.
For a more detailed breakdown of the nutritional content of each of these common feeder worms, have a look at our article dedicated to the best worms for feeding your reptilian and amphibious pets.
Lots of terrestrial insects like crickets, grasshoppers, locusts, dragon flies, blue bottle flies, and dubia roaches are all great sources of protein and offer your toad a decent crunch at meal times! Variety is important when feeding your toad, especially when it comes to texture and flavor, so always include different kinds of insects in alternating meals.
If your toad is large enough, you can even feed them mice and rats! These are superb sources of protein and will provide your toad with a serious health boost. In addition to these small feeder rodents, you can also offer your frog small amphibians in their neophyte stage, other tadpoles, small lizards, and small frogs!
Finally, slugs and snails are also wonderful additions to most toads’ staple diets. This is because they are nutritionally dense as well as high in moisture.
Treat Food Items for Toads
Treat items should be given to your toad only on occasion, as they are generally high in fat and low in other nutrients.
Waxworms and butterworms, for instance, are incredibly tasty treats for most species of toads. However, they are also very fatty, and too many of them will lead to obesity and various nutritional deficiencies. Therefore, you should be careful of the amount and the frequency at which you feed them.
What Supplements Do Toads Need?
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What Should You Never Feed Your Toad?
When feeding your toad, it can seem like they can consume anything that moves! However, this is not true, as there are many foods that are toxic and even deadly to them.
For starters, you should never feed your toad any insect that glows or is bioluminescent. This is because the bioluminescent chemicals are extremely toxic to toads. Bugs suchs as glow worms and lightning bugs fall into this category.
Adult toads should also never be fed any plant material, as this can cause intestinal distress, impaction, cramping, and even death. Their digestive systems are not designed to process plant matter.
Additionally, toads should never be fed human food or processed meats, as these items contain various ingredients and chemicals that are harmful to toads. What’s more, they are often nutritionally devoid.
Finally, never feed anything to your captive toad from your garden. The insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides used in the garden contaminate the insects and these toxins will then be passed on to your toad if you feed them. These toxins are likely to kill your toad quickly.
How Often Should You Feed Your Toad?
The frequency of feeding will usually be determined by how old your toad is (as well as their particular species). Toads will eat food as long as they are hungry and, in many cases, even when they are not.
Unfortunately, this means you can unintentionally overfeed them very easily which leads to obesity. What’s more, it is often difficult to tell when a toad is obese because of their naturally round, plump bodies.
Obesity in amphibians is dangerous because it puts undue strain on their internal organs, such as their heart, liver, and kidneys, which leads to multiorgan failure, a shortened lifespan, and eventually death.
It is up to you to ensure your toads are fed on schedule.
Very young toads will usually need to be fed once to three times a day! This is because they are growing and need a lot of protein in order to satisfy their rapid metabolisms and grow appropriately.
After the three-to-four-week mark, you can reduce the number of meals to once a day and then to once every second day.
Once your toad reaches about three months old, you can most likely feed them every third day or so. For example, you could opt to feed them on Mondays and Thursdays. Having a consistent feeding schedule helps to ensure your toad has a routine which helps reduce stress.
Be sure to also research your toad’s particular species to get a more in-depth idea of how often to feed them as well as what foods they prefer and need to thrive.
How Much Should You Feed Your Toad?
In general, toads will eat as much as they can in a single sitting. Once they can no longer fit any more into their mouths, they will ignore the rest. This means uneaten food items like dead pinky mice, rat fuzzies, small lizards, and tadpoles will start to rot and make the environment toxic to your toad.
If live items such as crickets and roaches are left in the enclosure once your toad has finished eating, then they can cause your toad severe stress by the noise they make and their movements. Additionally, they can bite and hurt your toad, as it cannot get away.
Because of this, you’ll need to take some time during feedings to monitor what your toad eats and ensure you clean up the uneaten food afterward. It is not as simple as dropping some fish flakes inside of a tank!
Offer your toad as many feeder items as they will eat in a 15-minute window if they are very young, as they will be fed multiple times a day.
Adult toads should be offered food items that are much larger than the food items they get as young toads, so they will naturally take longer to chew and process. It may take an adult toad a half an hour or more to finish eating a single meal. Once an hour or so has passed, remove all of the uneaten food so it does not spoil, make the environment toxic, and cause your toad to become ill.
When Should You Feed Your Toad?
You should feed your toad according to what time of day they are most active. This is another reason why it is so important to research your toad’s particular species!
If your toad is diurnal, then they are most active during the day. If they are crepuscular, they are most active during dawn and dusk. If your toad is nocturnal, they are most active at night.
Find out what your species of toad is and what time of day they are most active, and then feed them around the beginning of that window. For example, if they are diurnal, feed them in the morning; if they are nocturnal, feed them in the beginning of the evening.
Avoid feeding your toad towards the end of their active period because they will have trouble beginning the process of digestion.
FAQs About Toad Food
How big should a single food item be?
You should always ensure that no food item is larger than the space between your toad’s eyes. If items are larger than this, then they will need to be cut down to prevent choking and impaction problems.
What can I feed the toads in my garden?
You can feed the toads in your garden anything that you would feed your captive toads. It is important to note, though, that the toads in your garden will snack on any and all bugs that they find. Therefore, you should not put out things like slug pellets or ant repellent, as this will get into their systems and, in turn, slowly destroy the toad population in your garden.
Hopping Off on Feeding Toads…
So what do toads eat?
The answer to the question is actually very simple: almost anything they can get their tongues on! Toads are voracious carnivores and eat a variety of animals from small crickets and worms all the way up to tadpoles, frogs, mice, and rats!
In order to feed your toad properly, you will need to keep their diet varied and interesting. This provides them with mental stimulation and enrichment!
