Toads exhibit diverse feeding habits throughout their lives. As adults, they are primarily carnivorous, consuming a wide range of prey. Their diet shifts significantly from their larval stage, where they are aquatic and mostly herbivorous.
Diet of Wild Adult Toads
Wild adult toads are opportunistic predators, consuming nearly any animal that fits into their mouths. Their diet largely consists of various insects, including beetles, crickets, ants, flies, and centipedes. They also eat spiders, slugs, and worms. Larger toad species can even prey on small mammals, reptiles, and other amphibians.
Toads typically hunt by sitting and waiting for prey. When an unsuspecting creature passes by, they quickly project their long, sticky tongues to capture it. Lacking teeth in their lower jaws, toads swallow prey whole. This strategy allows them to efficiently consume pests, making them beneficial in many ecosystems.
Feeding Toads in Captivity
Providing a balanced diet for captive toads requires careful selection of live prey. Common food sources include crickets, mealworms, dubia roaches, and earthworms like nightcrawlers or red wigglers. Black soldier fly larvae and silkworms are also nutritious options. Waxworms, high in fat, should be offered sparingly as an occasional treat.
Prey size should not exceed the width of the toad’s mouth to prevent choking. Younger toads require tiny prey like fruit flies and pinhead crickets. Juveniles should be fed daily, consuming three to four appropriately sized insects. Adults can be fed every other day or two to three times a week, with each meal consisting of three to ten insects.
To enhance feeder insect nutrition, “gut-load” them with a nutrient-rich diet (carrots, leafy greens, or commercial formulas) 24 to 48 hours before feeding. Dust prey with a calcium supplement daily, especially for growing juveniles, and a multivitamin once or twice weekly to prevent deficiencies like metabolic bone disease. A shallow dish of fresh, dechlorinated water must always be available for soaking, as toads absorb water through their skin for hydration.
Tadpole Diet and Development
Tadpole diets differ significantly from adult toads, as they are aquatic and primarily herbivorous or omnivorous scavengers. Upon hatching, their initial nourishment often comes from the yolk in their egg sac. They then graze on algae, decaying plant matter, and detritus.
In captivity, tadpoles can be fed boiled leafy greens (spinach or lettuce), algae wafers, or commercial pellets. As tadpoles approach metamorphosis, their diet changes. Their internal digestive system remodels for a carnivorous diet, coinciding with leg development and tail reabsorption. Once transformed into terrestrial toadlets, they transition to consuming small insects.