Fire-bellied Toad Review

Overall Rating

Fun

Poisonous

I have Fire-bellied Toads The Fire-bellied Toads are a group of eight species of small toads (typically 4-7cm in length) belonging to the genus Bombina. Common variants on the name 'Fire-bellied toad' include 'firebelly toad' and 'firebellied toad'.

Toads in the genus Bombina were formerly classified under the family Discoglossidae in reference to the fact that they cannot fold out their disc-shaped tongue, unlike the other toads and frogs. Differences in morphology, biology and behaviour, have led them to be classified in their own family, Bombinatoridae, together with the genus Barbourula.

They are found across much of Europe and Asia, staying in water or near the shore. They prefer a temperature of 18 -20 Celsius. The largest fire-bellied toad is the Giant Fire-bellied Toad (Bombina maxima), attaining a length of 6-7 cm, living in the highlands of Southern China.

Their name derives from the brightly coloured red- or yellow-and-black patterns on their ventral region, which act as aposematic coloration, a warning to predators of the toads' reputedly foul taste. The other parts of the toads' skins have more neutral colours such as green or dark brown. When confronted with a possible predator, it is not uncommon for these toads to engage in an Unken Reflex, "Unken" being the plural form of the German term "Unke" for firebellied toad, wherein the toad arches its back, raising its front and back legs to display the bold warning coloration of its underside.

Members' Comments one4chin's Review

• Bertie on 8th Sep 2006

  e4chin.....you're better than Wikipedia!

• e4chin on 8th Sep 2006

  I used wikipedia to get some background information, but i really do have firebelly toads

• Helen of Troy on 9th Sep 2006

  Hello again e4chin, great review! I would be interested to know how you keep these little critters, I had never heard of them! What sort of set up, what do you feed them etc.? And I didn't forget respect for your review this time!!!

• e4chin on 12th Sep 2006

  Thank you very much for your respect. That makes me happy. :D
  
  I kept up to 4 of these fire bellied toads in a 10 gal. aquarium tank. The tank has to be water proof because they are anphibians so their ground should be a damp dirt. Also have a little pool of water they can swim in. Vegitation would be nice; they don't eat it so it doesn't have to be live.
  
  As for feeding them, just drop in some live crickets (you can get both the toads and crickets in most pet stores) and watch the toads hunt; it is supprisingly fun.
  
  I'm not sure, but i think that males have red/orange-and-black under bellies while the females have yellow-and-black bellies.i heard they are fairly easy to breed so watch out.
  
  I just found this out, but it seems they really arn't toads at all, but are actually frogs. i'm not sure why, they seem like toads to me, but oh well!!!

• Helen of Troy on 14th Sep 2006

  What's the difference between frogs and toads? I honestly have no idea!!

• e4chin on 15th Sep 2006

  http://allaboutfrogs.org/weird/general/frogtoad.html
  
  will explain a lot of the things.
  it is an easy to read chart that explains the different charaqcteristics of frogs and toads.