Fire-Bellied Toads 11 Years Later - An Emotional Journey

in October of 2020 I made what is still one of my favorite designs the fire belly toad paludarium that wasn't the first time I did either I made the previous iteration two years prior it doesn't stop there though let's go all the way back to 2012 before this channel even existed one of the setups I had at the time was in an old 125 gallon aquarium and I mean old I originally bought the thing on Craigslist in 2006 where I resealed it and kept it as an aquarium until roughly 2010 where I transitioned it over to vivarium that some of you may recognize that's right the classic 125 gallon vivarium that served as the backdrop through the majority of my old videos it was a lot of fun to have around and was a great learning tool for me I experimented with various plants and techniques that I still use to this day it also had several iterations and the one shown on the channel was the last anyway that brings us back to 2012. everything looked close to how it did in the early days of the channel it was also inhabited by 3 three fire belly toads and two green tree frogs we'll get to the Toads shortly as for the tree frogs I had them for about four years but both passed away early in the Channel's life I later added a group of brown anoles and a house gecko unfortunately I wouldn't have them for very long because I didn't properly seal the tank and all of them managed to escape I'm not proud of it but I was not nearly as skilled then as I am now so what can you expect anyway I was able to address the lid situation before the fire belly toads found the exit I'm honestly surprised they didn't because I had them for a few years prior and despite being clumsy and Goofy they're quite good at climbing while the fbts lived in this tank it was a completely terrestrial environment even so I sprayed it daily to keep the humidity up I say all of this because we generally think of these animals as being semi-aquatic that is true and they do prefer a setup with more of an emphasis on water but I wanted to illustrate that it is possible to keep them in a setup like this successfully in fact they lived in this vivarium for six years before I finally decided to put them in a proper semi-aquatic paludarium now this is a special project not only for the toads but also because it was the first paludarium I ever shared on the channel I really enjoyed the setup it looked great and it functioned really well but it was completely overbuilt that's largely the result of how I set up the water feature I put this small internal filter in a 40 gallon tank to check water flow this seemed like a good solution because of the spillway and I designed the entire setup around this single feature as with other naturalistic setups I wanted a background that's why I attached these XPS foam boards to the glass the next feature to consider was the land area I built a singular formation in the Middle with an egg crate base I covered the sides with window screens so water could pass through and weed blocking fabric on the top to retain the substrate I stuck this to the bottom along with the PVC pipe on the foam for the filter's cord my vision was to have a stream flowing out from the spillway the solution however was very cumbersome I carved pieces of foam and silicone them together to create stairs for the water to flow through then I covered it with pond liner to retain the water itself to make things appear more natural I concealed the front with cocoa fiber liner I also built up expanding foam to create a barrier around the waterfall once it cured I carved it out and continued elsewhere foam seemed like a great option because it made it easy to create a barrier for substrate and soften the boxy edges I used it to create more definition on the background as well then the rigorous process of hiding everything I applied silicone to the back and covered it with cocoa fiber liner once it dried I brushed silicone onto everything else and covered it with cocoa fiber this made everything look more cohesive I went on to embellish it further with faux jungle vines from there I finally filled it up with water and got to work on the waterfall for that I simply stacked up pieces of slate I also built up the land with substrate and cork to create definition plants like moss cryptanthus and anubias really brought things to life I poured gravel and sand into the bottom and let it sit for three months when I Revisited the project to finish it off I added more plants sprinkled in Botanicals added isopods and springtails that meant it was finally ready for the Toads I added all three of them and it was so awesome to finally see them in a setup like this however as I look back I honestly cringed at how I designed the setup as you saw I used an absurd amount of materials but I suppose that learning new and better techniques is all part of the journey what I will say though is that it was awesome to finally see the animals Express a full range of behaviors I had seen them climb hunt bicker amongst each other and beg for my attention countless times before and when I say beg for attention I really mean beg for food however waiting in the Stream breeding behaviors and spending 95 percent of their time in or around water were things I hadn't seen prior to this and once I did honestly I wish I would have done something like this sooner hindsight is always 20 20 though as the tank matured over the following months it looked even better mushrooms sprouted up as well which is generally a good sign of a healthy environment additionally life began taking shape in the water feature various snails popped up amongst the Botanicals and you'll also notice a skull of fish more specifically White Cloud Mountain Minnows and crunk the zebra Daniel that thinks he's a mountain minnow I always heard that you couldn't house fish with fbts because they're poisonous that's why I didn't do it when I first built the tank but as I looked into it more I kept hearing about success stories that made me reconsider cohabitation I got this group of feeder fish to see if it could work and sure enough it did not only that but the Toads didn't really bother with them in fact the fish bred several times over the years and I never had any issues over the following two years the ecosystem did really well and get this it was almost maintenance free in all honesty I only cleaned the filter once and maybe did four water changes over that entire time I believe this hit some of the point that I'm always trying to make about setups that include terrestrial plants being the ideal aquarium these filter water very effectively which greatly spreads out the need for significant maintenance and to be clear that consisted of a quick gravel vac small water change and replenishing the Botanicals as they decompose all of this filtering made the plants grow wacky though so I had to trim them from time to time doing so is actually beneficial it encourages New Growth that increases the efficiency at which the plants clean the water I love this stuff and could go on and on about it but the main takeaway is that the toads thrived in this setup the whole thing was an awesome learning experience and success however as time went on I felt that I could do much better I learned a lot more about enclosure design and from observing the Toads that's exactly see what I set out to do which brings us back to the enclosure I mentioned at the very beginning I didn't like how I addressed filtration in the previous setup at all it just wasn't efficient I think the best solution and what I did in this tank was to drill for bulkheads that makes it possible to keep all the filtration on the outside in this case a canister filter I also hated how I did this dream instead of using foam in a pond liner I simply cut out pieces of glass with these I created an overflow box around the return bulkhead something like this makes water flow more predictable instead of using an excess amount of foam and silicone to create a background I set out to use Stones the only challenge was devising a solution to stick them onto the glass I ended up making an Armature on the back of the enclosure with egg crate I silicone little strips to the glass and zip tied a larger piece to the front this feature turned out really well and made the entire build possible after observing how much time the Toads spend in the water I decided to put more of an emphasis on it rather than just shrink the land I broke it up into three egg crate structures by separating the islands not only does this provide more water but it creates visual barriers in between these barriers are great for the Toads because although social they can get territorial anyway I simplified the design by only putting fabric on the edges and I stuck them to the bottom additionally I place scraps throughout to evenly distribute the weight of the stones so they don't crack the glass although tedious this foundation made it possible to link up 70 pounds of stones the design came together quickly and even more so as I added pieces of spider wood I sparingly foam between elements as well to keep things secure and rather than carve it out I simply pressed down the expanded portions before it fully cured I did my best to hide the island frames conceal the back and attach them in line with the overflow box to create a waterfall of course some foam was still visible though I simply smashed Rock Rubble to create dust I glued this dust into some of the cracks and filled the rest of Magnum Moss simple enough it took a while to complete but this intricate Hardscape is what took the design to the next level I went on to fill the islands completely with the substrate mix that will hold up long-term and water and for my favorite part the plants I included a lot of plants from the previous setup but I tried to focus more on green it can look strange if too many colorful plants are used then I poured sand into the water feature that matches the stones and topped it off of small pieces I didn't test the water flow prior to any of this however I was confident it would look correct once I filled the tank and it did in just two years from the prior build I learned a lot about creating water features anyway I topped everything off with a lot of moss finished off the water feature with Botanicals and added a few more plants that meant it was finally time to introduce the snails fish and toads to their new home I included cherry and Amano shrimp as well and the result was absolutely breathtaking the intricate details texture and water movement turned out better than I could have ever imagined what I did anticipate though is that the animals really enjoyed it the fish swam all about and the Toads had even more areas to explore because of the islands the stones also allowed for easier access into the water including the overflow box and building the area around it also paid off this for lack of better words created a bathtub area where the toads like to spend a lot of time I think they enjoy being high up to view the lay of the land all in all though this is essentially a refined version of the original setup with different attributes that all happened two and a half years ago I haven't shown much of it since then what's occurred afterward and how are the Toads today the setup itself has done really well over the years the plants have grown and filled in the space the fish bright again and the Toads appear happy I heard them calling a good bit in the previous paludarium but even more so since I put them in here silly little sound that always brings a smile to my face not all has been well though the group had been a trio ever since I got them in 2012. however in early 2022 they became a pair unfortunately one of them passed away most likely of old age I had them for over 10 years at that point and nothing changed nor did anything lead up to it I just found him floating in the water one day Belly Up I have no way of knowing how old they actually are because they are full-grown adults when I got them not my current recommendation but I bought them at a big box store and chances are they were wild caught so they were likely already a few years old when I obtained them on a side note going captive Brett is definitely the way to go you'll spend a little more but you'll end up with better animals without impacting the natural populations had I known more about it back then I would have tried for that but captive bred specimens weren't as common then either anyway the point is that there have only been two Toads ever since early 2022 which makes me sad it also makes me wonder how much longer will I have the two remaining ones it's not uncommon for frogs and toads to live for 20 plus years so it could be a while but there's no way to know for sure I should also mention that crunk is not doing well he's been misshapen since the day I got him which is why he was sold as a feeder it's gradually gotten worse over the years and he can hardly move anymore it's pretty sad to see but I don't think there's much I can do about it I think the enclosure itself looks pretty good today though things have really filled in the waterfall is still going strong and the toads are looking good even so I definitely need to trim things and make adjustments you'll also notice that the water feature is vacant other than snails I put everything into other setups when we moved and I haven't had a chance to put them back just yet I'll do that in a moment but I want to adjust the filter first it's definitely done the job but it drives me nuts because every time the power goes out it sounds like this to make things easier I swapped it out with a new filter that I was able to put at the bottom of the stand to its left anyway as I installed the new one I did a 100 water change removed the board from the back and put the old cycled media into this one I filled it back up but before I reintroduce the fish I'll adjust a few things first I went and thinned out the canopy although I like the ground and look I want to be able to see more of the background placed a few additional plants on the islands to replace ones that didn't make it I planted more anubias in the water feature too you'll notice that I need to replenish the Botanicals and I would do that now but I don't have anything that's the correct scale in the meantime I'll get the fish back in [Music] thank you [Music] when I first set out to make this video I honestly underestimated how significant of all these toads have played in my journey as I Steward all of my animals my goal has always been the constant Improvement of my methods and understanding of the animals themselves to provide the best living conditions I possibly can I think these are one of the clearest examples of that in observing them over the course of the past 11 years it's incredible to see how they've opened up to me and the wide range of behaviors they exhibit I think frogs in general are underestimated but fbts in particular display level of interactivity that is uncommon they're very alert to what's going on around them and they're sure to let you know that they're watching there's so many Clips throughout this video where you can see them being attentive to me in hopes to get my attention so that I feed them these frogs are Hardy long-lived beautiful and full of character and no I didn't misspeak there they are technically frogs I just refer to them as toad so that everybody's on the same page I can say with all honesty that these are some of the most rewarding Little Critters I've ever kept the amount of insight I've gained from observing them and by trying my best to provide for them is something that will stay with me for a long time and although I don't know how much longer I'll have them I'll continue doing what I've always done for them foreign

Channel: SerpaDesign

Views: 667,041

Keywords: fire bellied toad, fire belly toad, fire-bellied toad, fire-belly toad, bombina orientalis, paludarium, aqua terrarium, update, frog, toad

Id: H71Zm0hBVNA

Length: 15min 29sec (929 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 18 2023