Bearded dragons die from eating toads.
Gary Schooley
Donald L. Blanchard wrote:
> I received the following letter via email, and thought that, if true,
> deserves to be passed on to the herping community. It is the first time I
> have heard of bearded dragons ingesting baby toads (I presume that is what
> they ate; the young man uses frog and toad interchangeably). The symptoms
> described are the same as reported previously for dragons ingesting
> fireflies: convulsions and death within 1 to 2 hours.
>
> Has anyone else heard of a similar experience?
>
> Donald L. Blanchard
> WebMaster: Colorado Herpetological Society
You're right about the interchanging of "frog" and "toad"; that could make all
the difference. As you are probably aware, toads secrete an "irritant" from the
large bumps behind their eyes. This can make a dog foam at the mouth and appear
rabid. It's nasty stuff.
Likewise, I'm sure you are aware of the toxicity of some frogs. Leopard frogs
can kill other herps kept in the same bag just from contact with their skin,
which has a toxic secretion to other herps. That's why leopard frogs must be
kept separate from other herps. The poison arrow frog is one extreme example of
toxic skin, but even a small "squirrel" frog, if you handle it and then touch
your eyes, will cause pain and burning (I learned that the hard way - always
wash hands after handling frogs/toads).
Personally, if it were me and they meant that much, I would have an autopsy
done. If for no other reason but "closure" and understanding. Likewise, I would
be compelled to publish the results for others to learn from and avoid the same
mistakes.
That's my thoughts,
Gary Schooley
Donald L. Blanchard
deserves to be passed on to the herping community. It is the first time I
have heard of bearded dragons ingesting baby toads (I presume that is what
they ate; the young man uses frog and toad interchangeably). The symptoms
described are the same as reported previously for dragons ingesting
fireflies: convulsions and death within 1 to 2 hours.
Has anyone else heard of a similar experience?
Donald L. Blanchard
WebMaster: Colorado Herpetological Society
_______________________________________________________________________
My name is Frank ________ and until last night, I had 2 bearded dragons,
Elliott and AL. I have a question that I desperately need an answer to if
I am to gain closure from the recent death of two of my closest friends.
I have had both dragons for almost 2 years and Elliott, the bigger of the
two dragons, was approx 1.5 feet in length, and AL was about 1 foot in
length. I have always fed them crickets and mealworms, the kind that
Zoo-Med makes, in a can, every two days, lettuce and kale every day, and
water 3 times a week. They seemed to be happy and healthy. I have built
for them their own enclosures for inside my home and one outside my home
for nicer days. Saturday they were both doing just fine. I had them
outside and they both were basking in the wonderful sunshine.
Sunday started out to be the same way. Wonderful weather and lots of sun.
Well I was helping my mom trim some of her roses and I looked down and
there were a couple of little toads near their cages. I did not think
anything of it; I mean I live in NY and frogs are a common thing. Well
needless to say, one frog ventured too close to Al's enclosure and he ate
it. These little frogs were only about the size of a dime {~17 mm], not
very big at all. A couple of the other frogs bolted and jumped into
Elliott's cage. He gobbled one of the unlucky frogs down. I still did not
think anything about it; I mean I have seen them eat crickets that were
about the same size as these frogs.
Well it became cloudy and cooled down a little, so I decided to take the
boys in the house, back to their other homes. An hour later I went down to
check on them and Elliott looked like he was convulsing. He kept "rubbing"
his face on his hot rock and was just a limp as could be. After gasping
for air a few times he finally died. I didn't know what to think.
Needless to say, I was very distraught. Then I noticed AL going through
the same thing. I had to watch my dear friend die, what looked like, a
very painful death. I need to know what happened. Was it the frog they
ate?? I can't help but think this is all my fault. Was there something I
could have done to keep them from dying? I need to know so that I may get
over this. I mean I know they are a bunch of lizards but they were more
than that to me. They were friends as well as family. They have been an
integral part of my life for a while now and I need to know the what and
the why.
I tortured myself all night long and I still have no answers. Today I am
going to bury them both, but a part of me doesn't want to let them go.
This is a very hard thing for me to do.
Any help and/or answers you can provide me would be most appreciated.
Thank you for your time.
Most sincerely,
Frank ________
Mathew Johnston
animal gets a mouthful or an eyeful of the poison, they wont be back for
more. Depending on the toad and the size of the animal consuming it,
toads can easily kill what eats them. Dont let your pets eat toads!
EVER! Frogs are not as big a problem - there are the poison dart frogs
from rain forests and the like but these are not likely to be a problem.
Tis a sad story... both the toads and the dragons are cute - I'd rather
none of them need to die. Hopefully frank will get over it :)
Mathew Johnston
In article <3917664c...@news.pcisys.net>,
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
On Site Computer Services
Well hello, the North American Toad is one of the most toxic amphibians on
earth! They are able to kill medium sized dogs when ingested. Ask your local
vet how many animals they have seen come in sick b/c of chewing on a toad.
Beardies are not toad eaters.....try bugs, small rodents and small birds. That
is there primary diet in the wild, NOT toads....
Just another good example of someone that should not be keeping any type of an
animal.
--Rod Mitchell
web site: http://www.onsyt.com/ e-mail: on...@onsyt.com
web site: http://www.reptilian.com/ e-mail: Sir...@reptilian.com
phone: 309.862.0936
Bill
of an
> animal.
Why are you being so harsh on this guy? It seems clear from his letter that
this was an accident. He didn't intentionally feed toads to the lizards...
they wandered too close. True, I would have quickly moved the dragons, but
he made a mistake. I wonder how many of us would deserve to keep animals if
judged by you... I, for one, would not. Would you?
--Bill Caldecutt
On Site Computer Services
Bill,
Sorry, I did not read the message well enough. My mistake. I instinctively
thought he had fed the toads to the dragons on purpose. Sorry.
There are just too many people that think it is 'cool' to feed there pets
anything that moves just for the thrill of watching something else be devoured.
I guess I assumed too much when I did not read fully.
Again, I apologize for the misunderstanding.
-Rod
Bill
just to watch them eat. That gets boring really fast, and leads to
"stunt-feeding". That often leads to dead pets.
--Bill Caldecutt
Jennifer Sronce
my friends kept a pet rat, and wondered why he got fat and bloated when
he was fed a normal, healthy diet. Found out her roommate was sneaking
in to give him marshmallows because it was "so cute" to watch... I
don't let ANYBODY near my animals unless I trust them.
adamsv...@gmail.com
> I received the following letter via email, and thought that, if true,
> deserves to be passed on to the herping community. It is the first time I
> have heard of bearded dragons ingesting baby toads (I presume that is what
> they ate; the young man uses frog and toad interchangeably). The symptoms
> described are the same as reported previously for dragons ingesting
> fireflies: convulsions and death within 1 to 2 hours.
>
> Has anyone else heard of a similar experience?
>
> Donald L. Blanchard
> WebMaster: Colorado Herpetological Society
