From 1999 to 2003 I kept 4 bufo speciosus and 2002 they spawned. In winter 2002 the first toads died. In summer 2003 I had lost all Bufo speciosus. They were killed by Dermosporidium, the young and also the adults.

My Texas Toads (1 male, 3 females) lived in a terrarium measuring 120x50x60cm. The terrarium was furnished with cocos substrate, some stones, cork bark, a living plant on a corner shelf and a water bowl. Usually I kept the substrate very dry, only certain areas wet and I changed bathing water as soon as it became soiled. I mostly used some day old tap water.

There was no futher heating included. I kept the toads at normal room temperature of approx. 20°C (autumn night temperatures around 15°C, summer day temperatures up to 30°C).

I fed my toads 1-2 times a week, mainly crickets, sometimes also wax moth caterpillars and flys -
all dusted with vitamin-calcium supplement for amphibians "Amivit-A". For to make sure that all toads take their food I waked up the sleeping ones and also gave everybody a little shower.



Breeding Report:

From 25. December 2001 – 4. March 2002 I gave my toads a winter dormancy at 8-12°C in the permanently dark cellar. The 4 toads rested in a plasic box 40x25x30 cm with humid cocos substrate and a small water bowl. I checked the boxes regulary and a several times had to moisten the substrate again. The toads did not sleep all the time.

A temperature of 7-8°C might have been better.

On 4. March 2002 I moved the toads back to their terrarium. They did not seem to have lost any weight.

The 3rd day after dormancy I started feeding again and increased frequency to daily feeding (but only smaller amounts of insects per day to be sure not to feed too much).

I started daily spraying. The substrate sometimes got very wet and had to be changed every 14 days the latest. Additionally I rearranged position of cork ans stones to provide variety. As a result the toads did not burry themselves anymore and mostly remained active.
On the 7th day after dormancy the male showed his vocal sac the first time that year.
On the 19th and 20st day after dormancy he uttered one short single call at night (similar to a belch).

On the 26th day the male already had light beige colored nuptial pads on his thumbs.
After removing all furnishings and substrate from the terrarium I filled in water as high as the toads shoulders. The toads were very nervous and therefore the next day I pulled out the water and furnished the terrarium as before.

On the 39th day the male's thumbs and now also forefingers had beige colored nuptial pads.

On the 42nd day the male uttered some short calls at night again (belches).
On the 43rd day I repeated the trial with the flooded terrarium - again without success - and the next day again pulled out water and returned to the conditions as before.

On the 45th day the male called remarkably often at night (belches), on the 46th day even a several times at mid day.

On the 47th day I removed again all furnishings and substrate from the terrarium and filled in water at shoulder high water level. But this time I additionally installed a pump for permanent rain, a small island and heated the water to 25°C with a fish tank heater.

I had not finished when the male already started amplexing one of the females. That night was the first time I heared him really calling and his volume was remarkable! The females were less nervous than during the trials before. I stopped feeding during for the. day the toads lived in the terrarium furnished that way.

On the 48th day the male called throughout the whole day and was so exited that nearly nothing could stop him calling. He always called in a sitting position. As soon as he managed to catch a female he stopped calling. But as the females did not let him amplexing for more than some minutes he called very much. I exchanged some water.

On the 49th day I added a several plastic water plants to the terrarium, again exchanged some water and rose water level by 3 cm. The male started calling and amplexing only in the late evening.

On the 51st day the male stopped calling and amplexing. On the 52nd day the toads seemed to be exhausted and the male's nuptial pads had turned very pale. I rebuilt the setup again and as before fed daily in the humid terrarium.

Now I placed 3 additional powerful 18 W lighting tubes on the terrarium (2x PowerGlo, 1x SunGlo) and turned these off only very late at night. As a side effect the side of the terrarium where the electric device of the lighting tubes was placed got warmed up. The toads preferred to rest at this place with warmed up bottom.

On the 60th day I repeated my trial under the conditions I used the last time (permanent rain, fish tank heater, plastic plants, small island) and went on with additional lighting by the 3 lighting tubes. As the toads meanwhile had some experience with swimming and diving, this time I flooded the terrarium with a water level 3 cm higher than the toads shoulders. In the evening the male started amplexing but I did not hear any calling. His nuptial pads had a smoother surface than the other skin on his fingers but the colour was such pale that I had not much hope for success anymore.
In the late evening outside weather changed to heavy extremely longlasting rain. It rained the whole night and the whole next day.

On the 61st day the male called at 07:00 'o clock in the morning.
At 09:30 'o clock I saw the pair in amplexus resting on the island.

At 13:00 o' clock I observed the pair in the water and recognized wave-like movements in the females belly. From 16-19:00 the pair spawned finally.

The pair was diving below the plastic plants and wound the egg strings around the plastic plants or spawned directly to the ground. The eggs had a completely round center with a diameter of only approx. 1 mm. The amount of spawn was a several meters of egg string with approx. 10 eggs per cm egg string. I moved the spawn to a several well aerated identic temperatured (25°C) fish tanksthe same evening.

After spawning the male started calling again for some hours but he obviously was exhausted.

The next day I pulled out water of the terrarium and kept the toads in the humid terrarium again. As the female was very thin after spawning I went on feeding the toads daily. But within the following weeks I let the substrate dry out and added more substrate, cork, stones and their water bowl and I removed the additional lighting tubes.

Even 3 weeks later the male seemed to be likely to breed again (He permanently kept his vocal sac pulled out but he did not call)