The Fire | 台北市立動物園資訊網

2015年3月27日—Cricketsarereadilyavailableandcanformthebulkofthediet.Offertwotosixcricketspertoadonceortwiceaweek.Althoughhungrytoadscan ...

Some hobbyists have a tendency to look down upon fire-bellied toads. They’re for beginners, they say, a cheap alternative to more exotic species such as dart frogs and tree frogs with price tags several times that of an ordinary Bombina orientalis. Its overly familiar presence gives the species a sense of being commonplace, a dull and everyday amphibian, uninteresting but for novice keepers. Indeed, fire-bellied toads fall second only to African dwarf aquatic frogs (Hymenochirus curtipes) as the most heavily traded pet amphibian in North America, with hundreds of thousands bought and sold each year in the United States. 

At one point I shared this mindset. Then, after many years of maintaining a large and diverse collection of animals, I scaled down, cutting back to just a few terrariums. Among them was a 10-gallon tank to which I added a group of fire-bellied toads, renewing the joy that came with...