Strange behavior - Fire Bellied Toads

[panikin]

I have owned fire bellied toads for the better part of my life, and in the past 2 days, I have seen strange behaviors that I have never witnessed before.
About a month ago, I moved with them and their vivarium was remodeled (and remodeled again about2 weeks ago). It is gravel based, with about an inch of dirt, with numerous plants and spots of moss. There is about 3-4 inches of water in 2/3 of the tank. They seemed fine up until this point. They are eating regularly. I have 3 fire bellied toads (one's around 7 years old and the other 2 are 2 or 3 years old).

The larger of these two younger toads appeared like he had something stuck in his mouth and it was really bothering him. I scooped him up and discovered a stringy strand of goop hanging from the side of his mouth. I gently pull on it and he spits it up. It was about 2 inches long and it was this... gooey stringy stuff. After that he seemed fine.

The other young toad seemed quite distressed. He was swimming from one side of the tank to the other, rubbing his body on the gravel, and the glass. I examined him, but could not find anything evidently wrong.

My oldest toad is fine, as is my fire bellied newt that shares this space.
Any ideas to what the problem could be?

Thanks so much for your help

[beckdg]

no idea... got any pics. they might help.

did you introduce anything new when you did the switch overs. if so what and where'd you get it?

[stimpy]

Hmmmm? Sounds like it could be fungal. Do you have a filter in your set-up ? Could be because you took down the tank to move and something happened to the biological balance over the last couple weeks.I also have kept fbt's for years and have never seen anything like that.Hope everyone recovers soon!

[Kyle The Toad]

It sounds to me like shed skin. My fire-bellies have the goopy, stringy stuff that you seem to be describing hanging from their mouths when they shed too. You said that you have had one of them for seven years, I would assume that you would know about them shedding by now, so it might be something different...

[RecycledAgain]

I agree with Kyle, It sounds like a shed to me. Has their behavior settled down yet, back to normal?

Dan

[panikin]

Hi there, after a few months of surveillance, everything is back to normal. It seemed to be a one time thing. I think it must have been them molting and perhaps because of the new environment, it happened a little differently than usual. But everyone is healthy and happy now! The thanks is a little late, I know, but thank you anyways!

[froggsong]

I'm glad everything seems to be ok. After reading your description, I figured it was probably shed as well. Thanks for letting us know everything was ok!