Eating toads?

[Running Elk]

Has anyone ever witnessed box turtles eating toads? I had some toads in my box turtle enclosure, and it was never an issue. Now I'm finding toad corpses, mostly eaten, in my enclosure. I found just a head last week, and today I found a mostly eaten body in the 'pond'. Both were medium sized Fowler's toads. I also witnessed my Gulf chasing and biting at a toad that I removed, same type and size. My turtles eat a lot and I feed them a lot. They leave food in their dish every day -- I don't think they're going hungry. They get supplements in their food, which consists of worms, crickets, heart and liver, sometimes muscle meat, squash, kale, peaches, strawberries, various veggies, and various other berries -- just stuff on most turtle-safe food lists I find. It's like 60% protein, 40% veggies, and 10% fruits. And they always have kale to eat alongside that. Why are they hunting toads? I can't really find anything about them preying on toads online -- all I found was an observation about Easterns and American toads eating faster when in the company of the other. I really like toads, and I really wish they weren't hunting them. :/

 

[CharlieM]

Hoping others answer you on this. We have those huge nasty Bufo or cane toads everywhere here. They are toxic to almost everything.

 

[Running Elk]

I love all of the Bufos. I hate to see them get eaten. I am 99.9% sure that these Bufo fowleri are not a threat, but I feel bad for them. Especially because I promoted them being there before this.

 

[EricIvins]

They are hunting because that is what they do. The captive diet you provide pales in comparison to what is available in the outdoors and the animals know that. Toads, Frogs, and other Amphibians are a huge part of that...

 

[CharlieM]

Eric, can they eat those Bufo toads?

 

[Running Elk]

So they *DO* actually eat them regularly? That was my question. I haven't found much literature telling me if this was regular or not -- only things telling me they would consume dead toads and one piece of literature stating that American toads and EBTs both eat faster when housed together (if you're curious about that I can find the article). So that's why I was just asking.

Is it an issue for them to be eating toads?

There are also bullfrogs around here. What about them? And pickerel frogs? Their toxins kill other frogs, what about turtles?

 

[thea lester]

Been wondering all this myself. Im sure my boxies eat frogs cuz they definitely eat skinks