Toads will eat anything that can fit inside their mouths, even when they sometimes shouldn’t. As carnivores, toads eat all kinds of bugs and occasionally small animals like baby birds or tiny mice.
Their diet depends mainly on their size because, as they grow, their moths and stomachs also expand. Do toads eat worms?
Toads will consume anything that can fit inside their mouth including earthworms, mealworms, superworms, bloodworms, hornworms and waxworms. Worms make easy targets for toads to eat since they don’t have biting teeth, pincers, claws, or poison stings. Most worms have no defense mechanisms except to burrow into the ground to avoid toads from eating them.
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What Kind Of Worms Do Toads Eat
Toads will eat any worm they can find. As indiscriminate eaters, toads will quite literally grab up anything they think is a bug if it will fit in their mouth.
Plus, worms make easy targets since they don’t have biting teeth, pincers, claws, or poison stings. Most worms have no defense mechanisms at all except to burrow into the ground to avoid predators.
Better still, worms don’t sleep on the usual day and night schedule.
According to Science Daily, “Instead, their sleep-like behavior occurs at specific stages during development; the worms enter this state each time they transition from one larval stage to another. They also sleep for several hours after a stressful event, including extremely hot or cold conditions or exposure to toxins.”
So, for a hungry toad, a worm is often a lively, risk-free delicacy compared to other bugs.
Do Toads Eat Garden Worms
Garden worms are not a worm species but an umbrella term for any worm found in a garden. The most common worms in home gardens are typically earthworms, and toads will certainly eat them.
However, getting the toads to come to your garden in the first place may take a little work.
An abundance of food like worms in your garden is a good start, but toads require more. As a terrestrial species, toads don’t need to be in the water, but they do need protection from predators, and they’ll want nearby water for laying their eggs.
Set up leafy plants that can create a moist, cool area for the toads to hide beneath.
Do Toads Eat Mealworms
Toads are happy to eat mealworms. More importantly, mealworms are often a plentiful resource and readily available in pet stores.
Ensure that you buy live mealworms as your toad prefers moving prey and avoid trying to catch your own pet food.
Wild-caught insects can have parasites or even become contaminated through contact with plants. Pesticides aren’t good for bugs and could make your toad ill as well.
Do Toads Eat Earthworms
There are more than one species of earthworm, though your toad doesn’t care. Toads will eat whatever earthworms they find if they are hungry.
The two most common earthworm species in North America are the red earthworm (Lumbricus rubellus) and the nightcrawler, which is a popular fishing lure.
Intriguingly, neither of these earthworms are indigenous species. During colonial times, having indoor plants was a sign of affluence, especially if those plants came from Europe.
Both nightcrawlers and red earthworms came to the USA inside the soil in potted plants, but toads here have been eating them ever since.
Do Toads Eat Wax Worms
Your pet toad will eat wax worms. In fact, this species is one of the most frequently recommended options for pet toads. Other good options include mealworms, crickets, and super worms.
Juvenile toads usually eat daily. Depending on their size, you may need to select smaller worms, and you can expect these young frogs to be more active in feeding than their grown counterparts, who have a more extensive, slower metabolism.
Adult toads need around five to six wax worms every other day.
Do Toads Eat Dead Worms
Toads can eat dead worms. In nature, a toad will snap up anything that even looks like food, so a deceased worm that moved in the breeze could be on the menu. However, these carnivores prefer live prey.
Once the food dies, it begins to rot. Unfortunately, as non-picky as toads are, they aren’t well adjusted to carrion-eating.
Old and dead meat can pose a significant problem for a wild toad, and their tamer indoor counterparts need the excitement of seeing the worms move around.
Do Toads Eat Bloodworms
A toad is happy to eat blood worms. However, many pet stores sell frozen bloodworms, making for a problematic meal that your pet may ignore.
When the worms aren’t moving, it doesn’t trigger the part of your toad’s brain that tells it to hunt and eat.
If you must feed a toad frozen bloodworm, please thaw them out. You can then use long tweezers to offer the worms to your toad.
Wriggling the worms around might cause your toad to accept the dead bugs.
Helpful Tips To Know If Toads Eat Worms
Not only will toads eat worms, but they are one of the top recommendations from people who care for toads professionally. Worms are safe, easy to get, and plentiful, which means they are ideal for pet toads.
Here are a few more helpful tips to know if toads eat worms.
- If you are raising toads at home, it is important to ensure their food supply is clean and safe. Choose feeder insects from your local pet store or raise your own worms rather than giving your pet potentially contaminated wild-caught bugs.
- Most worms are a perfectly safe food source for toads. However, the Hammerhead Worm, an invasive species that can kill off earthworms. Alarmingly, according to Thought Co, “The hammerhead worm is one of only a very few terrestrial invertebrates known to produce the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin.” Hammerheads are not dangerous to humans, though your toad might not survive the encounter. Fortunately, pet stores don’t sell these harmful worms, and they are easily identified by their fan-shaped heads.
- Raising worms to feed your pet toad is easier than you think. All you’ll need are some trays, worms, shredded paper, potting soil, and a little water. Alternatively, you could raise them in a compost bin if you have a garden. Either way, it’s essential to understand that it takes between 10 and 55 weeks, depending on species, for baby worms to mature.
- Lungworms have been known to infect cane toads. Fortunately, it’s unlikely you’ll ever need to worry about this species of worm or toad. Cane toads are an invasive species and are not usually kept as pets because they are poisonous. Plus, the lungworm isn’t an option you’ll find in your local pet food section of the grocery store. These parasitic worms can threaten the health of toads and other household pets like dogs.
Final Thoughts
Toads will happily eat worms, though you should offer them some variety in the insects you feed them at home and occasionally add crickets or other feeder insects.
Most toads are nocturnal because it helps protect their damp skin from drying out in the days’ heat and gives them an advantage.
There are nocturnal insects, but many are diurnal, and a sleeping bug is an accessible prey item. Worms don’t sleep on the day/night schedule, and they have little to no defense mechanisms, making them great low-risk food for a hungry toad.
