Fire bellied toads

Question
QUESTION: Hi Thea, I have two Fire Bellied Toads, I have a boy and a girl. Just the other day the girl kept doing some thing that looked like yawning, and than that night the girl and the guy kept like talking to each other, ands than the boy from was grabbing the girls legs and wouldnt let go. I don't know if the is a sign of them mating, and plus the girl has been looking a little fatter through the past week
-Cass

ANSWER: Hi Cass, I have noticed my frogs go through this yawning process for two reasons. One, when they are just waking up in the evening (my species are nocturnal) and are taking in extra oxygen as part of their waking up process. The second is when they are entering a shedding process and appear to be trying to stretch or loosen the old skin.
You mentioned that they were talking to each other. Are both your frogs actually calling? because that would suggest that you have two males. Male fire bellieds that are overly eager to breed will sometimes mount another male or other small objects in the tank. The other males are usually not too happy about it and will struggle away quite quickly! If your "female" does not do this and seems more receptive then that would support the male/ female theory.
The male will grab the female just around the waist in front of the back legs. They like to lay their eggs in water areas with aquatic plants present.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi it's Cass again, we went on the internet and it said the boy frogs have smaller spots and the females had bigger spots. So for sure we know that they are female and male, and another thing is the when the male grabs the females waist (are the mating?) Our frogs started mating right when we got them which was around May 2nd, so if the femaale was going to lay eggs when would she?

Answer
Hi Cass, As far as I have ever read Fire bellieds can not be sexed by appearance except for the development of nuptual pads on the inside of the "thumbs" of the male. These are sligtly darkened rough spots to help him hold onto the the females during mating. A number of frog species develop them during mating season. It may be that the female belonging to the people that wrote the article you saw happened to have larger spots and they assumed that was true of all females!

The important thing now is that your male thinks the other one is a female. Mating season starts around mid-May  when the weather starts to warm up slightly and the spring rains come. You can trigger more breeding behaviour by misting the cage to simulate rain. You asked whether your frogs are "mating" when the male grabs the female. I should make sure that you are aware that your frogs (like most frogs) practice external fertilization. When your male mounts your female he is hoping to trigger her to expel her eggs (if she has any) into the water at which point he will cover them with his sperm. The fertilization of the eggs takes place outside the female's body rather then inside as with mammals and birds.


This is my favourite site about keeping and breeding fire bellieds.   

http://www.amphibian.co.uk/bombina.html