American Toad

[Double J]

In vivaria with poison dart frogs... and other small amphibians...... if you have it set-up properly..... you never need to remove the substrate or tear down the set-up. The philosophy is that as long as you have water moving into the system and out of the system on a regular basis, the tank never needs to be taken apart. However... this will not work for just any herp... which is why small amphibians are so well suited for complex vivaria. first.... they are small.. and do not damage things like delicate plants the way a snake or lizard would. Also.... the amount of fecal matter they put out is very small, especially relative to the size of their enclosure. And finally... .due to their small size.... a 20 gallon tank will serve the purpose quite well for a trio of Dendrobatids, so long as there are plenty of live plants, and a suitable substrate and drainage regimen. It would be like having say.... three iguanas in an enclosure that is 60 feet by 40 feet by 50 feet tall... that is continously being flushed out by HEAVY rains or some sort of pressure washer. That said.... that is precisely why larger animals like most lizards and snakes need to be kept in tanks that need to be taken down and cleaned on a regular basis.
And this is, of course, is due the the much smaller ratio of tank volume or square footage to the size of the animal and the amounts of waste they produce. The american toad and the tank in question will work fine, so long as the water is drained and changed on a regular basis... and the substrate should be changed every month. The water flushing and filtration should keep things in check.... so long as it is done on a weekly basis. In my opinion, you don't need a ton of space to pull this off... you just need the right approach.
This is precisely why I keep mostly small amphibians rather than larger lizards and snakes. My amphibian tanks.. though fairly complex.. are far less work than my rubbermaid snake enclosures. With small amphibians, I can set-up a tank that is both extremely visually appealing, and exceeds the needs of the animals. Sure.... a rubbemaid with paper towel works fine for many things..... but in my opinion, keeping animals that are well suited to naturalistic vivaria is much more appealing to me.... and I believe this will be the future of herpetoculture.
Double J

[anders_240sx]

I have to say I agree with Double J... you certainly know your stuff.... I personally have a few nice amphibian enclosures ...if I knew how to post pics I would ... but nevertheless ... Marisa... Toads are diggers ... they need plently of digging space ... they are also land amphibians ... they only live near water for breeding ...otherwise are typically in forested areas ... I would suggest either scrapping the tank setup ... or setting up something different for the toad and putting in a couple fire bellies and some fish in there

best of luck
Anders

[CONCEPT03]

the olny reason i suggested putting in a divider is because the water under the gravel will keep the substrate wet all the time, thus causing mold and it is a pain to clean the gravel, because if the gravel is sitting in water it will get dirty as the water does. I currently have 5 tree frogs, two packmans, an american bull frog and two fire belly toads all of which thrive in soil

[geckoguy157]

eco earth does mold i saw it happen in my friends poison dart frog cage even if it does its not like its expensive to replace

[bubba]

My American toad does well on paper towels. I've had him 5+ years. I change his water everyday and he has a place to hide. He also eats well. Admittedly, his tank is not pretty but it is easy to maintain. I tried soil once but it was just too messy.