The Smooth Sided toad (Rhaebo guttatus) is a large species of toad found Amazonian Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela, as well as the Guyanas. Females are the biggest quoted as growing to around 25cm. It’s natural habit is tropical lowland forests, living in the leaf litter and debris on the forest floor. They have a relatively potent toxin that they release from the paratoid glands behind their eyes. Generally speaking this poses no threat to humans, but if ingested can cause health complications.
In captivity this species needs a large vivarium as they are relatively active and have been known to inflict wounds by bouncing against the side of enclosures. We suggest a vivarium of around a metre in length, and again to avoid injury a minimum height of around 45cm. Use a substrate mimicking their wild habitat such as Zoo med Forest Floor and Coir, perhaps mixed. A shallow water bowl for bathing and some hides should be
provided.
Daytime temperatures of around 26C are ideal, dropping to around 22C at night – please use an overhead heater. Choices include a ceramic heater or an incandescent bulb heater – our choice would be a ceramic heater as it gives off no visible light, and thus can be used at night. Lighting is a debatable topic, if the keeper believes lighting is required we would recommend one of the lower output T5 UVB tubes, maybe the Arcadia ShadeDweller.
Daily maintenance would include a light spraying of the vivarium with tepid water and spot cleaning. Feeding should be every other day and should include a good mix of commercially available insect livefood such as crickets, locusts, earthworms, cockroaches, waxworms, Pachnoda grubs etc. Always use a good quality reptile and amphibian multi-vitamin and mineral supplement.