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Today after I finished cleaning the ucky water out of my Chinese Firebelly Toad tank I dropped a couple of mealworms on to the bare, dry tank bottom... He nailed one right off the bat, but the other scuttled away and jammed itself behind a section of silicone that kind of juts out a bit and makes life hard for a hungry toad? Anyway, I waited until I was sure he wanted to eat another worm (it's cold and he's sorta slow.. ) and then I reached in a flicked the worm off the side towards the toads general direction...

Well, I don't know what went through that little toad brain of his at this instant, because up went his little arms and legs, and he rocked his whole upper body back in a perfect "U" like a tiny circus performer in a clown costume!! It was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time, but I'm glad I had read about it beforehand because he stuck like that long enough to make me think he had gotten himself stuck and could no longer move...

Any of you guys ever seen this threat reaction before? I might have to try again to see if I can get some pictures of him doing it- very scary I suppose if you are a predator about to munch on him, but it kind of loses it's effect from my perspective...

it was lifting its legs so you could see its colors, which tells predators its poisinous....

Dont keep provoking it, it will be a source of stress and eventually it will fail to feed. Its a totally normal and well described defensive reaction, triggering it however, is not encouraged, just as you wouldnt encourage a puffer fish to "puff up".