American Toad

[Galapoheros]

You might not be able to where you are, but I catch rain water and use that for everything; plants, aquarium, misting, and water for all the animal things. Really what I do is collect water off the roof into a container and a hose from that goes to an old septic tank I found in my yard from the 1970s(don't worry, it was dry and empty). It's full of water now with minnows and a siren in there, then I put a pump in the bottom so I can fill up containers. Anyway, if you collect rainwater and are afraid of mosquito larvae getting in there, you can use minnows(I get them from a local creek) or you can use "mosquito dunks", which is organic, only a bacteria that attack mosquito larvae, not fish or your inverts, I use both. I don't worry about feeding toads wild caught things either, I feel people have gotten too worried about that kind of thing but for the extremely careful people, might make them feel better I guess.

 

[Anonymity82]

I could probably set up a rain barrel but that would probably be a pain in the but, plus, I'm not sure how to filter etc... It's fine, one bottle a week for toad and arachnids is great. I don't have any plants but I definitely would like to eventually start having some indoor plants for air quality plus some garden veggies.

Sounds like you have a nice set up! Got any pictures?

As for the wild caught foods, well, he's wild caught and free. I can understand not wanting to take the risk with something CB, not native and expensive.

 

[3skulls]

I catch all my isopods, slugs, snails and worms.
I would like to do a rain barrel one day. Sounds like a great idea.

Glad you kept him. Toads are very fun

 

[Anonymity82]

I catch all my isopods, slugs, snails and worms.
I would like to do a rain barrel one day. Sounds like a great idea.

Glad you kept him. Toads are very fun

Thanks!

He's really cool. I need to find him something bigger. He's always trying to escape! He has a couple of hides but he doesn't seem happy. He's eating though! The cup seems like a decent size for him because he's so small! We'll see what happens.

 

[Anonymity82]

I have another question, not sure if anyone will know this. Can I release the toad in a few months (when it's still warm, not in the winter and I'll do it at night) or will he become to dependent on me to live in the wild?

 

[MatthewM1]

He won't become dependant on you he will be able to hunt and survive. But I wouldn't release him if he seemed to be anything but healthy

Sent from my LG-P930 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Anonymity82]

Well, he's been fun but I think it's time I release him. He just doesn't seem happy and hasn't settled in. It's fun watching him eat but he's always trying to escape. I'll definitely attempt to catch or find someone who breeds these toads again in the future when I have more room and possibly a roach colony. Crickets are a pain. Not so bad when I only have to feed 26 arachnids once a week but adding in 3 a day to the frog is a pain! I definitely think I will try out something like 3skulls has going on. Maybe I'll keep it a toad only tank but still I like the idea of live plants and isopods doing all the cleaning up!

 

[3skulls]

Crickets are a pain.

Keep us updated if and when you get back around to keeping toads

 

[Anonymity82]

Will do! Every time I look at this guy I want to keep him lol. He's too cute and eats well. Spends a lot of time just chilling in one corner on the bark. Has burrowed numerous times too. If I could feed him larger cricket it would be less of a problem but since everything has to be so tiny for him to eat it's a pain in the rear.

I reread this and it is contradictory to my statements about him always trying to escape. I guess he doesn't ALWAYS try to escape. I even got him to eat two crickets out of my tongs tonight. I'm thinking I might be able to get him to eat larger crickets if I just cut them up a bit or other inverts too.

 

[Anonymity82]

It's hard to bring myself to release him when I see things like this https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...27010011.48097.131619876967970&type=1&theater

When he gets a nice fat cricket he buries himself haha. I was all ready to take him back down to the pond but I just can't bring myself to do it knowing that his chances for survival are low and his chances for being safe and fat if I keep him are pretty high.

 

[Tarantula155]

Oh lord. I have a private pond in my backyard, it is INFESTED with american toad tadpoles. They are everywhere! I am excited when they metamorphosis and turn into little toadlets.

 

[Introvertebrate]

That's payback for sending us your Canadian Geese. :wink:

 

[Tarantula155]

That's payback for sending us your Canadian Geese. :wink:

There is a pair of geese that have 4 goslings that go to my pond everyday. They oop: all over, it annoys me. I am currently trying to scare them away. They have slowed down thankfully. They come a little in the morning then they are gone. Trust me, I don't like Canadian geese either. I have one duck that practically lives in my pond, he is pretty spoiled. The duck has an entire massive pond that is the size of a lake. All to himself.

 

[Anonymity82]

Sweet^^^^

Lucky duck!

Well, something awesome happened today that caused me to release the toad. I'm actually going to post another thread about it so I don't feel like explaining it all here. Basically, I finally made the decision because I'm not going to have enough room for everybody.

Oh, and thanks everyone for the help!

 

[Introvertebrate]

I found these 2 guys in the woods today. Can I assume they are American toads? Are they a couple? If so, the male and female look very different.

 

[Smokehound714]

Just get yourself a peregrine falcon those ducks'll be gone. haha

 

[The Snark]

Get a baby king corba. The tadpoles and toads will be gone too.

 

[Introvertebrate]

They must be a couple. Two weeks later, and they're still hanging out in the same place. The fellow in the first picture was on his own.

 

[bugmankeith]

I disagree with a few things that have been said here.

Keeping amphibians communally (different species) can be a risky business. Most, if not all amphibians carry symbiotic/mutualistic/commensalistic bacteria on/in their skin, and putting different species to together can sometimes cause trouble, because of all the different species "skins" being in relatively close contact. There is not as much risk if the species are all native to your area, but it is still risky; they may share habitat, but that means that they distance themselves from one another (mainly to reduce competition for food/resources), not that they are in close contact.

Also, keeping toads with any other kind of amphibians is asking for trouble. Toads, as I'm sure everyone here knows, have toxic skin secretions. If that leopard frog or the salamanders are exposed to the toad's toxins, they will die. I know that toads actually have to secrete the toxins (the toxins aren't on their skin all the time), but it wouldn't take much. Just a little bit in the water dish if something startles it, or a small amount on the soil, and any other amphibians in the same tank who come into contact with it could perish. It's kind of like driving without a seatbelt or riding a motorcycle without protective clothing; the chances of getting into an accident aren't that high, but if/when it happens, you're screwed.

Finally, about water conditioner and amphibians...I live near Portland, Oregon. The tap water here has been rated as some of the best in the country, mainly because as a state we do an excellent job of keeping our water clean. I do not need to use much water conditioner for my frogs at all, and I bet I could use straight tap water in an emergency.

The same cannot be said about other parts of the US, though. If you want to keep amphibians, but you aren't sure about your water quality, you can have your tap water tested, or you could just call whoever is responsible for managing your city's water and ask about what they put in it. Granted, if I lived in almost any of the big cities near the east coast, I would be much more concerned about using tap water, and I would try to use good water conditioner, or maybe even just skip the water conditioner altogether and use well water or bottled spring water.

I agree I wouldn't mix species! Some may prey on the other and toxicity risks. In the wild the toad could prey on everything.