Well looked what just hopped into my mother's kitchen.

[Verneph]

I found this little guy in my mother's kitchen. I didn't want to put him back outside as it's quite cold, so I've out him in an empty terrarium for now. I have no idea how to look after toads, so any care advice would be appreciated. What do they eat? How much moisture do they need? Anything like that.

A species name would help too. I live in central PA if that'll narrow it down at all.

Edit: I just noticed I wrote 'looked' instead of 'look' in the title. In other news, I am an idiot.

 

[cnapple]

It's a pretty dark picture, hard to see the markings. My guess would be eastern american toad. Bufo americanus americanus, or Anaxyrus americanus as I believe it was recently reclassified. You can keep it on moist but not wet substrate with some leaf matter and a water dish. Just feed it bugs. Whatever you feed your Ts would be just fine, since bugs are about to get pretty rare in PA.

 

[Shrike]

Toads are fun captives. I kept a Fowler's toad (Anaxyrus fowleri) for many years in a setup similar to the one described above. Some form of hide, maybe a small piece of cork bark, might not be a bad idea. I fed my toad a variety of prey items, including earthworms, isopods, crickets, spiders, and roaches. They aren't picky. I would also recommend occasionally dusting your feeder insects with a vitamin/mineral supplement to avoid nutritional deficiencies. Lastly, amphibians can be sensitive to the chlorine in tap water. This problem is easily solved with aquarium tap water conditioner.

On a different note, does anybody know why the genus was renamed? I miss Bufo...

 

[cnapple]

On a different note, does anybody know why the genus was renamed? I miss Bufo...

Because systematists like to keep the rest of us confused about taxonomy so they can feel superior? LOL From what I understand, they performed a parsimonious analysis of the existing taxa based on DNA markers found in a previous study. All I know is within 2 years of learning all the taxonomy in herpetology half the genera had been reclassified!:fury: Her's a link to the abstract of the paper reclassifying a whole bunch of amphibian taxa.
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0090%282006%29297%5B0001:TATOL%5D2.0.CO;2

 

[Shrike]

Thanks for the link!

 

[Verneph]

Just a little update: I let the little guy go. I was paranoid that I would not be able to take care of him (he eats a lot more than my spiders, let me tell you). It was warm and misty out last night, so I figured it was the best possible time to release him. Thanks to everyone for the advice.

 

[Shrike]

That's a decision I can respect. As a personal preference, I generally don't collect from the wild. If you get the chance to keep a toad in the future, they're easy, entertaining captives.

 

[catfishrod69]

thats cool...the other night i was getting ready to go to bed, and walked into the kitchen to take out my contacts and almost stepped on a 5' black snake.....it took a while to finally catch her and get her outside...i think it was like midnight when i got her out, and i had to be up at 5 to go to work...never happens at the right time...poor girl had a little shed left over her eyes so she was scared cause she couldnt see well...luckily it was really wet and raining out, im sure that helped her...hope she got a mouse or two while she was in and around the house...

 

[SandDeku]

I'm too lazy to read the above responses.... But all I can input on this is: 24inch longx 12inch widex 12inch tall terrarium. A tight lid(they can escape trust me on that). Atleast 3inches deep of dirt. Make sure the dirt is loose, moist-but not dripping wet. A water dish(with dechlorinated water). Some hide outs, A low watt heat bulb to keep the tank at atleast 72-75degrees(if your room gets cold). Feeding them should be with a mix of things. Crickets, earthworms, and roaches. Feed 12crickets weekly followed by 5roaches, and 5worms. Or 24crickets, and 2worms, and 3roaches(to vary). Crickets are less meaty that's why. But it depends on the toad to be honest. Feed that ammount weekly. But spread it out. You know? If its 24crickets, You feed 5-6crickets every other day or 12crickets on one day and 12 crickets another day(2-3day periods).

Dust the crickets with calcium and vitamin powders every other week for adults.

Try to not put any light on the terrarium. They're not too fond of bright lights. If you must use something that's not super bright and put more covers to disperse the lights.

 

[Tarantula_Tamer]

Eat it! The paratoid glad secretes candy!

 

[Tarantel]

I have a toad (I think it is a Bufo americanus but I'm not sure.) Shrike, I think Bufo is still a genus and Anaxyrus is just a subgenus but again I could be wrong I got this info from Wikipedia after all.

 

[ImDeadly]

::While I do not keep/collect amphibians, I do have a serious soft spot for them and I never take them from the wild or the kitchen for that matter due to their decreasing numbers in many states due to insensitive human endeavors. Just my 2 cents.