I have an American Toad and when the weather turns cool enough, should I keep him inside or put him out in the garage? If I put him in the garage, in his tank, he will have to hibernate, but inside he doesn't have to. Would it be okay for him to not hibernate? If he has to hibernate, what will I have to do for it to go well?
Hi Barry:
Generally speaking, frogs kept indoors do not need to hibernate. I keep all my frogs indoors. My Woodhouse toads will bury themselves for a while and come up when hungry. Just provide about 4 inches of substrate and let them do whatever they want
Terry Gampper
Nebraska Herpetological Society
“If we can discover the meaning in the trilling of a frog, perhaps we may understand why it is for us not merely noise but a song of poetry and emotion.”
--- Adrian Forsyth
If your frog is wild caught sometimes it will go into brumation mode whether you drop temperatures or not. If your toad starts refusing food this fall/winter you shuold go ahead and cool it down to slow its metabolism to prevent it from starving. It will likely resume feeding in the spring if this is the case.
If you do hibernate your toad just provide it with plenty of substrate to burrow in and keep a fresh bowl of water available to it at all times. They WILL and NEED to drink even during brumation. Don't let the substrate be bone dry, but don't let it be sopping wet either. Just slightly moist. Your toad will burry itself and likely not move or come out a whole lot until spring has arrived.
If you keep your toad indoors and it continues to feed throughout winter, then no worries
I oftern hibernate my animals just because it gives me a bit of a break from cleaning tanks and stuff all winter. I can take my time replanting their tanks and then in the spring when they are ready to return to their tanks they are nice and clean, freshly planted, and just waiting for some frogs to poop all over it! XD
I was about to ask a very similar question about my toads. The weather here has been getting cold. My female toad acts normal. However my male has been burrowed for the past couple of weeks. I think he's trying to brumate. Even though I know all the frogs and toads outside have buried themselves because of the cold. Should I put my male in a cooler place and let him brumate? What temp should I keep him at while burmating?
If your toad is healthy there should be no reason why brumation would be harmful to his health, that being said, if he's refusing food & being inactive for more than a month it may be a good idea to just go ahead and cool him down for a couple months. 43-47F is what I aim for when brumating my animals. Remember to always have clean water available for him to drink! Amphibians and reptiles need to drink during brumation or they will surely die.
Thanks for the quick answer. I'll keep an eye on him. I brumate my snakes at 50f. But I've never cooled my frogs or toads before.
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