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Thread: Female American Toad - amputated leg

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    Default Female American Toad - amputated leg

    This past Sunday morning, my husband was doing a quick mowing of the lawn & somehow this sweet female (I believe) American Toad got within the blade & she has a clean cut/amputation to her back left leg. I'd say above the knee. Maybe 1/2 of the thigh is left. It' so sad!!! My children & I got her into a plastic portable cage, put neosporin on her leg, and put her on some damp paper towels with a couple water dishes - covered her & left her alone for the day, undisturbed. That evening we purchased some small crickets for her. That night she ate all 5 we gave her. Monday morning she ate 6 more. Plus one flying bug we found in the house (& gave her) + about a dozen Rollie Pollies. This morning I just gave her 6 more crickets & in 10 min. she's already eaten 4. I've been repeating the neosporin twice daily & keeping her in a quiet, darkened place away from the kids/noise.

    This morning her wound looked purplish with a white streak kind of running through the purplish tissue. I am most concerned about infection at this point - we're coming up on 48-hrs since injury now. She has already adapted a bit to moving around, I actually saw her kind of hop around last night. I know her digestion is good bc she had a very large bowel movement yesterday afternoon & her appetite seems good.

    So, I guess I have a couple questions since I'm very new to anything regarding toads/frogs… let alone injured ones!

    1) Does anyone know how long it will take for the tissue to heal? Or if it will completely heal?
    2) Can she be rehabbed & let go again? If so, at what point would she be ready? (I worry that we back up to the woods & we often get snakes in the yard + a lot of predator birds/animals - although we do have a very large toad/frog population around the house(?))
    3) If she can't be released back into the wild, do you suggest her having a friend? I'm all for creating a frog habitat for her & keeping her. Although, I also wouldn't mind rehoming her to someone who could provide her with better care & maybe some friends (do they need friends? Of course this is if she's even able to get past this injury! )

    Thank you so much in advance for any help/advice!!!!

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    100+ Post Member Cliygh and Mia 2's Avatar
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    Default Re: Female American Toad - amputated leg

    What you're doing so far sounds pretty good, but in order for her to survive, she has to be taken to a vet. There are many exotic vets, and you can try to find some in your area. If you can't find one, these lists may be helpful, as even if they can't find you one, they are in contact with vets who may be able to help: http://www.herpvetconnection.com/ http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Reptile-Vets/ http://www.anapsid.org/vets/. Here are a few care-sheets on American toads: http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Frog...ding-And-Care/ http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatre.../#.VzHrmpXmrIU http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/natu...-fowlers-toad/ And for that last one, they have very similar care to the Fowler's toad as well.

    I can answer a couple more of your questions as well. Toads (And almost any reptile and amphibian) are loners in nature, and prefer to be alone. (That being said, there are some exceptions, Fire-bellied toads seem to thrive best in a colony, and so do Green anoles, at least to my knowledge) What I would do, is by an appropriately sized enclosure, and make sure that the toad you already have will survive and then consider getting a second. If you do one day, make sure you quarantine them, for at least a period of a month, but you can do it longer. This makes sure that if the newcomer is sick, he/she doesn't spread illness on your original toad. It would be better for you to keep it than release back into the wild, because she (Or he) will have a handicap that will affect her when hunting, fleeing a predator, breeding, ect. (And I say breeding because she'll need her limb to swim correctly to find a place to lay her eggs in the breeding season) The tissue should heal correctly, it's just really a matter of making sure that it doesn't get infected, which is what seems to do the most damage to the animal. Put some Neosporin WITHOUT PAINKILLER on the wound, (I say without painkiller because painkillers are toxic to amphibians, so much so that people will use it when humanely euthanizing one) and make sure her environment stays clean. Until it heals, provide paper towels (Without dyes, you probably know the reason by now) for her substrate, provide many hides for her to go under (Logs, coconut hides, ect. She needs to hide so she doesn't get stressed, enough stress can kill her, and on top of that, she probably views humans as a giant predator, so she'll need a place to hide away from the "big scary monster") and provide a shallow soaking dish. (One where she can climb in and out of, and not drown) Major parts of her staple diet should be Canadian night-crawlers, (Found at Walmart and most fishing stores, they're the big lobe worms. Not the red-wigglers/compost worms, as most animals don't eat them as they secret a noxious yellow fluid that tastes bad to other animals) dusted crickets, and (as gross as this might sound) dubia roaches. Also, it may help if you upload photos on here so we can see how bad the injury really is. You'll have to use an external image hosting site though, as frog forum was hacked recently and the photo uploader doesn't work anymore. (Don't worry, we have mods working on the problem, at least to my knowledge. Here's a few links to some image hosting sites: http://imgur.com/ http://s76.photobucket.com/)


    And if you need anything else care-wise, we're always here to help! I really hope your little one gets better soon!

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    Default Re: Female American Toad - amputated leg

    Thank you Xavier!!! I appreciate your advice! I went to those sites & tried to locate a vet & made a few calls. I'm dealing with a very sick baby right now, so unfortunately I can't take that hour drive to the vet right now. While out picking up the baby's prescriptions I stopped in at Petco & bought her a log to hide under, she seems to like hiding - I should have done this yesterday. I'll try to get the toad into that vet tomorrow afternoon, if the baby is up for that trip. In the meantime I'll continue with your advice! Thank you…. I hope I can upload these pictures correctly - she did NOT want me taking these & they're from my phone, so not the best quality… But I'll try to get some with my camera soon!


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    Default Re: Female American Toad - amputated leg

    Those photos are fine, they'll show everything important as of now. Again, until you take her to a vet, keep using the non painkiller Neosporin, and feed it somewhat often and leave, so it can eat without a "predator" watching it. What your doing for it sounds perfect though, keep up the good work!
    Last edited by Cliygh and Mia 2; May 10th, 2016 at 03:55 PM. Reason: Fine not fins

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    Default Re: Female American Toad - amputated leg

    Ok, I will thank you Xavier! Here are a few more (I struggle with technology!!)





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    Default Re: Female American Toad - amputated leg

    How's your toad doing?

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