California toad (Bufo boreas halophilus) experience

I used to catch toad tadpoles when I was a kid and raise them to let them go in my yard. This was in San Jose back in the 70's. I now live in Santa Cruz and would love to introduce my daughters to the joy of raising toads. The problem is I can't find any. I even went back to the old creek that I used to play in and only found tree frogs in abundance. (this was the exact opposite when I was a kid) Was my timing off? Where could I find just a handfull of them and when is the best time? It would be even more cool to start from the egg stage to teach my girls the entire life cycle. Is there anyone out there that could help me. I would be willing to drive maybe about an hour.

I'll send you a PM.

I really like the set-up you have. I think keeping it natural makes for happy healthy toads, and all of them look that way. Job well done!

Originally Posted by Pete

So I managed to finally take some current shots of the toads. I could only find five. They've started burrowing more, so they're harder to find. The first one is a picture of the set up. Basically, half topsoil/half coco-fiber mixed, and a bunch of potted plants, and some hiding spots. Nothing too fancy. Everything is pretty much as I described in the last post. They're eating like crazy, and growing like crazy. I'd say the average size of the toads are about a quarter, some bigger, some smaller.

This reminds me of when I was a child and would visit my godmother in Sacramento. They had one of those concrete lined creeks running through their yard and in the spring it would be full of mating pairs, then later on in the season if you walked out the back door and turned on the porch light there would be thousands of the little ones. One didn't dare walk outside without a light for fear of walking and squashing them. It was a delight for me.