New baby/juvy American Toad (wtf?)

[Duriel]

Well it's decreasing in size but it is reddening of the crotch and inner thighs. Frogs I've had in the past that showed these symptoms died very quickly. I might have only slowed it down by giving him a good soaking (hadn't rained in a week and he WAS living under my trash can... which has bags of puppy poop in it, so if the cause was bacterial, I can safely point a finger in that direction). I should have taken pics but I honestly believed I'd be taking "autopsy" photos last night (okay just cause of death photos... not cutting him open).

[FriedrichsFrogs]

i hope he pulls through, american toads were my first amphibian pets id hate to see the litle guy not make it

[Duriel]

Still improving. Even less reddening than previously. I've decided to move him to a critter keeper I have handy. Right now he's in a storage box with a few hides and some water for soaking in the natural depression. I think I can let him have a burrowing substrate now. I was concerned before over whatever made him sick contaminating the substrate. On a side note, it's been warm and rainy and I am thinking of releasing 2-3 of my 4 bullfrogs. I simply don't have the money/space for separate enclosures and one is growing "steadily", while one is becoming monstrous and the other two don't seem to be growing much at all (size difference suggests they might be edible...) One of them (second largest) also (perplexingly) spends nearly 100% of her time on the land portion... to the point where, at every feeding, I poke her to make sure she isn't dead (she's very human-tolerant... unlike the biggest one which will jump into the water if she sees me 20 feet away). Just thinking it might be best to release some before the weather gets bad. Doesn't help that I've lost some of my financial aid (college) and am soon to be in court (long story).

[FriedrichsFrogs]

well thats good news. sorry to hear about ur financial aid that sounds like a mess, hope u get what u deserve out of it.

[Duriel]

Sorry to say he died overnight. Really odd... all the red was gone, he was eating, soaking, and very active (as in fleeing from me). I'm no vet (and there are no herp vets nearby), but from what I've read on redleg, they can appear to heal but still have organ failure. Maybe I should stop bringing in unusually small/late in the season frogs... speaking of which, I brought in what seems to be a baby gray treefrog just tonight. I'm more confident about this one as my backyard was full of them.

[FriedrichsFrogs]

aw no way, sorry to hear that man its a shame. wow u really have some lucky finds just a few feet from your house. Hope you have better results from the new tree frog!

[Duriel]

Yeah I live not far from a lake and it's a rural area (treeline behind my house + a farm) so amphib population is quite high. There was also a strange lizard on my roof with an iridescent blue tail. Unfortunately, with all this neat stuff comes a lot of unpleasant bugs. Mostly flies, fruit flies, moths (fly paper was filling up in days so I bought a plug-in zapper), unusually (to me) large wolf spiders (why are so many in my house? There's almost no land-dwelling bugs for them to eat..), a single brown recluse (kept moving boxes in closet for the next time I have en ebay extravaganza... changed my mind), and ****ing red velvet flightless wasps. Of course the frogs are doing their best at the base of my house nomming away, but it's a losing battle, especially for the larger critters that only a large American toad or near/adult bullfrog could eat (of which I have seen none). As a result (and a recent, highly improbable "jumping-spider-in-my-eye" event), I spray toxic chemicals in the "entry" points to my house that frogs cannot reach, as opposed to making some napalm and straight burning the brush behind my house down (if no frogs... might consider it lol). And I know some people are against capturing wild frogs, but after a good rain, even on my sparsely populated gravel side-street, there's hundreds of smashed frogs.

On a side note, if it were in any way feasible (and also wouldn't make visitors think I was grade A insane), I would have frogs and lizards roaming my house and garage. Drove my vette today and when I got out of it, I thought someone had keyed/hit my car or something, but it was a crapload of spider strings. I'm not raging on spiders here (I leave the aerial web-weavers alone as they don't wander into my bed/clothes like the wolfies...) We DO have the nasty ones here though, so I feel that none should survive. And yes I know that even a brown recluse or black widow bite almost never disfigures/causes death, but it'd still be wasted time/money at the doctor/hospital.

Sorry, a bit drawn out and ranty, but this election is driving me nuts. Romney is a ****ty candidate, but he isn't a ****ty president (yet?) and probably wouldn't blame Obama for his failure at the end of his term if he failed (Obama's still blaming Bush). It's a shame our system is "A or B". If I HAD to pick one, I'd take Romney, as Obama has already failed... so why should we reelect him? That said, the whole system is pants-****tingly stupid. Politicians are politicians. There are NOT two opposing sides. I mean "democrat" Obama voted for the wars, is conducting drone strikes in countries we haven't even declared war on (and appeasing them with tax dollars), Libya etc. People forget that democrat presidents sent us to Korea and Vietnam...