Hello all, meet my american toad friend, Banjo.

[yoshimi]

thanks so much for replying! as soon as i scooped him up and interrupted his journey, i knew i had to do my best for him. he was healthy when i got him, so he needs to stay that way. problem was, no one i know has frogs at all, and info on his species is slim out there. i spent hours researching, but everything he does that doesn't fit makes me worry. i joined Frog Forum 2 days after i abducted him, but didn't post for fear i'd be chastised for the kidnapping and because he's not one of the popularly kept frogs or toads. nothing too exotic or exciting about him, but i find him enthralling. then i realized that ANY help over here is valuable. they might be different species with different needs, but more similarities than i'd find say, at a bird forum. plus, you all love frogs. right there is a good reason to share.

little man seems active and is waiting for food right now. as always. i read the original conversation quoted in that thread, and it was more like a forum fight between 2 fly larvae companies. one said that phoenix worms can sit on a shelf and get old and tough before they get fed off, and the phoenix worm people were all mad about that. then they admitted it happens, and suggest poking holes. truthfully, i ordered 2 cups of them recently and one was obviously older, as it had some black ones and even some that weren't moving. that's the one i've been feeding out of, even some of the black ones who were still wiggling. those may have been passed too without me noticing, dunno, but i doubt it. so i guess i can poke holes in the last survivors living in old cup, or freeze and toss the lot to start feeding out of new cup. i'm not giving up on phoenix worms just yet, cuz this was the 1st i've ever seen them as poo like that. they were most definitely dead, btw. it would be very creepy to realize that the ones i've been finding who've buried themselves in dirt were not escapees but actually poop. ew. PERHAPS, tho he doesn't necessarily need heat, it HAS been quite cold here the past few days, and altho his tank is comparatively warm, a temp drop may be affecting his digestion when not in a warm bath. tho not his appetite. happens with other bug eating critters.
i'm quickly running out of feeder dubia and my roach breeding won't produce for another few weeks. the only other thing i have is mealworms and if i'm worried about impaction that's the last thing i want to be using regularly, or at all... i swore off of crickets, but i'll probably go get 50 from petco. half the price of baby dubia, but twice as annoying. i've handled them before, i can do it again. and 50 is manageable. there, i talked or typed myself into a plan.

banjo has only pooped once right in the bowl, and only when i'd heated up some water for a soak. the rest of the time, i have to look for it. i WISH he went in the bowl like a cat in a litter box! but it's not that difficult to find; he makes a depression in the dirt and i've even watched him "go". digs a semi-hole like he's going to burrow then does his business. the worms i found were in such a depression (moreso if they'd been alive, i guess). since he's not quite grown up yet, i feel like i need to feed and dust his food with vitamin or calcium every day. i also give him snacks or 2nd meals sometimes, which has made him fat... he can stand an experiment for a day, i think.

i didn't know there was a difference either, between the 2 substrates! i just checked my package and it said "compressed coconut fiber expandable substrate" phew. i could've sworn i'd read that it was right for him, which is why i stocked up. i'll still do my best to make sure he's not eating it. gets hard cuz he enthusiastically climbs into food bowl to get at food sometimes. brings his dirt with him. ah well.

i'm definitely not going anywhere, and i'll be taking pics. most end up being through translucent plastic, but with focus on, all his glorious detail is visible. thanks so much for kind and helpful words.

[kueluck]

Banjo’s a cutie, and the worms post is mine, haven’t gone back to them since. Native toads are so easy and forgiving when it comes to care. Mine do best at temps 68 to 75 with humidity around 50%. I feed mostly red runner roaches, butter worms, earthworms (not red wigglers) & crickets just for a change. Keep the photos coming, can’t get enough of the toads.

[yoshimi]

He's living a little warmer than room temp, which is about 70. Or less, cuz he's in kitchen which is connected to bathroom which has no heat, and it's 22 outside right now. I don't have thermometer in there, cuz it's in roach breeding bin. And I don't have a humidity gauge at all, but if I did, again it'd be in roach bin as I'm newer at breeding them than I am at Banjo. I can tell when my house gets too cold cuz his tank fogs up. I'm sitting here drinking hot coffee and I'm still cold but he's not foggy so I think I'll change his dirt/clean tank this afternoon to warm him up and hunt for hidden poop.

I'll have to google red runner roaches, as I've never heard of them. Dubia was my 1st choice and we both love them. When I 1st got him, I ordered pricey silkworms and phoenix worms from Mulberry Farms, and he ate maybe ONE silkworm and the rest just died. he ate 2 phoenix worms on 1st introduction but no more after that until recently when most of them were dead. That's why I purchased more, before now he's decided he likes them. This was the 1st time he's passed any. I considered butterworms, but they're too big for him I think, and too fatty maybe. Hornworms look great but also too big for him. I know earthworms are great, but he lived with 2 in the 1st bit that he was with me and didn't give them glance. Maybe he was just nervous back then. I agree about not wanting to cut them up. But I heard red wigglers were recommended and smaller? If he could learn to eat worms, that'd be the best. There're supposed to be so good for them.

How often do your toads poop? I don't know how many you care for, but I'm going with plural because if I came across another I'd likely take it home and eventually introduce as a tankmate for Banjo. Really wish he wasn't by himself. I see all over the place how 2 toads are better than one. But I've only ever spotted one other toad and it was hopping into my bf's yard (not that dangerous, he wasn't about to mow or anything), so just watched him go on his way. And that was years ago.

Your avatar toad is awesome. Do you know at what age their throats turn dark if they're boys? Can you tell at all about how old my Banjo is? Probably not, not enough reference pics. He used to fit well on 3 fingers and now I'd say he's a 4-fingered toad. Can't believe how much he's grown in just under 4 months. Tho when I say it like that, doesn't seem that crazy. He was just a little nugget when I kidnapped him. <3

[yoshimi]

Gail, you are my new hero.

[kueluck]

You really need to have a thermometer and hydrometer in the tank so you can make sure the temps and moisture are within correct numbers to keep Banjo healthy.

Sexing: As for when the darkened throat shows up, I really can't remember how old Rufus was when this happened. Rufus will be two this spring. Try cupping him in your hands, hold him tight and see if he chirps or vibrates, either one indicated it's male.

Pooping. Usually the next day after he/they eat. Sometimes in the water dish, sometimes on the surface, ya just never know.

Room mate. If you get another toad this coming spring you'll need to put the new one in quarantine (60 days) to make sure it's healthy. Also they need to be close in size, a toad will eat whatever it can fit in it's mouth when hunger, and that mean babies.

Food Items. Feeder Source is were is get my red runners, get the small ones, better to eat lots of little ones than chock on a big one. Also you can feed small wax worms as a treat, and butterworms are a little less fattening. Rufus LOVES butterworms.

I have 6 that I know of. 4 have been in hibernation since late fall, Morph comes up about once a month, Rufus, my favorite is out about every other day.

Tha avatar is my Rufus.

[yoshimi]

You really need to have a thermometer and hydrometer in the tank so you can make sure the temps and moisture are within correct numbers to keep Banjo healthy.

-I know, and definitely for Summer. I didn't know his humidity was as important. I shall get him one.


Sexing: As for when the darkened throat shows up, I really can't remember how old Rufus was when this happened. Rufus will be two this spring. Try cupping him in your hands, hold him tight and see if he chirps or vibrates, either one indicated it's male.

-I've handled him, cupped in hands not tightly, just tightly enough to prevent hop-outs onto the floor. I've felt his belly for lumps and never has he made a single sound or vibrated. I'll try again a bit later in the way you suggest. He may be a boy and just not vocal about it. I'm kind of hoping he's a she tho.


Pooping. Usually the next day after he/they eat. Sometimes in the water dish, sometimes on the surface, ya just never know.

-Hmm, so that should be daily for him. The boy's not regular. He only pooped in his dish once, when i'd warmed up the water 1st. Other times I warm it up and he gets out and poops somewhere else later.


Room mate. If you get another toad this coming spring you'll need to put the new one in quarantine (60 days) to make sure it's healthy. Also they need to be close in size, a toad will eat whatever it can fit in it's mouth when hunger, and that mean babies.

-I knew about the quarantine thing, but mostly to get out all the outside things a new toad would have inside him like parasites and things Banjo wouldn't be used to making them harmful. I doubt I can find another. Where would I go? The pond where I think he was born? Or just walk around rainy evenings looking at the ground? I could do both.


Food Items. Feeder Source is were is get my red runners, get the small ones, better to eat lots of little ones than chock on a big one. Also you can feed small wax worms as a treat, and butterworms are a little less fattening. Rufus LOVES butterworms.

-I like that you can put butterworms in the butter shelf in refrigerator... I'll have to look into red runners more. Some things about them worry me, like speed and being able to breed in my house.


I have 6 that I know of. 4 have been in hibernation since late fall, Morph comes up about once a month, Rufus, my favorite is out about every other day.

-How do you get them to hibernate? Banjo is always out unless he's burrowed or up a plant, resting. And every day or night, he's back out looking for food or sitting around.


Tha avatar is my Rufus.

-I know and I love the bugger.

I haven't got the reply with quotes thing down yet.

[kueluck]

I prefer boys. I lost my Rosie last year, she was egg bond and died and I don't want to go thru that again. As for finding toads, once spring is here and you have a pond close by. Well that place should be “hoppin'” w/amphibians breeding. But remember that for every one toad or frog you remove from the wild, you are removing thousands since there were able to make it to breeding age. If you really want an adventure, gather a few eggs and raise your new toads from tads. Toad spawn looks like a string of black pearls, unlike frog spawn that is usually in clumps. Raise up several and you can always release the others since you know where they came from without worry of introducing new pathogens to the area.

Not sure why you want Banjo to hibernated, enjoy em' while you can. It's very sad to see an empty tank with no movement in it. Rufus went back under again and I haven't seen him in a couple days. Red Runner roaches can't climb smooth glass or plastic, so unless you drop one they'll stay in their container.

Reply with quote, start you typing here, just before the bracket [QUOTE

[yoshimi]

Oh I'm so sorry, she was a doll. I think I read about that when browsing through toad posts a while back. And I see now your signature.

Was worried about Banjo making noise and attracting my cats. Plus, knowing he was looking for a lady would make me sad. I'm still considering letting him go by the pond where I think MAYBE he came from in the Spring/Summer. Part of me wants to sit and wait til he mates then bring him back home. Heehee. If he did come from there, it was a long hop. I even tried to trace his possible routes on google maps: A is the large pond separated by a road, and B, C, or D is where I may have found him (it was dark, I was paying attention to him, not what street I was on), and the yellow square off to the right is my house, my destination. Don't know what Banjo's destination was, but I interrupted his journey. I think it was C or D, which would be .3 miles (tho I'm sure he'd been spending time in people's backyards and wherever toad's hang out.).

So you can see this is just an educated guess on where he came from and it might very well be wrong. There's a nature path down to the left of that map that I never knew existed til I went for toad walks looking for any others. All I found were huts made of sticks and one with a hat, haha, that I guess were made by beavers. My bf and I take walks when it's nice down that road that separates the pond. I'll definitely be looking out for tiny toads as well as listening for their calls. Also, can't wait to take him down that path and showing him the beaver house with a hat.

I would love to have a pal for Banjo, but I still feel bad taking him out of circulation as it is. It's just that he was hopping on the sidewalk on the main road in my town. So I agree, best to let them do their thing if they were plucky enough to survive and grow legs. I doubt I could raise tadpoles. Not at this stage in my learning process. Maybe something to attempt a little later in life when I have the knowledge and experience.

I don't necessarily want him to hibernate, I was just wondering why and how yours were when Banjo has spent this winter so far just eating and growing. Do you make it cold for them? Or is it just something normal toads do, regardless? Could it be healthier, since it's what he'd be doing if I hadn't interrupted everything? I like that he's grown and gotten fat instead of burrowed and gone to sleep, but I hope I didn't hurt him somehow. He'll be the biggest kid in his class.

I like that any dubia I drop either inside or outside of tank, i can just catch with no problem. If one gets on my hand, I can get him off easily. Freaks me out to think of one skittering up my arm, or under the stove. And since I'm raising dubia, in a few weeks, I'll be roach-rich. My roach supplier (westcoast roaches (they're actually in NC, so the name is misleading and a mystery to me)) doesn't sell them and I'd feel like I was cheating on them. They've been so good to me. I already purchased mealworms from someone else, and I feel bad about it, but I only wanted a small-ish amount and they sell 500 and up. Have only given him mealworms two or three times, i think, and only after I'm sure he's pooped. Main reason I'm so concerned with his bathroom habits. Wish I hadn't bought them at all. He loves them and powder sticks nicely, but it's so difficult to find ones that have just molted. Blah.

I'll practice with the quoting. Thanks!