Then and Now - The Little Nugget that Could - Story of a Banjo

[yoshimi]

I know I'm all over the place, but I took some photos tonight of my Banjo and comparing them to old ones I was floored. I've had him 5 months. He still looks like a little nugget to me.
whoa.
he was pressing down into my palm here. don't know why.
worm goop on the mouth, we'd just taken down 3.

I think it's really possible Banjo could be a girl. Pointy dorsal warts, I read somewhere, are a sign of being a lady toad. And I don't feel like he or she has finished growing.
this bowl used to be food dish. hiding. top view of Toad Abode.

[kueluck]

I would say that is one BEAUTIFUL American she toad because the throat is white and not dark, AND she is not done growing. Mine will push their bellies into my palm to suck up the body heat. You'll get an even better reaction if you spray some warm safe water into your palm while holding them.

[kueluck]

<~~ Rufus, male, dark throat. Also I hope you have a lid on the toad abode, they do climb.

[yoshimi]

At what age do their throats darken if male? I was figuring he's almost a year old, born last spring/summer. And of course there's a lid, he used to love climbing, til I removed favorite climbing plant and cut down some others for ground cover. Plus I have two cats. I put my arms up and over to get that pic, and he's (that's going to be a hard habit to break, saying "he") off to the right, hiding under the plant. Wanted to get a pic of his size HER size (gah) relative to home, but I guess you can just imagine him in that bowl of water. SHE lives in a tupperware, but it's a 22.5 gallon tupperware. Usually hangs out on that rock in upper left hand corner, but has burrows (half burrows, really just indents), on both sides.
I knew she'd gotten bigger but the difference is still surprising. I imagine the warm weather will bring an increase in appetite, tho honestly I can't really imagine that, and more growth. Those 1st three fingers on my right hand measure 2in across, so I guess she was about an inch and a quarter when toadnapped. I'll have to measure again, because to me, when I look at Banjo (odd name for a girl, oh well), I still see a little baby toad.
Here's last night's 3rd and final worm. Kinda boring (except to me), not in fast-motion, but she does this funny hop with back to camera. Getting really good at this.

[kueluck]

I don't remember when the darken throat came in, but by now if it's a male the throat would be showing it.

[yoshimi]

Ah, I changed the sex on toad facebook profile from male to female a week or so ago. It's just that Banjo is an awful name for a girl. Banjo T. Toad, middle name is Toxie, maybe I can refer to her as that... Or Banjosephina. Or not worry about it, cuz sometimes I just say, Toad. The other one I was trying to get didn't have a name at all, so I was going to call her Ukulele. I'll have to mull this over.

[yoshimi]

Since the baby roaches have been eating, and I didn't make it to post office today to pick up my order of dubia, I dusted 6 for Banjo (cuz dangit, Banjo is her name-o), and measured her. 2.5inches from tip to tip.

[Psychotic]

Well my toads are adults now and so very easy to sex. I didn't pay attention to when Jabba got a dark throat. But he puffs it out every now and again even though he isn't calling. It's like he just needed to stretch it or something lol.

One thing I have noticed is it isn't just the warts that are pointy on females. My Big Mama seems more bumpy in general with Jabba having smoother skin. Also once they are adults and start producing eggs, females color up really nicely. Big Mama is brown. But when she is gravid she turns a bright rust red color. Jabba is just mossy green all year round.

Another thing, males are much more vocal. My female will make little grunting noises but it's not really a call or vocalization. My male makes chirping noises a lot. The release call. However he does it when he eats too. It's funny.

[kueluck]

I think Banjo works for male or female, I like the name. Rufus only does the release call when I pick him up, and he chirps when he's underground, it's really cute.

[yoshimi]

Aww, that is cute. And not calling will be a plus (damn cats). She puffs out where her vocal sac would be once in a while, like taking deep breaths. Doesn't seem distressed, and has never made a sound.
She did just have a bath and produced a massive solid poo, but there's what looks like skin hanging from her butt region, just a little, but it has me worried so she stayed in rinse bath a little longer cuz I was hoping for another poo to get rid of it. It waves around in the water, not a solid thing, sort of see-through. She also has it hanging off her leg, in the fold, like a shed that she didn't finish. Sometimes I'll see pieces of it in her water dish, and there's less of it now then before (i noticed last bath but didn't mention it). It was on her toe before but gone now. There's no way I'd pull it off, it must be stuck for a reason and will work it's way off. She doesn't seem at all upset, eating well, and as i said the poo was massive, well formed but not too hard. She started getting a little pissed about the extra long rinse off so I let her go cuz I have to get ready for work anyway.
I really don't think and of course hope it's not, an impaction. But I am upset if this is the 1st shed where she left something behind, if that's what it is. Maybe, it was part of a poo, some bug's casing, that got stuck on her. In that case, I'd love to take it off, but not knowing what it is, no way. If it doesn't continue to fall off, i'll get a picture. I didn't today because she is a lady and it's not right to take candid shots of our rear ends, unless it's absolutely necessary. Like a colonoscopy, or in her case, if there's no change or if it looks worse.


Oh, and I only notice it when she's in a bath. It's not even visible in the pic where she's sitting in her water. And to clarify, she went in the honey bath, rather than the rinse off, like she's done before. When she poops, I immediately switch her into something else. So if it's insect casing/poop, don't know how it got stuck to her. Trying not to worry.

[yoshimi]

Some more of whatever it is came off in her water last night, saw it when I got home. A little more this morning, too. She may have stepped in some of her own poo and gotten a casing stuck to her, or it could still be skin, but it's coming off, so yay, go Banjo. I stuck the water bowl under Paul's nose last night, I was so excited to see some of that shmutz. I just assume everyone else in the world is as interested as I am. Made him watch her eat a worm too, up close and personal. It's impossible to not feel affection for her, watching her do toad stuff, even if it's a bit grotesque.

[kueluck]

If she still has stuck skin on her, soak her in a container with warm water,(warm to a toad is just above room temps)where just her head is above water and help peel off the dead skin. You don't what to leave old dead skin on her. Remember, this is how she takes in her water. Also the humidity may be to low if she is having shedding issues so keep an eye on that.

[yoshimi]

Ordered digital temperature and humidity gauges but they haven't arrived yet. That's probably exactly what it is tho. So today before I left I watered her plant and misted the dirt with warm treated water.
Was worried about hurting her if it was skin, and where it is on the leg will be difficult to get to, but if this is something that could come off with warm water and a little TLC, then tomorrow we'll try a soak. There shouldn't be much left to get. Then we'll celebrate with a lunch of roaches. And figure out ways to keep the humidity up.

[kueluck]

You don't have to worry about hurting her when helping remove the shed. All you need is a little water, hold onto it and she'll just pull out of it. I've done this with Morph, she tends to stay on the dry side of the viv. I'll just spray her down, take the tongs and hold onto it, she does the rest.

Ordered digital temperature and humidity gauges but they haven't arrived yet. That's probably exactly what it is tho. So today before I left I watered her plant and misted the dirt with warm treated water.
Was worried about hurting her if it was skin, and where it is on the leg will be difficult to get to, but if this is something that could come off with warm water and a little TLC, then tomorrow we'll try a soak. There shouldn't be much left to get. Then we'll celebrate with a lunch of roaches. And figure out ways to keep the humidity up.

[Nenegoba]

Thats an awesome video of your toad doing a little ritual dance-hop thingy before eating that slimy worm I love watching my toad Hanharr eat his food his a bufo alvarius though and quite voracious I have to feed him a lot of those night crawlers! haha! Awesome toad Banjosephina is though or what ever name you call your toad lol

[yoshimi]

Roaches are birthing all over the place, so she's eating those til I feel we've put a dent in it. By "all over the place" I mean in their bin. I got the thermometer/hydrometers today. It's reading 65% and about 72 degrees. I just misted with warm water so it will go up more. What is optimal? With the roaches, I just call it good if there are no puddles of water collecting and everybody's molting ok. But she means more to me than they do. Up to 67% now. Temp holding but it's in celsius. Time for me to learn the conversion equation rather than type the read-out into a converter every time I want to know.


26min later, it's up to 78% and she's sitting in her water. The gauge is on the opposite side of toad abode, away from plant and water dish and about half-way up... ok now it's down to 76%.

[yoshimi]

Update: She's still awesome.

[yoshimi]

Well my toads are adults now and so very easy to sex. I didn't pay attention to when Jabba got a dark throat. But he puffs it out every now and again even though he isn't calling. It's like he just needed to stretch it or something lol.

One thing I have noticed is it isn't just the warts that are pointy on females. My Big Mama seems more bumpy in general with Jabba having smoother skin. Also once they are adults and start producing eggs, females color up really nicely. Big Mama is brown. But when she is gravid she turns a bright rust red color. Jabba is just mossy green all year round.

Another thing, males are much more vocal. My female will make little grunting noises but it's not really a call or vocalization. My male makes chirping noises a lot. The release call. However he does it when he eats too. It's funny.

I meant to say that I love your toad pics! Was Stumpy born that way? Doesn't look like an injury. Big Mama looks so awesomely big, I could imagine her grunting. Kinda.

Banjo does not poop on her own much (I don't think). She looked like she was going to in her water, but I'm not sure. Is she addicted to honey/warm water baths?? Is 72 degrees too cold? I worry most when I've been giving her things that might not be passed easily. That's not the case right now, so holding off on a bath and casually looking for poops. I want to be pulling poop logs out of there every day or so, but it just doesn't happen.