Meet Ukulele...

[yoshimi]

Everyone made it thru the move ok, that last one is Banjo's pretty profile. Have more pics but working on a tablet with 1/4 cracked screen (dropped it) and itty bitty keyboard so that's enough for now. Uki never stops being hungry, has tried to eat my fingers twice now. I caught and gave her a moth and then they had their dinner of worms. Have to block her view or she'll eat the ones meant for Banjo too. In fact, that's when she put my finger in her mouth tonight. Found a baby toad in driveway when we came home earlier. Sooo cute, less than an inch. I got some cell pics but they'll have to wait til i have my comp back online, if they even came out ok. I held him or her and awww'd, then let it hop into the grass. Maybe I'll see it again some day, but maybe not cuz I dropped it twice. Sorry buddy. We'll leave the light on for you.

[Heatheranne]

Yay!
They have the cutest little faces! She looks happy .

[yoshimi]

I started this post yesterday then realized I'd already posted about her appetite and the biting of my fingers. When I brought it back just now, noticed that a word I wrote that is not vulgar was starred out. I was talking about the tilt of her head when she watched my fingers, trying to figure out if they were food. Used the same word in past tense one would use for a pistol that is ready to be fired. Eh so anyway, she tilts her head like a dog.

Her appetite is still crazy, and I feel bad that I can't give them a variety at the moment. No more dubia breeding, or anything breeding, and I've sprayed the exterior of house and garage with pesticide, so no outdoor collecting. Goes against my character but more than half of my stuff is in garage attic and earwigs just bug me out...
Had to purchase mealworms as a reptivite conveyance system. And earthworms as a staple still. Basically I have to stick with feeders that can hang in the fridge or won't run away and infest or get lost in the house if i dropped some. Banjo can't digest phoenix worms, and I think hornworms might be too big for 3in toads. Might have to order silkworms again. Butterworms for a treat? I dunno.

They're in basement, with a dehumidifier that I empty daily and turned up but can't get the humidity in their tank down past 70%. That was from >84%. Had to give them bigger water dishes cuz somehow they were filling up with dirt, sucking up all the water. All that splashing about was water-logging my dirt. I know it was Uki, but no one's fessing up. The bigger bowls are plastic which I don't like, but leaving them slightly above the soil line has kept some of the dirt out, without keeping out the toads.

post worms: this one was so cute to me, it's now my fb cover photo:

Let me state that the following is not something I condone, was just trying to show how she tries to eat me and everything else that moves. My hands were clean, fingernails short and filed. She's ok, and I feel bad.
Anyhoo... (the squeaking is the paper plate)
and this one is just feeding time, no fingers but i had to worm-block there's one more but I won't link to it cuz I'm making a vulgar gesture.

[kueluck]

I wonder if she goes after your finger thinking it's part of the worms she eats since you hand feed them to her. LOVE the videos and when they shoot their head up and tilt it........OH MY GOSH......it's the cutest thing EVER!!! Morph does that all the time, and every time he does it I say “ohhhhhhhh”. Toads are just to dang cute. FYI, you're not the only one to flip off a toad.

[yoshimi]

I wonder if she goes after your finger thinking it's part of the worms she eats since you hand feed them to her.

I think I'm perpetuating it, by hand feeding sometimes (she'll take from tongs but also go after the tongs so don't want her to hurt herself or try to eat a poop i'm plucking out with them (yes, i know, gross, but i wash them well)). I don't always feed her that way, try to use a plate, but it can keep her busy when Banjo is still studying her prey. She'll try to eat anything, like poor Banjo hopping by, or camera wrist strap, a fake leaf that moved cuz I breathed on it, anything. Of course she's thankfully not successful, but it's wacky.
Soooo many poops. I don't think they all belong to Uki, but I'm going to guess that most might. The differences between the 2 toads is striking. I'm hoping it's just that Banjo always had a steady amount of food after her abduction, plus calcium & vit supplements, while Uki's diet may have been more feast/famine.

[yoshimi]

I could photograph her for hours, til she tries to eat the camera:

[kueluck]

Are you starving that poor toad? I love the look in the first few pics. That look pretty much says it all. FEED ME.......NOW!!!

[Mentat]

What a friendly Toad, smacked the camera really good !

[yoshimi]

More Ukulele...


in the 1st two, it looks like she's telling a joke. then tries to eat camera, of course. and obviously i can't choose between two pics that are very similar. i love them all.
that black smudge on her chin is dirt, but why it's there, i don't know. she came that way. goes away with a shed and maybe with a big soak (not sure), but the dirt just seems to stick to that one spot. an injury, maybe? hasn't slowed her down. nothing can! and Banjo is becoming more and more like her every day. not sure if that's a good thing, but it's a thing.

[AlanLynch]

I dont see why some american toads stonachs are clear but some have black spots everywhere. Lola's stomach is hard to see because of all the black. Is she a male? I mean she never chirps her legs are thin and her throat looks light.

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

For american Eastern toads the most prominent feature of a male is the coloring of the throat.
But I don't know if the coloring happens after they have called as the throat looks black and blue almost like a bruise on human skin.

I don't know of they get nuptial pads and if they do are they a different color.

[yoshimi]

I dont see why some american toads stonachs are clear but some have black spots everywhere. Lola's stomach is hard to see because of all the black. Is she a male? I mean she never chirps her legs are thin and her throat looks light.

I think one sign of being a fowler's is no spots on the belly. You would have to ask Gail about Rufus' belly tho. Pretty sure if Lola's not chirping when you pick her up and doesn't have a greyish throat, she's female. Here's my male resident toad Hans "Bug-Eye" and his adorable release call:

oh, and Ukulele got "sick" last night. not sure what happened but she sort of spit up drool. she actually went into a corner to be by herself which worried the **** out of me. she was ok this morning, back to being out of control. such a relief. still don't know what happened tho.

[kueluck]

My fowlers don't have the speckled belly, but Rufus does have a really dark throat. Now Morph, my Southern Toad, his throat is just slightly blue. Morph chips every time I pick him up, Rufus just looks at me as if to say "just put me down, I'm not your squeak toy".

[yoshimi]

Hans' dark throat is way more visible on the video than in real life but it's there. And they're both little still so if Lola was a boy, the throat would probably have shown up by now. I was rooting around under the siding and Hans started chirping, wasn't even holding him. I like how it trails off when I'm putting him back down. And I hate to say it (no i don't) but that eye makes him look like half a stress ball.

[AlanLynch]

I put my finger on Lola's back but I feel no vibration. So does that mean she is female?

[yoshimi]

I put my finger on Lola's back but I feel no vibration. So does that mean she is female?

That,I've never heard of. But pointy warts are said to be a sign of a female. I've never had anything to compare to, but Hans "Bug-Eye" is much softer than Greta or Uki or Banjo, and another FF member has made a similar if not the exact same comment about her male vs female toads. But again, with nothing to compare to, somewhat useless info.
Looking at the pics again, I don't see the bruise-colored throat of a male, not even the beginnings, just speckles. Banjo has the same sort of thing and I thought that meant she was a boy, but the vocal sack is higher up, and I think you'd see it.
Think you've got yourself a lovely little lady Lola there. Of course if she starts hollaring (singing) for a mate one night, that'll solve the whole thing right there.

[AlanLynch]

Her warts do look pointy.

[yoshimi]

Android doesn't like frog forum.
So I've been observing them together for about two months. They share everything including a burrow, back to back in the same one. But they don't seem aware of each other at all. Aside from the "are you food?" looks and licks. I can't really explain it but I get the distinct feeling that neither toad realizes there's another toad in her burrow. It's cute regardless and I'll try to get a pic.

[kueluck]

I don't think it's a matter of realizing another toad is there, but it doesn't matter as long as they have food to eat.

[yoshimi]

Oh there's always food. Didn't get them burrowing together (yet), but pics anyway:



Uki, fresh from shed:
Banjo, dainty with a sweet face:
Uki burrowing: