toadily crazy out there tonight!

[yoshimi]

A girl and a boy toad came to dinner. The boy toad is missing outer eyelid on left side. I know he's a boy because he chirped. I wanted to give them some worms but they were too big, didn't work out. Heading back inside I spotted the tiniest toad I've ever seen. Smaller even than the little one we saw at the post office about half an hr before this. I am never spraying pesticides again. No no, never.
Little guy with funky eye is also missing a good deal of his left hand. I want to take him in, but he seems to be ok. Has greyish throat too, so definite boy toad. If you look very closely at 1st pic, toad on right, you can see he has maybe one finger. =(

[kueluck]

I guess you need to get some wax worms for those unexpected guests.

[Psychotic]

I always have toads around the house. I generally don't start seeing tons of them though until September. I guess that's when they all decide to find places to burrow for the winter. But during that time I go out every evening and visit the toads. They really like my back porch because there are always tons of earwigs and wood lice hanging around.

I wouldn't worry about the male. If he looks healthy he is probably doing just fine. It always surprises me to see some of the injuries that frogs and toads get and yet still manage to thrive in the wild.

[yoshimi]

We had some heavy rain which seems to bring them out. The garage light attracts them, I guess, and that night I sat right down in the driveway to hang out with them.

Then last night I found an even tinier toad. So small I couldn't get him to stay in one place for a pic.

As for waxworms, I've been considering them. My gals deserve treats. Do you guys know of a reliable seller? And where do you store them, what works best? Also, I need suggestions on other feeders that aren't roaches or beetles. Nothing that can skitter away from me. House rules and I know it's limiting, but I am clumsy so I understand.

And as for the boy toad, I couldn't tell if it was an injury or just a genetic deformity. I didn't even notice til I was holding him. I'd never met a boy toad so that was pretty cool and his chirp was adorable, even tho he was telling me to let go. And what's neat is that I'll recognize him if he shows up again. I step so carefully now when getting out of the car.

* I can get 50 waxworms for $8, free shipping. Seems like a good price.

[kueluck]

I get waxworms from Petco and butterworms from Feedersource.com. My gang loves these. It's a shame you can't have roaches since my knot LOVES, and I mean LOVES to hunt these things down. And it's the turkish roaches only,they don't fly and can't climb a smooth surface. Plus you can always pick up crickets here and there.

[yoshimi]

i noticed petco sells them, but online it's a very large number that i don't need. my 50 should be here thurs. can't do crickets, as he hates these the most. there isn't any explaining to him that the baby ones don't make noise. he would say, "if you dropped one, it would grow up and chirp all night", and with crickets, i always lose a few. crickets and i don't mix.
might be able to do dubia in fall/winter, but i'm not sure yet. i've got the experience with dealing with them, they're easy to catch when dropped and generally, i don't drop any. already know they both love em, so that will be a selling point.
my waxworm/roach supplier was out of butterworms, and feedersource's shipping is too high to just buy 25 butterworms. i'd have to really stock up to make it worthwhile. granted, i could hide a small bin of roaches, but i would feel like too much of a d-bag doing so. gonna have to get the ok 1st.

[kueluck]

Wait a minute.........you have CATS. I know mine take care of any thing that crawlers, hops or flies around loose in the house. That should be your selling point to the BF.

[yoshimi]

it's true, there are 3 now, but only one of them hoovers up bugs. she's great at it but she's been spending most of her time on the top floor, and bugs would be in basement. casey just ignores them and mouse either plays with them or sits there and mews. there was an ant in my old kitchen and she sat there looking at me going "mew! mew! mew!" like, "ant! ant! ANT!" such a girl.

[kueluck]

I got it!! When you have feeder bugs, just feed your cats less so they stay on the hungry side. This way if you drop one they will snatch it up for a snack.

And as for feeding the toads, mine also LOVE moths, but you have to cut the wings off of 'em so they have a chance at catching them. Or you can just leave the wings on and watch the toads stare at it while it flutters about in the viv.

[Mentat]

Toad galore night !

[nirotorin]

Somebody should invent a toad feeder. Like a bird feeder, but for toads somehow.

[lindsayshocking]

There is only one thing better than a post with toad pictures...one that has a pun in the title.

What adorable little guests

[yoshimi]

So I guess they live in our driveway now, which is awesome. Got my waxworms and took them out there as an offering last night. Hans "Bug-Eye" doesn't really need fattening up, but fed them both anyway because I want them to stay. Greta is on the left and/or in the back in most of these pics.
Greta: Hans:

[yoshimi]

These were all from last Fri.. they haven't been back since then. It's been abnormally cool lately particularly at night but I miss them and hope they're ok.
Don't feel like uploading vids to youtube so here they are on my fb acct:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v...96884624166455
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v...42497831050262
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v...66298992254479
would have been easier just to upload to youtube. >:[

[yoshimi]

they were back last night. paul let me know greta was out there when he came home from work, and i found hans under siding. greta had 2 worms but hans was too annoyed about being disturbed to eat.

i've stuck my hand all up into the siding and searched for burrows around the house, shining lights and peering into holes i did fine, but haven't found their sleeping space. i did find a big toad poo by side of garage so maybe they live in our wood/stick pile.

I think it's funny that they travel together, since toads aren't supposed to be social with each other unless it's mating time. and these two look too young to be doing that yet. Dunno, but so glad I didn't mow them over on Sat. phew.

[nirotorin]

Interesting, I never really thought about it, but toads do share hiding, and feeding places quite a bit. Maybe they're more social than they get credit for.idunno

[yoshimi]

Was sitting in garage reading earlier and swore I heard Hans' little chirp outside. Oh no! Ran out there and heard it again up a tree. Saw Greta looking serious. My head went right to a bird having picked him up and pecking at him up there. I just stood in yard looking up til a bird flew out of the tree, then I looked around for Hans and found him intact and unmolested under siding. Stupid bird.
I did find their sleeping space, it's quite nice and I hope they winter with us. Greta disappeared underground for a few days so Hans was our guest in spare tank Fri night til lawn was mowed. He ate a waxworm, nightcrawler, soaked, took a poop, and burrowed: perfect. He even peed on my jeans when I went to put him back outside before work Sat. Greta reappeared Sun. Anyway, some pics:

[nirotorin]

Cool, outdoor pets.

[yoshimi]

Yup. Bf hates it, is afraid I'll take them both in, but I LIKE that they're outdoor pets. If they stick around, or go elsewhere to hibernate and come back, I'll always recognize Hans. And call every girl toad Greta. Forever.
Think they should hibernate here tho. The pics are of their "house", or rather the doorway to it. I've seen Greta climb out and shimmy back in when she saw me. It's positively cavernous, in that you can't even see her when she goes in there. They've hollowed out the underside of those rocks pretty well. Wasn't able to sneak a pic of her last night, tho i did try.

[yoshimi]

Buggy out there.. here's Greta: No sign of Hans.