What Gender is My Toad?

[YourSoJelly]

I just rescued a baby toad, and I didn't know what gender it was. We hope its a her, and we named her Marsha. If it ends up being a boy, were going to re-name her Martin. My horse kicked her, and threw her a really far ways away, on compacted sand. She seems to be doing ok, although she can't croak anymore. I am going to be keeping her, I just know NOTHING about toads, frogs, or any other amphibian, except for the fact that they all need a water source and they eat bugs. Sorry for the pictures being sideways and flip flopped, I have to fix them on my computer. When she is on her back, she rolled off my leg and onto the rock, so I snapped a quick picture then flipped her back over.

Marsha:

[BlueKiwiOca]

It looks like your toad is pretty young. With amphibians, you can't really tell for sure what gender they are until they're grown up.

If you're going to keep the toad, there a few things you need to sort out..

1) You are going to need to buy a water de-chlorinating agent. You can get them pretty easily from the aquarium section at the pet store. Frogs and toads are very sensitive to chemicals and heavy metals in water, so unless you're using bottled spring water, you need to treat whatever water you provide for them with this de-chlorinating agent. This is very important.

2) Do you have a terrarium yet? If yes, be sure to cover the sides (at least three) with a dark (preferable green) material. Chances are the little guy is really freaked out, and covering the sides of the enclosure helps to reduce stress and make him feel more secure. Put some pebbles in the bottom of the terrarium, then cover with a couple of inches of Eco-Earth/Bed-a-Beast/coconut fibre substrate. Be sure to make the substrate nice and damp. Get some foliage or tunnels for him to hide amongst, and make sure he has a water pool/dish (de-chlorinated water)

3) Hold off handling him for a few days at least. As I said before, he's gonna be freaked out, and handling him's gonna freak him out even more. When amphibians are stressed, their appetite gets suppressed, so he may not eat until he's calmed down.

That's all I can help you with for now, I haven't dealt with toads before! Hopefully someone more experienced comes along, but that's the basics of what you need to do right now

Good luck

~Gabby

*EDIT* I have a suspicion your toadlet is a Fowler's Toad (Bufo fowleri)

[COOCOpUcHoo]

That is a fowler's toad. I know it is pretty young, but it looks like a female be uses if its lighter throat.

[AlanLynch]

That is a fowler's toad. I know it is pretty young, but it looks like a female be uses if its lighter throat.

To me, that looks like an American Toad. If you look closely you'll only see one or two 'warts' in each black spot on it's back, which is a sign of an American Toad. If it was a Fowler's toad, it would have 3 or more warts in each black spot, nice guess, but sometimes you have to examine things a bit closer! (By the way, I'm only 90% positive it's an American, you may be right!)

[YourSoJelly]

She was released yesterday! She seemed very thankful, but was happy to be home!