Toad leg amputation (lawnmower)

[Christy]

Thanks, Gail. When he's feeling a bit better, I'll post some more photos so perhaps we can get a positive ID. We haven't heard any chirping, but he definitely has a dark colored throat.

In an update to his condition, this morning when we woke up, we noticed his belly was a bit bloody. Apparently, the wound had started bleeding overnight. It wasn't a whole lot of blood, but enough to concern me. (It could also be that he was trying to hop, so he may have made it start bleeding by doing so.) We keep a room full of first aid items here for our rescue, so we got the bleeding stopped with a stiptic pencil. He seems to be doing alright now. No more bleeding. I dropped a couple of small crickets in for him, and he ate one. He gave the second one a short chase, but gave up. I'll leave it in there a little while longer with him, but will remove it before bed so that it doesn't try to bite him.

So, all is well for now. With any wild animal, I always worry about shock and infection, more so than the injury. Crossing my fingers he can overcome any shock he's suffered, and that we can keep infection at bay.

[kueluck]

You might want to try to tong feed him. Most of my frogs and toads, total of 11, take to tong feeding. This way I know for sure they are getting their calcium and vitamin dose.

[Christy]

Day 4 and he's still doing well. He seems to be a bit more alert and active today. He still hasn't eaten. We've offered small crickets and tiny super worms. Our feeding methods have been to just drop them in with him and we have also tried feeding with tongs. How long is too long for them to go without food? With turtles, they can actually go several weeks (and in some cases, months) without eating. I realize frogs/toads likely have a faster metabolism, however. I'm going to forage in the yard after dark tonight and see if I can find him some "natural" bugs. (And no worries about chemicals or pesticides...we keep our yard turtle-friendly. The local wild toads come to our house by the hundreds, and we leave our outdoor lights on for them, to attract more bugs for them to eat.)

The arm is looking good. No signs of infection. We're cleaning it daily and applying silvadene. No redness, no unusual swelling (there is very slight swelling at the amputation site, but I suspect that's normal with any injured tissue), no pus, and no outward indications of septicemia. We're still being diligent with it though.

Here are a few more pictures of him. We moved him from the plastic shoe box into a 20 gallon aquarium. We've provided several hides, a shallow water dish, and have covered the sides of the glass with brown paper to help him feel more secure. My hope is that the larger environment will trigger his appetite. We've left the bottom of the tank bare for now, and will add substrate when we're sure his wounds have healed completely.

If anyone has further information about his exact species, I'd love as much information about him as I can get.

[nicodimus22]

Looks like an American toad to me (Bufo americanus.) Toads are pretty easy to take care of. If you're not up for it long-term, see if there are any nature centers nearby. Sometimes places like that take in injured animals for educational purposes.

The most common mistakes I hear about are people who use heat lamps/heat pads, don't use dechlorinated water, or have things in the habitat that can cause impaction. I do recommend feeding in a bowl rather than the habitat so that you can monitor how much the toad is actually eating, and to make sure no crickets are chewing on it.

[Christy]

Thank you very much for the ID, the information, and the advice! What types of items cause impactions? The care sheet recommended top soil as a substrate, but the kind we get around here (that is chemical free) is comprised of a lot of mulch pieces (they call it "forest floor".) Would I do better with the coconut bark, or some other type of substrate?

[kueluck]

Eco earth would do best since if they do swallow some it's okay. But the bowl method is still the best. Just sink it to ground level.

[nicodimus22]

But the bowl method is still the best. Just sink it to ground level.

Huh. I actually take the toad out, set her in a bowl, and drop the dusted crickets in with her. She snaps them up, and then I put her back. I'm just paranoid about rogue crickets chewing on her in the habitat, I guess.

[nicodimus22]

Thank you very much for the ID, the information, and the advice! What types of items cause impactions? The care sheet recommended top soil as a substrate, but the kind we get around here (that is chemical free) is comprised of a lot of mulch pieces (they call it "forest floor".) Would I do better with the coconut bark, or some other type of substrate?

Well, I find that toads tend to miss a lot with their tongues, and yours may miss even more because of only having the one front leg. This leads to them accidentally swallowing other things sometimes. What causes impaction is when a toad accidentally swallows something that gets stuck in the gut. Pebbles, sand, bits of wood, pieces of moss, and things like that get hung up in the narrow parts of the digestive tract. Eco Earth is your safest bet, although top soil should be fine as long as there aren't pebbles and whatnot in it.