Toad leg amputation (lawnmower)

[Christy]

Hi, my husband and I run a state permitted wildlife rehabilitation and rescue facility for turtles. We can save turtles all day long, but this little injured toad is a new one for us, so I'm hoping for some help. My husband was mowing today and didn't see the little toad until it was too late. He had seen a snake, and was headed toward the snake to move it out of harm's way when he accidentally ran over the leg of this little toad. It is a complete and clean amputation of the front left leg (at what I would call the elbow). He brought the toad home and we'd like to help it. I'm hoping for some advice about the best way to house him while he's healing. We have a fantastic reptile vet, although I'm not really sure if he has much experience with frogs. It's an option we can look into if vet care is recommended. I'd also like to know if the little guy will be able to survive in the wild with a missing leg, or will we need to keep him as a pet (or find a home for him) once he's healed.

At the moment, we've placed him in a clean plastic shoebox (with air holes) and I've covered him with a towel to help keep his stress level down. Any help you can offer regarding habitat, heat, lighting, diet, and appropriate first aid for his injury would be very appreciated. We love our local wildlife, and absolutely hate that this has happened.

[Mentat]

Hello and welcome to FF Christy! A handicapped toad will have a hard time surviving in the wild . First thing to do is to get toad some antibiotics to prevent an infection. Your vet can prescribe those or you can try with plain (no analgesics) Neosporin or silver based antibiotic applied topically with Q-tip on wound twice daily. Would keep in clean plastic box for time being. Only need a water dish filled with dechlorinated tap to chin level) and a hide (cork or plastic). Once toad heals, you can add some shredded coco substrate and plants if desired.

Try feeding him not dyed night crawlers from Walmart or local bait shops. Can cut them mouth size for babies and body length for 2-3 in. juveniles. Toads in captivity need supplements, more info in here: http://www.frogforum.net/food-feeder...schedules.html. If using crickets, gut load them. Good luck !

[Christy]

Thank you, Carlos. We have plenty of silvadene here, so we will use that on his injury. I hate to hear that he won't be able to be released. As rehabbers, we always try to return them to their natural environment whenever possible. My husband feels awful that this happened.

There is no active bleeding and he seems to be acting normal when we check on him. We will leave him in the plastic box for now. I guess we'll need some tips on how to properly set up a permanent enclosure for him once he's healed up, since it looks like he'll be a permanent resident here. I'll do some searching here on the forum for tips on how to properly house him, but if anyone here has anything specific you think I should know, I'm all ears. We've never kept toads or frogs before, so I'm unsure what they need.

Thank you again for your help. Hopefully we can get this little one healed and give him a comfortable habitat.

[flybyferns]

Hello Christy,
Yes .... Welcome to Frog Forum.
Carlos has you covered

I'm so sorry..
You are wonderful to take such good care of him.

Please keep us posted, Lynn

[Mentat]

... I guess we'll need some tips on how to properly set up a permanent enclosure for him once he's healed up, since it looks like he'll be a permanent resident here. I'll do some searching here on the forum for tips on how to properly house him, but if anyone here has anything specific you think I should know, I'm all ears. We've never kept toads or frogs before, so I'm unsure what they need...

There you go: Frog Forum - Toad Basics - Keeping ground-dwelling Toads. A care sheet for Bufo, Anaxyrus, Spea, Scaphiopus, Ollotis, Alytes, Pelobates.

[kueluck]

Can I ask where you are located and what kind of toad this is. I keep a few toads and they are very easy to tend to. You don't need extra heating, normal house temps are fine, just make sure you mist him a little once a day since I don't know if he should soak in a dish while the injury is fresh. I feed mine mainly turkish roaches, but the also like crickets, pill bugs, beattles, moths and nighcrawlers. If you can post some pics that would be great, and who knows, maybe someone local will take him/her into their loving home.

[Christy]

We're in central Mississippi. I'm actually unsure what species of toad this is. I assume American Toad, but I'm sure that's broad. If anyone can tell from the pics what he is, I'd love to know. I assume he's male, based on his dark-colored chin, but I'm really clueless on how to sex them. And, sorry the photos aren't better. I snapped these while we took him out to tend to his wounds. It appears that the mower blade also clipped one of his back toes, but that looks minor. In these photos, it looks like the area is very bloody, but there is no active bleeding (meaning, there is no pooling of blood - or even any smears of blood - in the shoe box we have him in.) We rinsed the areas off with some saline wound solution and applied silvadene. We put a plastic hide in the box with him (a large to-go cup, cut in half) and I placed a small terra cotta plant base in there for a shallow bit of water. We're keeping him in our reptile room, which stays in the 65 (night) -80 (day) degree range. If this is too warm, we can move him to a cooler area.

And, Carlos, thank you for the link!