Toads and lotion/soap

[Stephanie36]

Hi--I'm a little worried about something that happened yesterday when I found a toad. I work in schools and yesterday the kids found a toad in the playground. We didn't want it to get stepped on, so we moved it. At first I tried to pick it up (we ended up getting a pail, instead). My concern is, I didn't know that handling toads is bad for them because of soaps/lotions on our hands. I had washed my hands and applied a bit of lotion about 20-30 minutes before. My hands have been super dry lately, and I think the lotion had already absorbed in (ie, there wasn't huge amounts on my skin). I only handled him a little bit because he kept hopping away, but I'm really worried that I actually hurt him rather than helped him. I know lotion/soap is bad, but is just a little bit from a few seconds of handling really bad? Or is he probably okay?

Thanks
Stephanie

[LilyPad]

He should be okay for that little bit you handled him and the time period between applying the lotion and you picking him up. No worries better to get him to safety and take the slight risk.

[Stephanie36]

Okay, that makes me feel better. It was only about 10 seconds that I handled him total, so I was hoping that meant it wouldn't be too bad.Thanks for the reply! I'll rest a lot easier now. And I'll definitely be sharing what I learned cause I doubt many people think about that when picking up a toad or frog.