This past Sunday morning, my husband was doing a quick mowing of the lawn & somehow this sweet female (I believe) American Toad got within the blade & she has a clean cut/amputation to her back left leg. I'd say above the knee. Maybe 1/2 of the thigh is left. It' so sad!!! My children & I got her into a plastic portable cage, put neosporin on her leg, and put her on some damp paper towels with a couple water dishes - covered her & left her alone for the day, undisturbed. That evening we purchased some small crickets for her. That night she ate all 5 we gave her. Monday morning she ate 6 more. Plus one flying bug we found in the house (& gave her) + about a dozen Rollie Pollies. This morning I just gave her 6 more crickets & in 10 min. she's already eaten 4. I've been repeating the neosporin twice daily & keeping her in a quiet, darkened place away from the kids/noise.
This morning her wound looked purplish with a white streak kind of running through the purplish tissue. I am most concerned about infection at this point - we're coming up on 48-hrs since injury now. She has already adapted a bit to moving around, I actually saw her kind of hop around last night. I know her digestion is good bc she had a very large bowel movement yesterday afternoon & her appetite seems good.
So, I guess I have a couple questions since I'm very new to anything regarding toads/frogs… let alone injured ones!
1) Does anyone know how long it will take for the tissue to heal? Or if it will completely heal?
2) Can she be rehabbed & let go again? If so, at what point would she be ready? (I worry that we back up to the woods & we often get snakes in the yard + a lot of predator birds/animals - although we do have a very large toad/frog population around the house(?))
3) If she can't be released back into the wild, do you suggest her having a friend? I'm all for creating a frog habitat for her & keeping her. Although, I also wouldn't mind rehoming her to someone who could provide her with better care & maybe some friends (do they need friends? Of course this is if she's even able to get past this injury! )
Thank you so much in advance for any help/advice!!!!