Multiple species in one outdoor bin?

[Cliygh and Mia 2]

To answer your questions to the best of my ability:

The type of enclosure you are planning on setting up is a bioactive enclosure. Basically, the isopods, springtails, and earthworms decompose the waste matter the animals produce, meaning you do not have to spend as much time cleaning the enclosure as you would with a regular enclosure.

I'd imagine crickets would work, you would just have to watch them as they are known to occasionally damage amphibians by biting/eating them. If you're looking for another thing to add to the enclosure, I would imagine mealworms and their adult beetle form would work nice in the enclosure, and serve as food for the toads if they are found by them.

Earthworms should be easy to find in bait & tackle shops and online specialty stores, I believe Josh's frogs has the best type of earthworm for that type of enclosure, Canadian nightcrawlers. It would be easier to have the enclosure inside, as you could provide heat, water, humidity, and other things the animals would need much easier. If your spouse doesn't like it indoors, you can either move it somewhere where they never go, such as an attic or basement with electricity, or if they still won't like it, it would be better to not attempt to acquire American toads at all, and look for some other animal to use in place of it.

If the storage bin has a drainage layer, and has enough space, it should work, as glass enclosures are not the only type of enclosure on the market. If I remember correctly mealworms die off in the winter, but those are easy to re-stock. Isopods, springtails, and earthworms are all active in all but the coldest weather. The American toads if kept outside during the winter months, will need to either be moved indoors, or allowed to hibernate. If they do hibernate, they should be ready to breed by the time most storms roll around in the area, so it will get noisy hearing males call, if there are any. I would suggest keeping the enclosure indoors though, as it's less stressful on the animals since they do not have to hibernate, and you can monitor them for diseases and keep them out of the elements.

Hope that helped!