Hello, my names Molly, and I just got a frog from a friend and, like all my pets, I like learning as much about them as I can. He's about a year old, a Fowler's Toad. My friend got him and a few others out of a pond near her house as tadpoles. Her and her son caught a bunch and watched them grown. They kept them in her garden for a long time, but kept this one in the house. He's missing a leg, and my friend was worried he might not make it in the wild. They've moved recently and needed to find him a new home. I had to have him, I have several broken pets and love taking care of them, I knew he would fit right in.

Right now he's not in the best home. I'm looking for a BIG tank on Craigslist, but he'll get a 10 gallon this weekend when I get paid. He's in a 5 gallon paint bucket (don't worry, there was never any paint in it). He's got a layer of dirt on the bottom and peat moss on top, which he's currently nesting in, and a shallow bowl of rain water.

Last night about sundown he ate 6 crickets. I didn't know how many to feed him, but he seemed to be ravenous. My friend said she only fed him worms and he wouldn't eat crickets, but I gave him both, he ignored the worms and ate the crickets. *shrugs* We let him play in the front yard for about an hour when the sun went down and realized he doesn't move very well, and tends to hop in a circle. Makes him easy to catch, though. He chirped a little while he was out there and seemed happy enough, and he doesn't mind being held or picked up at all, probably because my friend's son picked all the frogs and toads up a lot while he had them. He's about an inch wide and postures and blows himself up when he sees the cats, which, to me, are signs that he's healthy. As I said, he ate 6 crickets and I'm sure he would have eaten more, but I didn't have any more. I'm not sure how much or how often he should eat, really. Lucky, I work at a bait shop, so getting crickets, wax worms, meal worms, whatever he might eat, is really easy. I expect him to be fat and happy.

As I said, he's missing a leg. We call him Gimpy for now (my husband's idea). I'm not sure if he needs any special care because of this, or if it will shorten his life span, but any input would be great.

As for me, I also have 3 cats, 2 of them are special needs kittys, and had a betta with a congenital fen defect. His back fen was small and pointed; Sadly, we lost him in a fire a few months ago. I have a daughter, Gwen, who's 8 years old and loves animals as much as I do, and is enjoying having a frog, she's always wanted one.

I know I shouldn't have a wild frog, and I expect some people to tell me to let him go, but after seeing him in action in the yard, I have a feeling he would be at a serious disadvantage. As I said, he's in a 5 gallon paint bucket.. I leave the lid off, he can't jump out. I have no plans of letting him go, and will try to take care of him the best I can.

Hoping to learn a lot here and meet some nice people. Please be kind, I'm a total noob with frogs, but I'm willing to learn!