Tiny the Toad

[Greatballzofire]

Tiny's habitat, a 12 quart tub with the screen lid off for the photo. Tiny is in the upper right hand corner partly under his bark hide. The bottle cap of meal is for the crickets and there is a pan of water crystals under the bark hide for the crickets as well. The crickets congregate under the bark hide, easy pickings for the toad,

In his water bowl.
I found him yesterday in the front garden while doing some yard cleanup. A week or so ago we had a rain storm of Biblical proportions, and all sorts of little critters have reappeared, like salamanders and frogs and now this little toad.
He is a bufo boreas halophilus, California toad. He weighed 2.6 grams when I put him in the tub with a goodly supply of crickets. He plumped up on crickets within hours and is now likely heavier. I will weigh him once a week and chart his progress, just for fun. These little animals love to eat and will grow very fast with optimum food supply.
I am calling him a he because everything is a he until later evidence comes to light.
He is way too small to go in with my older toads. He would be lunch!

[Jace]

He is very cute-and plump. He must really love those crickets. Best of luck with him!

[Kurt]

Very cool. Now when say rain of Biblical proprtions, do you mean like we on the east coast rather regularly?

[bshmerlie]

We don't get too much rain here in CA so as soon as we get a little down pour our streets flood and we get mud slides.

[Greatballzofire]

Very cool. Now when say rain of Biblical proprtions, do you mean like we on the east coast rather regularly?

My rain gauge overflowed at over five and a half inches...3200 feet elevation Sierra Nevada foothills...I suppose this means the fire season is officially over.

[Greatballzofire]

Since finding Tiny, I found 7 more little toads. I have put them all in my old 20 gallon snake tank indoors for the winter. I was going to weigh Tiny once a week, but with all these little guys I will just feed them and watch them grow. I don't think I will find any more toadlets, as the temperature took a nose dive last night; no more balmy spring weather in November! LOL!

[Eel Noob]

Nice find. You said you have other bigger toads, what are they?

Wish it was still nice and warm here. We got hit hard this past weekend with our first snowfall of the season.

[Greatballzofire]

All my toads are bufo boreas halophilus, California toads.

Photo of my last spring's toads. They are the size of baseballs now.

Tiny and friends. Some of them are buried in the soil.

Their 34 quart Sterilite tub. I moved them into this so I could pick the habitat up and put it out on the front porch for some sun, which they really like.

Toad tub with screen lid on. I cut the top out of the lid and hot glued aluminum screen onto the rim. When the weather is inclement I can put a full spectrum lamp on top of this for warmth and light.

They will out grow this very quickly, but it will be fine for winter. My older toads are wintering in my greenhouse in a big kiddie's wading pool with deep topsoil.

We are going to get snow this weekend as well. If the temps drop too low for the greenhouse toads I have a spare habitat to bring them in. My citrus trees do well, though, and with deep soil the big toads should be okay.

[Greatballzofire]

Update: major cold front moving in! So I brought my big toads in and have put them in their cement tub.

This affair can slide under the coffee table in the living room, and if the weather warms back up it can be dragged onto the front porch for the day.

With lid off this afternoon. They are a little disturbed and I am hearing a lot of chirping, but they will settle down soon. They have already been in their water bowl, and have been eating crickets. I decided to move them indoors before it is freezing, even though they could bury themselves and probably would have been okay in the greenhouse.

[Greatballzofire]

While doing some winter preparations around the greenhouse this morning I found another little toad under some plastic. At first I thought it was a lump of mud, as it was not moving. It was so cold it could barely move when I picked it up. I added it to the tub indoors with the other tiny toads. It perked right up under the basking lamp and began to feed. I think it would have died if I had not found it, as the temperature is dropping rapidly as a major winter storm moves in, and this little toad had not found a decent hibernaculum in time. I am watching for any more stragglers.