I.Love.Toads

[Greg M]

Amen Terry! Woodhouse's toads love to bask - I get "toad pyramids" (sometimes three or four toads high) near the light source!

Frogs and toads are poikilotherms, but that doesn't mean that they are passive with respect to temperature. Frogs and toads appear to actively regulate their body temperature (and hence metabolism) by moving to warmer or cooler areas. Giving them a thermogradient in captivity allows them to thermoregulate in a manner analogous to how they do "in nature". A most cases, a low-wattage bulb or ceramic heater at one end will allow the toad to choose an optimal temperature. Obviously, one has to be careful to not overheat or desiccate the animal...

[tgampper]

Amen Terry! Woodhouse's toads love to bask - I get "toad pyramids" (sometimes three or four toads high) near the light source!

The fact that toads like to bask was news to me At the zoo, we used a lot of pottery for hides and water bowls. You can use overturned, small flowerpots with a hollowed out opening as hides and shallow pottery bowls (about 1-2" deep) as water bowls. The basking light was placed over the flowerpot hide. It was a standard basking light with about a 100 watt bulb and metal reflector. Every morning, when I cleaned the cages, I found that most of the toads were crammed in the hide. There was at least one brave toad resting on top of the flowerpot directly under the lamp. I'll tell you that it was pretty hot under the lamp!

If you want to add a basking area for your toad, make sure you start off with a low-wattage bulb. Most toads are nocturnal and may have different temperature requirements.