Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am a 25 year old Audio engineer in the Gulf Coast of Texas. I get home late at night, and last night was one of those nights. I have a small pond with a fountain in it, and heard this deafening roar coming from it, almost incessantly. After getting my ears pounded by large speakers all night, to come home and hear this was horrible to me. So, I politely ejected (gently and with no distress or physical damage to the Toads) about 13 of these little racketmakers out of my pond. They are there every few days it seems, mating in the pond.

Now onto the next thing. I felt bad about taking a piece of their habitat away, considering that they were here first, and I would actually like to care for a couple myself. I would feel better keeping them in captivity here in the house. My yard is actually a dangerous place, with neighborhood cats among other predators, plus the fire ants, and the chlorinated pool that I sometimes find them in. I have no problems sharing my pool with these guys, but I got to keep chlorine in there, and thats not good for them either.

What do I need to give a couple GC toads a good home? I keep the house air conditioned at about 74 degrees day and night, have several fishtanks(with fish in them, and one that isnt being used). How much space do I need? Should I make it half land and half water? how big should the tank be? Where do I get the calcium powder? I got a million questions, but I think I would really like to have a GC toad here in the house. I do have the time and money to care for it, and can't have a conventional pet. My fish are nice, but kinda boring from time to time.

Someone help me get going, please, before they all go away!
Alan

If I were you, I'd leave the singing adults (loud as they are, but think of all the skeeters they eat) & raise up a couple-few babies from tadpole or tiny toadlet stage. That way they don't come into captivity having known about the whole big outside to wander... it seems somehow kinder to me.

Tiny little toad babies can eat dusted/gutloaded pinhead crix & flightless fruit flies...rule of thumb, feed stuff no wider than their heads. Tadpoles can graze off algae-covered stuff from your pond & live in pond water, if you change it fresh every day with new pond water. Tadpoles can live about one tad per gallon, & when they have 4 legs they need something to climb onto, up out of the water. 4 legs = no more gills for tadpoles, they have to use brand new lungs to breathe, then.

I kept Edmond (adult toad) in a 20 gallon (used to have 2 but Clive died last year, unknown reason), with ~3 inches or so of moist coconut fiber (bed-a-beast type stuff) over terra-lite for drainage (look at blackjungle.com about that stuff). Live plants planted in the coco fiber get fertilized with toad poop, nothing's easier. GC toads like to bury themselves in the substrate, backing their butts down into it. Coco fiber is good for this. They also like low-ceilinged, snug little hidey-holes to go under, especially if they can hollow out the soil underneath a little.

Plants like fluorescent lights over the screen lid...2 is better than one. 12 hours on, 12 hours off. Judge temp by what the outdoor guys have; it may be hot, but these are burrowing, shade-loving guys, so if I was cool enough to use long sleeves I turned on a heat lamp (on one end of the tank, for a temp gradient) but didn't worry much otherwise.

Crickets (I fed ~6 a week) get dusted with rep-cal or rep-vite supplement powder, & gut-loaded fresh nutritious veggies, or store-bought cricket bites. Waxworms are a popular occasional treat (all fat), but mealworms keep chompin too long after they've been swallowed, so don't offer those. Edmond never ate an earthworm when I offered em, but it's worth trying.

I liked a dish deep enough to cover Edmond's shoulders with water...I used a ramekin (sorry mom). He looked real cute in it, often sat in it with one arm propped on the rim, like a fat guy in a jacuzzi. Change the water every day, use water aged 24 hours to leach out chlorine, if you're on city water. They usually poop/pee right into the water, so change it daily even if you can't see any 'foreign matter'. I had Edmond's dish embedded in the coco fiber, so I used a (toad only) turkey baster to suck out the water, rinse, empty & fill again (& just water plants with it or dump down the toilet if it's too moist to water plants anymore).

You can have a lot of fun landscaping & creating a little environment for your toad(s). When we lived in SoCal, I got the toads & built the terrarium because I missed the ferns/moss type environment of the northeast, so it was a little oasis on my bedside table, & there was always interesting stuff going on in there. Good for taking imaginary walks in a mini garden. Edmond & the rest of the critters moved 3000 miles back east with us last summer, & now we've got 17 acres of REAL woodland, with salamanders & newts & painted turtles & deer....but I still love my bedside garden. Just wish Edmond was still in it...(see last post for info on his death.)

I'm in MA & never lived in GC Toad territory, so you probably can glean more info about their ideal environment yourself; I just bought mine in a pet store (labeled Egyptian Toads, no less) & did the best I could with research.

Have fun...maybe make a naturalistic non-chlorinated pond for the locals?
-----
~kimhotep

Sounds good to me. Actually, my back yard sounds almost just like what you just described in your terrarium! Guess I am on the right track then. The only problem, and I mean the ONLY problem with doing a non chlorinated pool is keeping the mosquito population under control in my back yard without using petrochemical sprays. I mean, if the toadlets will eat the mosquito larvae (and there has been talk of Mosquitos here carrying West Nile) I will gladly discontinue my use of chlorinated water. I am very sorry to hear about Edmond, but it sounds to me like he lived very well with you, and was content and extremely well cared for. If I can get the chlorine out of the pond in time, maybe its not too late for breeders to come back. Also, you were saying about aged water for the froglets and Toads... What about a product like AmQuel? I keep several fishtanks and when I have to do a water change I add that per direction with tapwater (its supposed to dechlorinate the water to make it safe for fish, and seems to be the only product that really works). I have not lost any of my fish due to chlorination yet, and the fish don't act any different when I do that. Your thoughts?

...I'm just not experienced enough to comment on the water dechlorination products - I've never used them. I don't have much experience - just raised up a batch of wood frog tads this spring, & kept a couple toads. & I like to read about caring for these guys, & applying what I learn.

I don't know what feeds on mosquito larvae, except fish (not good for toad eggs & tadpoles)& various species of dragonfly larvae. However - bats feed on flying mosquitos. & they eat LOTS of em. Read much about bat houses? Bat houses are COOL. Bats can really make an impact on your local insect population... & they're even quieter than toads. http://www.batcon.org/bhra/index.html

We have West Nile around here too, as well as deer ticks carrying Lyme. Mosquitos carry heartworm too, if you've got a dog. Reading up on West Nile made me not so concerned about it (the odds of getting a serious problem from it are outweighed by the toxicity of any really effective mosquito repellants, IMO - & so far as I can tell, you only get West Nile once).

It sounds like you're already providing a really nice environment out back for your local wildlife. Do you read the pond forums? They're either on kingsnake.com or moved over to aquariumhobbyist.com. I bet folks there would have ideas re: chlorine.

Thanks again - Edmond is missed. There's just something about toads, they seem so proper, officious, & unflappable. Like skunks. Lots of personality. Maybe we'll meet a small toadlet in our daily adventures, who can fill the gap; we already came across two red efts just the other morning on the driveway, so this is an amphib-happy area, which pleases me lots.

Good luck
-----
~kimhotep

Everything that the other person said is on the dot about the tank set up and everfything. I had two GC toads and I found them to be very active and they love to climb on branches and rocks so. I would say a 20 gallon long would be good to two no more though since they are very active at night. The coolest thing I thaught about them is how they lay down on all four limbs instead of how most toads completely burrow undernieth the substrate. Mine ate earthworms like there was no tomorrow, but like you will find out each toad or frog has its own personality so one may eat them and another may not. I found on the net that said there day time temps should be around mid 80's and mid to low 70's at night.

good luck and keep us posted on how things go
AAron
-----
Aaron aka Doofy

Knowledge is not power; APPLIED knowledge is power
What is Victory worth without sacrifice