Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,
Does anyone know of or have ever heard of any companies that may produce a toad scent spray for toad eaters? I love hognose snakes and I'd like to get into more besides westerns without the hassle of catching toads but also trying to have a supply of them year round. It seems impossible that no one has created such a spray yet. Any advice or info would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Here's what I do to scent prey items and it has worked for me very well...

Get your hands on a toad, road killed or euthanized, and put it into a deli cup. Cover it with the lid and put it into the freezer. Whenever you need to feed a problem snake (such as a hognose) take your deli cup out of the freezer and put it into the microwave for a few seconds, I do for 10-15. Keep the lid on. You only want to put the cup & toad in the microwave long enough to get it a little moist and musty inside. Next, take it out and place a live feeder mouse into the cup, close the lid and let the mouse move around a little in there for a few minutes. The musty scent and moisture will get all over your feeder. This has worked great for me with scenting domestic mice and rats with lizards or natural rodent prey species to entice WC snakes to feed. I imagine it will work for toads too. I have used one scent item probably a hundred times and had it sill work.

It will probably work better with offering live prey first. If your are feeding subadult or adult hognosed snakes try a fuzzy or pinky then move onto a prekilled mouse, all scented in the same fashion. If you are feeding babies of course start off offering scented pinkies.

Hope this helps!
Greg Knoell
www.thecoloreddragon.com
www.thecoloreddragon.com

Thank you for the help!
I have never thought of trying that. I've never had a problem getting western hognose to take rodents, only the eastern and southerns. I will give that a shot come next spring when I come across a toad.
Thanks again!

This came up right on que. I just aquired a WC Eastern hog nose and haven't tried to over winter them before so this is handy.

Quig

It was a great idea as oppossed to keeping a live toad all winter long. I mean, what if the toad dies? Where are you going to get another and then the snake doesn't eat till spring? The freezer toad is a very good idea, props to him!

LOL, I think the live toad idea is a good one too. For the entertainment value at least and they aren't hard to keep.

Quig