Home For Toads

[237SJ]

I`ve found a toad in my very bone dry (at the moment) garden. He's in the same spot as he was in yesterday and I`m not sure if he is OK. I`ll keep an eye on him. I see that you can buy terracotta toad homes but you can also improvise with a smashed terracotta plant pot. Has anyone ever used one of these and found a toad actually using it?

[snags]

Toads don't need as watery an environment as frogs (unless they're breeding but that should be done now for this year) but do need access to moisture. Hose down a shady area with cover (tiles, tree roots, upturned pots etc) and stick him in there. It will also get moisture from the food it eats.

[rowanwitch]

I had one that used to come to my back door every night for mealworms. Snags is right just create a damp crawl space for it

[hereIam]

Good advice from the two above, it definitely needs some 'damp' in all this heat. Hope it thrives.

[237SJ]

Well he had turned himself around from the way he was facing this morning so I`m hoping he is OK. We used to get them in our garden in Devon as my Dad was a prolific vegetable grower plus we had dry stone walls so there was plenty of habitation for them. The garden here is so dry at the moment though. I will go over the area with a watering can later. Thanks for the replies.

[hereIam]

Why don't you give him some moisture right now 237, he must be desperately hot, poor thing may be hungry too.

[237SJ]

Well, I`m hoping that he went out and about during the night and has crawled back into the same spot for the day. I was just worried that he might have been there the whole time. I`ll look tonight when it's dark.

[Chipchopper]

Don't know much about bespoke toadtels but where I've found them in large numbers, is under a plastic garden storage chest, which sits on a bed of pea-shingle, must have been a dozen or more, I'm always careful not to move it now.
I have a stumpery where I grow ferns, which is also a good habitat for them to shelter and feed, always damp there too.

[237SJ]

Chipchopper, yes, that is where he is. Right under the door so I have to be really careful how I close it as he seems to have made it his home. I put the watering can around the area to keep it damp. I might make a terracotta toad home for the winter and see if I can encourage some more. Goodness knows where they are spawning because nobody around here has a pond as far as I know.