Toad Identification

Ben Ruset

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Can someone identify this toad?

IMG_0010.jpg


Is it a Fowlers Toad, or an American Bullfrog?

We rescued him in the spring when I accidentally ran him over with the lawn mower. That's why he only has one eye. :( His name, aptly enough, is "Mower". He's also probably the coolest animal I've ever owned.
 

NJSnakeMan

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it's a Fowler's Toad. As long as he is okay and can still live, once i got one out of somebodys wood pile they were moving. Sadly enough his insides were well.. inside out.
 

Ben Ruset

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NJSnakeMan said:
it's a Fowler's Toad. As long as he is okay and can still live, once i got one out of somebodys wood pile they were moving. Sadly enough his insides were well.. inside out.

He's okay and doing quite well with stalking the crickets we buy from Petsmart. He also enjoys his water dish and sunning himself under the heat lamp. If he's in the mood he will hop over to his hollow log and hang out there, or bury himself in his peat for a while.

We kept him because we didn't think he'd be able to survive in the wild with only one eye. He's been doing great in his cage, though.
 

NJSnakeMan

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He's probably a little happy camper, =) Free crickets. Don't have to worry about water. All the heat he wants and needs, and can hide whenever disired. Plus no predators!
 

Rubibee

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Dec 10, 2002
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That's great you 'adopted' him. He is pretty cool looking. You should put an eye patch on him and call him the "piney pirate". (I know pretty corny). He is very neat, good luck with him, Ben.



bruset said:
We rescued him in the spring when I accidentally ran him over with the lawn mower. That's why he only has one eye. :( His name, aptly enough, is "Mower". He's also probably the coolest animal I've ever owned.
 

Teegate

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It is interesting that he is doing well. Do you feed him anything other than crickets?

Guy
 

uuglypher

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Jun 8, 2005
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Check with the pet store and find out what they are feeding their crickets. Some get shipments of refrigerated wild crickets, and some get 'em from cricket breeders who feed them crumbled catfood or dog food. Wild crickets are sometimes inadequate in their calcium and/or vitamin D3 content, and captive vertebrates fed on them for a period of time can deveop rickets and/or nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism.

No kidding, I've seen it in captive anoles fed on wildcrickets, and saw high incidence of nutritional bone disease in nestling cattle egrets in a region with a high mole cricket population(Brazos County, TX, yearly from 1993 thru 1996) Crickets were the most readily available food for the parent egrets to easily catch and feed their , so that was all that most of them ate from hatching until fledging. Young birds generally survived until nudged from the nest, when the fall (the quick stop, actually...) caused multiple fractures in their weakened skeletons. Broken wings, legs, and vertebrae were common.
The solution? Assure your toad's food supply is adequate by keeping a ready supply of crickets THAT HAVE BEEN FED for a few weeks on ON DRY DOGFOOD (Puppy chow or Adult maintenance diet. both contain adequate calcium, vitaminD-3, as well as a plethora of other vitamins and minerals).

Just some advice from your fiendly neighborhood retired veterinarian/wildlife/zoo pathologist who has had lots of experience with zoo and wild animals, as well as with "non-traditional pets".

Oh yeah; this is a case of the advice being definitely worth more than you paid for it!

Rescuing a one-eyed toad! Y'got a good heart, Laddie!

Best t'ye,
Dave
 

Ben Ruset

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If it matters, we dust the crickets with vitamin powder before feeding him.

I was an absolute maniac when I hit him with the lawnmower. First, there was a LOT of blood. I don't deal well with that. I thought I had killed him. I called my wife out, and just as we were getting close to where he was, he hopped straight up, and both of us jumped as well! Fortunately washing him off and applying some bactine seemed to do him good. I thought he might regrow his eye, but he just scarred over. I just hope he's not in any sort of residual pain from his ordeal.

Frogs are one of my favorite animal so I would have been devistated if I had killed one.
 

dragoncjo

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Aug 12, 2005
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toad

yeah that is def a fowler's toad. Are you keeping him inside or outside. I have a fowler's that a friend gave me as a baby. He found it in late september it was very young and it was the first week of october. I decided to keep it since fowler's hibernate very early, and i didn't think the little guy would make it through the winter. Toads in my opinion don't do well inside. One day they will look healthy and the next day they stop eating and die. My suggestion for you(which is what I did with mine) is the buy a preformed pond and put him outside in that. They are much happier and interesting outside, not to mention healthier. Also they get the summer rains which they love. If you have red worms,slugs, and pill bugs toads love them. Good luck with the little guy
 

Ben Ruset

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dragoncjo said:
yeah that is def a fowler's toad. Are you keeping him inside or outside. I have a fowler's that a friend gave me as a baby. He found it in late september it was very young and it was the first week of october. I decided to keep it since fowler's hibernate very early, and i didn't think the little guy would make it through the winter. Toads in my opinion don't do well inside. One day they will look healthy and the next day they stop eating and die. My suggestion for you(which is what I did with mine) is the buy a preformed pond and put him outside in that. They are much happier and interesting outside, not to mention healthier. Also they get the summer rains which they love. If you have red worms,slugs, and pill bugs toads love them. Good luck with the little guy

He's been inside for over a year and doing great.
 
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