I'm assuming we are about to have a Toad House Warming!
When they're not zapping slugs and bugs with thier lightning fast tounge, your better choice for your garden, lives a quiet life.
Old Bufo appears much as his name implies. He's a squat, plump, easy going fellow with bulging eyes, bumpy brown skin, and a pale fat underbelly.
(Fat because this fellow will eat 50 to 100 slugs, flies, grubs, grasshoppers and cutworms every night?) The two large bumps behind the eyes are not warts but a pair of glands that produce a toxin so nauseating that it makes dogs, cats, or other toad tasters drop their prey and bound away clawing at their sore mouths.
A vital part of maitaining the natural balance in our landscape, Old Bufo chows down on many of the worst garden pests, including slugs, potato beetles, and cutworms...Their specialty. The next time you see a toad, stop to say hello and welcome it to your garden. If it’s happy and feels at home, it could stay for 20 years. And unlike some birds we know, this humble garden guest won’t eat your crops for dessert. Toads come out to eat at dusk or on grey drizzly days, and they rise up on all four legs to stalk their prey, as a lioness does before she proceeds with her final thrust and snatch... an agile tounge moving faster than our eyes can follow, zooming out, coiling about the victim, and ripping it back into their mouths.
The American toad (Bufo americanus) or one
of its many cousins can be found from coast to coast. If you don’t have
toads already visiting your yard, you can adopt some from another location. These amphibians breed in the spring.
Visit ponds and ditches that hold water on an April evening and you'll hear the high pitched, monotone trill of lovesick American male toads (Old Bufo). As the young toads
change from tadpoles and begin to move to land, gently pick up a few and take
them home. Most gardens can support several toads.
As long as a toad has shelter, moisture and food, it could stay
for years.
Toads feed mainly at night, drizzly days, and they need
shelter and moisture during the heat of bright days. They take cover by burying
themselves in damp mulch or hiding beneath low-growing plants. Any inviting structure will intice toads: a baord on the ground, a flat rock with a bit of space beneath it, an inverted pot- clay or other-wise with a v-shaped cip for a doorway,
or a two-layer stack of four bricks. Adult toads will need an opening at
least 2 inches wide and 1-1/2 inches tall, so lay the top two bricks perpendiculiar to the bottom two allowing the 2 inch hole. In late fall, toads burrow 3 feet
below the soil’s surface to hibernate until spring.
Moisture — to cool off is nice, as toads can drink through their skin. Set a saucer of water level with the ground so a toad can jump into it. Make sure to keep it filled on hot days.
Even as tadpoles, toads eat mosquito larvae in the water.
Adult toads feed mainly on insects, so it’s wise not to use
pesticides. You’ll be taking away their food supply; and many pesticides
are toxic to toads. Always use the least-toxic organic insecticide or a
cultural control, such as hand picking insects off your plants. Or do what I do
— invite more hungry toads to feast in your garden. Once your toads claim a home, you'll find them in the same spot year after year. They may live as long as the family dog, giving you a decade of great bug protection.
And, by the way, should you be inclined to snuggle up to your favorite toad in the hope of releasing Prince Charming, don't worry. Warts are caused by a virus and not Old Bufo.