Re: Toads

From: JESPRINGER at aol.com on 1998.07.16 at 15:33:45(2478) I too have toads living in plant pots. It's been going on for years. Every summer there are a few pots of plants I can't find homes for, and they live by the back door where I can water them easily. About this time of year, I notice a few plants are dead, for no apparent reason, so I tip the contents out, and find a very large toad in one pot, and a somewhat smaller toad in the next door pot. Male and female, I presume, in separate bedrooms. Once the plants die, I just leave the pots there, and keep watering them to benefit the toads. Too much water, and the toads pop out to express displeasure. Just right, and you'd never know they're there, though they surface every evening and have bug supper under the lights by the door. In spite of the price I pay, I like having them there because I know they eat bugs and slugs. By the end of the summer, they usually get names and seem like pets. I remove all the pots in the fall, and if the toads are still in residence, they get dumped out in the garden nearby. Since I get a pair back every year, I assume it's the same ones who know enough to return to the same spot. My questions are.......................do the lost plants succumb to the constant disturbance of roots, or is it poor potty training and high urea content that kills them? They usually appear semi-rootless. Anybody know what's going on down there in the dark? Do toads stake out territory? There are never more than two in that particular spot, and that leaves lots of uninhabited pots. Do the same ones really return to nest in the same place every year? And finally, what's a typical toad lifespan? Inquiring minds, at least this one, want to know. Thanks in advance if there's a responsive toad expert out there willing to chat. +More Judy Springer, Great Falls, VA, Zone 6b

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