Toad Advice/Info?

[DoraMac]

In spring, most years, I come across adult toads which presumably have been hibernating in the garden. Over the past week I have discovered a mating pair among patio plant pots, a very surprised toad in the middle of my kitchen floor, one in my dog's water bowl and another in a half full bag of compost. Unfortunately I found another was squashed by a vehicle.

I don't have a pond but there is a small loch and a burn about 1/4 mile distant and have never come across any spawn in local ditches or standing water. I don't have access to the loch to investigate there.

From mid September to mid October the garden and greenhouse is covered by hundreds of toadlets. If I leave the door open they come into the house too.

Any advice on how to give these creatures as much protection as possible would be appreciated.

[dampflippers]

Toads only need to return to the pond as adults for breeding. The rest of the time they live terrestrially, and they can travel quite a long distance to the pond.
They need places to hide during the night, and will come out in the night to hunt.
In the winter they need somewhere to hibernate- a logpile, rockery, compost heap etc.
They eat invertebrates, slugs, beetles, flies etc.
Please don't use slug pellets, and check anywhere that you might strim.
The poor female often gets bagged by a male on the way to the pond, and has to carry him (and his friends) all the way there!

If you know of a road where lots of toads get squashed, let froglife know and you may be able to start a toad crossing patrol.

You could build a pond yourself, and it will definitely attract frogs, but toads usually return to their birth pond.

[DoraMac]

Thanks damp's for the info. Unfortunately my garden seems to be a toad transit area. It is about an acre in area with a 1/2 mile track to the main road. All incoming and outgoing domestic and delivery vehicles have to use the track to access the house.

I haven't investigated froglife but will do so soon.

Cheers

[nightshade]

I would have thought that the further they moved the more they would naturally spread out to establish territory. Have you tried backtracking them?

[Kayleigh]

Toads will breed in other ponds as they did in mine the first time I filled it with water so could you build a pond mine is about 10ft long and 2ft deep in the middle but shallow all round, they obviously like your garden so that's a start.
You might not see the spawn as the toads lay it round plants under the water I know mine is there and its really hard to see its in 2 long strings not blobs like frogspawn.

[King Edward]

It sounds as if the toads are most likely breeding in the loch, and very successfully too. They generally prefer larger waterbodies like that, rather than ditches / small ponds, since the tadpoles are distasteful to fish and there's less predation by newts. Warm(ish) wet nights are when they tend to be most active, i.e. especially not when it's frosty, so if you go out with a torch after dark on suitable evenings you should be able to see what they're up to.

As dampflippers says, the best thing you can do in the garden for them is to provide good terrestrial habitat with lots of cover and untidy areas where they can hide out in safety. A pond (ideally without fish) would be good for frogs, newts and other wildlife, but I don't think it would benefit the toads in this case.

[DoraMac]

Thanks to everyone who has offered info and advice.

Keeping untidy areas should not be hard.lol.

Backtracking the toadlets would be difficult. If the toads are spawning in the loch, I think this is the most likely scenario, they would have to cross a minor road and a large field to reach the garden. I suppose come the autumn I could investigate the road to see if they are using any particular crossing point.

I would love a pond but at the moment such a project is on the back burner for various reasons.

[nightshade]

Re. pond, Half a barrel works very well two half barrels one above the other makes a water feature

[DoraMac]

Originally Posted by nightshade

Re. pond, Half a barrel works very well two half barrels one above the other makes a water feature

Definitely going to investigate creating a half barrel pond, (don't really want a water feature with two barrels) There are some aspects about which I am not sure. Given the sides of the barrel are quite steep, how would frogs etc. enter the pond. Do I need to provide some sort of a "ladder"? Should I sink the barrel into the ground? A half barrel is relatively deep in relation to the circumference, would I need to provide some gradation to enable young to leave the pond?

I have checked out some internet sites but they don't seem to address these issues - just some pretty garden pictures of half barrel ponds.

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by DoraMac

Definitely going to investigate creating a half barrel pond, (don't really want a water feature with two barrels) There are some aspects about which I am not sure. Given the sides of the barrel are quite steep, how would frogs etc. enter the pond. Do I need to provide some sort of a "ladder"? Should I sink the barrel into the ground? A half barrel is relatively deep in relation to the circumference, would I need to provide some gradation to enable young to leave the pond?

I have checked out some internet sites but they don't seem to address these issues - just some pretty garden pictures of half barrel ponds.

This is mine full of duck weed its not like this atm but come summer it will be back..
As you can see the ivy acts as a ladder and I have a basket with iris is supported on bricks to make it near the top to allow a shallow edge..



I will try to get some better shots soon..



This frog is in the barrel and hope to get some spawn soon.