arhh there is a large toad?jumping around my garden. i put the question mark as it is large and fawny grey brown colour,any way are they dangerous to dogs etc,i had my 80 year old neighbour trying to catch it whilst i stood up the top of my children slide, its still out there jumping around, how do i catch it
jo

Don't talk to me about toads. My dog had toad poisoning this time last year. I don't know why the hell he did it, after all they are supposed to produce a serum to make them taste vile, but sure enough he ate one and was in the vets for a week, having all sorts of anti sickness drugs pumped into him. There is no antidote apparently, all they can do is treat the symptoms.

A fishing net

i never thought of that, my partner is fishing mad, not sure how happy he will be when i catch a toad,although to be honest it will be alot more than what he catches lol
i am keeping the dogs off the grass until he is caught and i better look for babies,well we have had toads,hedgehogs,foxes in our garden whatever next
jo

>how do i catch it

There's no need to catch it - leave it well alone and it'll move off soon enough.  It won't want to hang around in the sun and is probably just passing through.  If you are lucky enough to have a toad that likes your garden it'll do a pretty good job of tackling your slug population and will generally stay in a shady spot near a fence or wall.

Keep your dogs indoors for a while to be sure but they shouldn't be overly bothered by a toad either.  However, if they are curious, they should be discouraged from pawing it for the toads safety and eating or licking it, for their own safety.  We had to do an emergency vet visit once with a toad sucking Munster.  Very expensive!!

Hi Joanne, if it's really jumping it's very unlikely to be a toad. Toads are usually very sedate and walk rather than jump. If you have got a toad, let it get safely out of the way--it will do a good job in your garden. I have a few living in my backyard. I put the water butt on bricks to make a safe haven and stuffed moss into it.

Toads are remarkable--we had a young toad that was a beautiful burnished bronze colour with coppery eyes, and they can live to a great age.

I know they say toads will eat slugs, but in my experience of keeping them I find they would rather eat almost anything else. Watching a toad drag its foot across its mouth to wipe off the slug slime tells you everything about how much they aren't keen on slug treats. If you want to see a toad become almost animated, offer it a cricket :). Must be like heaven!

Frogs are a different story and not half as nice characters.

Well my old boy must have been reading this thread!! Heard a scuffle last night, went out the back door and there he was frothing at the mouth having caught the toad that had settled behind the hosepipe reel! Why won't he learn, he's been at it for years?? Got hubby to remove toad and put it in someone's front garden, went out about an hour later and it was back!!!
Does anyone know if it's true that they return to where it was born? 

Hi Karen, yes, it's absolutely true that toads, frogs and newts will return to their spawning grounds, even when the pond has been filled in and a building put up! I used to manage a wetland project on an industrial estate (*dream job*) and one of our 'neighbours' was a family run engineering firm. The mother came over one day to say that there were parades of amphibians coming into their building and she couldn't stop them so had put a box out for them with chipped bark--not exactly what they were looking for :)

Toads are fairly territorial and will return to 'their' patch. They mind their own business--frankly I'm amazed at the hazards they manage to survive. It isn't that I'm unsympathetic to dogs at all, but they really are charming animals under that warty skin--much nicer than frogs! A garden with a toad is well blessed.

Thanks for that JAY15, I'm not frightened of it ( really!!) but with four terriers wanting to say hello to it I am concerned for it's welfare. The only thing remotely wet in our garden is the large water bowl for the dogs, I must try and remember to empty it early evening to stop attracting it. It likes to lurk under our wheelie bins and appears after I have watered all the hanging baskets.

We have a pond in the garden with toads and frogs, apart from when they are mating laying the tend to spend lots of time out of the pond. when its dry like this and then we have a decent shower they appear from everywhere, been out on occasions and counted 15-20 of them just wombling about after dark, looking for food presumably. Its quite funny if Zuma hasn't noticed one and it moves down by his feet - he jumps as much as the frog. :-D
Chris

Hi Karen, toads like to be kept damp and in the shade, but they only need to go into water when they are spawning, that's true of frogs and newts as well :) Your wheelie bin must be ideal.

Toads are fussy about where they spawn, unlike frogs. They like moving water and deeper water than frogs and they prefer certain water plants to which they attach ropes of eggs rather than the usual glob of frog jelly.

a few years ago I had a dog that licked toads, he was fanatic when he saw one, greeting them like a long lost friend.  one time he foamed at the mouth for ages, I had to rinse his mouth well, fortunatly he didnt come to any harm, it was a worry though.

> a few years ago I had a dog that licked toads, he was fanatic when he saw one, greeting them like a long lost friend. 

Oops! Toad secretions contain a hallucinogenic chemical called Bufotenin. Think you had an addict on your hands ;)

Well my boy must have been having a great " trip" last night. I will be going out tonight with a torch to check the coast is clear before letting them out. We had terrible trouble trying to get his mouth open so I could clear out all the gunk :(

The variety of topics you learn about on this site is great :)