This summer, you may want to encourage a toad or two to take up residence in your backyard or garden. One toad can eat up to 10,000 insect pests over the course of the summer. Toads like damp, shady areas and need shelter. If you want to attract a toad, you should provide a good home, or “toad abode” for it. Garden stores or online stores sell plain terracotta or even fancy toad abodes like the one below from Lucinda & Co.:
Toad Abode from Lucinda & Co.
Toads need water, too, so you should leave tray of water near their abode. Line the toad’s home with leaf mold or leaf litter. Don’t bring toads from elsewhere and put them in your yard (or let loose pet toads). As with your frog pond, build it and (hopefully) the toad will come.
Here’s a solar-powered one with lights.
Solar Powered Toad Abode
I’m almost tempted to buy this, but unfortunately I have no toads in my city backyard. Maybe I could use it as a Slug Abode (I’ve got a lot of them!).
Here some more suggestions from the National Wildlife Federation for making your own toad abode:
If you’re on a budget, you can improvise. For instance, half-bury a large flowerpot on its side in a shady spot. Or take the same pot, drill holes at the rim in the shape of a door, tap gently with a hammer to remove the chip, invert and decorate to your heart’s content (nontoxic paints, please). Another option: Arrange flat rocks with a toad-sized space underneath. Situate your toad abode in the shade—say, under a bush—and in the dampest spot in your yard, near a gutter downspout, air-conditioner drip or in a low spot that collects rainwater.
Toads are sensitive to toxins, so don’t use lawn and garden chemicals in your garden or backyard!
Speaking of toads, I’m working on post about Toad Lit, so please send along your suggestions for your favorite children’s books with toad characters.
Tags: making a toad abode, Toad, toad habitat, toad shelter, toads in your backyard
transgenic animals…
[...]Toad Abodes | Frogs Are Green[...]…
I love all the idea for Toad Abodes, especially the solar-lighted cottage with its own little pool for the toad. I am thinking of a stone design in the shape of a castle with the moat for the water source and a drawbridge for the toad to enter his abode. Your ideas are very cute.
[...] have any amphibians in my city (that I know of), but if you have amphibians in your area, put out a toad abode to keep these local insect-eating amphibians [...]
We’ve had toad homes for years. Each time we move, we put it in the garden near a leaky faucet in our garden. Sometimes the faucets aren’t leaky so we help it out a wee bit! Before buying one (which they don’t actually use) we just tipped over pots…which they do!
Hi Margaret–
Thanks for your comment! So glad you’re enjoying the blog! We really appreciate your feedback.
Mary Jo
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Margaret
http://howtomakecompost.info
Hi Karen,
Thanks so much for your camping story, stay tuned for the next post…
Susan
When me and the family went camping over the years, one of my favorite things to do was to see all the wildlife around us. My favorite animal was the wood toad. They were fun to watch, easy to feed, never bit- no teeth- and seemed to enjoy life just hoping around enjoying their surroundings.
I hope the Toad Adobe will bring some toads my way. They are delightful little fellows!
Thanks, Jimmy, for your comment. That is so interesting–another great way to make a toad abode, or rather a “toe frog house,” and a fun reason to wiggle one’s toes in the sand and mud, too!
Mary Jo
Growing up as a kid in the rural deep South, my cousins and I made our own toad abodes. The secret was in the sandy, damp soil in our part of North Carolina. You simply sat down, placed your foot flat against the ground, then piled up the moist sand, packing it down until a large igloo shaped dome was left. Then slooowly slip your foot out, and there was a nice moist cave for a toad. It was also a nice excuse to cool your bare feet in the sand. You can also make them out of mud, if you don’t have sand.
We didn’t call them ‘toad abodes’ but rather ‘toe frog houses’. They actually worked!