Make sure you choose a tank with a mesh or screen lid that fastens tightly to prevent your toad from escaping. The lid will stop your toad from jumping out of the tank, and it should be mesh or screen to provide proper ventilation Toads are comfortable at room temperature and in ambient daylight, so you don’t need to purchase any heaters or lamps for your toad. Keep the tank out of direct sunlight, because too much sun can hurt your toad. If you want to catch more than 1 toad to keep as a pet, you’ll need a bigger tank. For every extra toad you want to keep in the tank, you’ll need a tank that is 5 US gal (19 L) bigger. However, keeping more than 4 or 5 toads may require a very large tank or result in some of your toads breeding unexpectedly.
You can also buy specialty substrate material at a pet store, which will make sure your toad is extra comfortable. Don’t use anything too hard, like gravel or sand, as substrate. It could be harmful to your toad if it swallows it. To make it easier for your toad to dig into the substrate, moisten it with a spray bottle of non-chlorinated water every few days.
Use dechlorination tablets to remove the chlorine from tap water, or fill the dish with bottled water. Don’t use distilled water, as it will be missing a lot of nutrients that the toads need to survive. Even the small amounts of chlorine found in most tap water will be harmful to your toad, so it’s important to use water that is filtered, bottled, or has been treated for chlorine. If you notice the water becoming cloudy, you should change it. This might be as often as once a day to keep your toad happy. The water should be shallow enough for your toad to sit in, but not so shallow that it cannot soak properly. Try and keep the depth of your water around half of the height of your toad.
Make sure that you don’t put anything in the tank that could fall over and hurt the toad. Try and use low and wide objects rather than anything too tall. Gather some plants, rocks, or branches from the area where you caught your toad to make it feel at home. Anything natural gathered from your yard should be safe, whereas introducing foreign or strange items may distress your toad.
As well as making the toad uncomfortable or nervous, the oils on your skin can be harmful to the toad with too much contact.
Keep your toad in a smaller tank or a critter carrier while you clean out the main tank. Make sure it has plenty of water in the holding tank so that it remains comfortable.
Only feed your toad insects that will be able to easily fit in its mouth; otherwise, it might choke while trying to eat. Toads are carnivorous and get most of their nutrients from eating insects. If you’re not comfortable with feeding your toad live insects, keeping a wild toad as a pet might not be for you.
If you’re feeding your toad smaller insects, such as ants or ladybugs, you should feed it twice as much or twice as often to keep it healthy.
Supplement powders made specifically to keep toads healthy can be found at your local pet store, or by looking online. In the wild, natural sunlight will help toads process calcium more effectively. When kept in a tank or indoors, they need a supplement to make up for the absence of sunlight and keep them healthy.
Look in, around, and under bushes or logs when trying to find your new pet. Toads can be burnt by too much direct sunlight, so you might need to look in a few hiding places to find one. In the springtime, male toads will sit in pools of water and croak loudly to try and find a mate. Listen out for loud croaking, or look in ponds and puddles to try to find a toad. If there’s nowhere nearby that you think toads could hide, try making a small area that’ll be more comfortable for one. Make a small puddle, add some hiding places, and add some decorations to make an area that will attract toads.
If you feel something wet in your hands, don’t panic. The toad is releasing water from its bladder, not peeing on you. If the toad jumps out of your hands, it might hurt itself by hitting the ground too hard. Try and avoid handling the toad too much, as the oils on your skin can hurt it. Move your toad to a holding container as quickly as possible.
You’ll need great aim to catch a toad properly! If you miss and hit the toad with the edge of the net, you may hurt it. Don’t keep the toad in your net for too long, as it won’t be very comfortable for it!
Most tap water has some chlorine in it, which can be harmful to toads. Use tap water that has been treated with a dechlorinating tablet, or filtered or bottled water to keep your toad healthy as you move it. Try to avoid sloshing the water around too much, as this might distress the toad.
If your tank is large enough, you could also lower the transport tank into the new enclosure. Leave the lid on the transport tank open to let your toad jump out when it feels comfortable. Make sure you replace the lid as soon as your toad is in the tank. If your toad doesn’t seem to be adjusting to the tank and seems unhappy, you may need to release it back into the wild. Try and find a different toad that will be more happy in captivity.
