Gulf Coast Toads
The Gulf Coast Toad or Coastal Plains Toad is known in the scientific community as either Bufo nebulifer or Bufo valliceps. These toads live in the southern United States, especially around the Gulf of Mexico in Texas and Louisiana. After their larval stage, they live primarily on land, but return to water to mate. These toads like the warm, humid climate of the Gulf Coast region. They feed on the invertebrates that gather around lights at night.
Gulf Coast Toads are wild animals, and should be kept that way. However, they are a fairly common species within their range and are not in any danger of extinction. If one happens to invade your household, you might be able to keep it as a pet! I do not recommend going out and catching wild toads, but if one wanders into your house (or you have already caught it), you don’t have to feel too guilty about harming the environment.
Capture
It’s fairly simple to catch a toad. Put some large container over the toad and slide a piece of cardboard under the container. Slowly invert the container (be careful not to let the toad fall down) until the toad is secure in the container. After it is trapped like this, you can go about building a habitat.
Housing
A toad needs very little to survive. Provide it the basics of food, water, shelter, and space and your toad will be set for the privileged life as a pet.
Make sure the container you use to house the toad has plenty of room for the toad to hop around. Toads also like to burrow, so provide about three inches of some sort of substrate. I would recommend using soil from your garden (the toad’s natural habitat) or amphibian-friendly substrates like sphagnum moss or peat. Do not use anything that absorbs moisture, like wood chips or paper products, as the toad needs moisture to survive.
Provide the toad with a place to hide. You might choose to buy a hollowed-out half-log they sell at pet stores, or you can just use a plastic cup or large rock. Ultimately, the toad just needs a place it can feel secure and out of harm’s way.
Toads also need water. Use a shallow container to keep just enough water for the toad to soak itself. You should also lightly moisturize the substrate with a water spritzer. Make sure all water you use is dechlorinated! You can use distilled or spring water for this purpose. Tap water has additives like chlorine and chloramines which can harm the toad.
Feeding
The toad will eat any properly-sized thing that moves! You can feed it any of the typical feeder bugs they sell at pet stores. Alternatively (and more cost-effectively), you can catch your own bugs! It can actually be quite fun! I invested in a bug vacuum I bought in the toy section of a nearby store. Anything you catch needs to be a little smaller than your toad’s mouth. Make sure the toad can catch it, too. Some flies and moths are very hard to catch.
There are no real guidelines on how much to feed your Gulf Coast Toad. They will eat whatever you feed them, and it is hard for them to overeat. Remember, with all amphibians, a fat one is a healthy one! Skinny amphibians are very close to death.
One very interesting thing about these toads is what they do when they molt. Toads periodically shed their skin, which allows them to grow. These toads, however, eat their old skin. I caught my toad peeling off the skin of her leg as if it were a glove. She continued to chew it like some disgusting snack!
As with all animals, what goes in must come out! Toad feces, as disgusting as they may be, are actually quite remarkable. They are extremely large in comparison to the size of the toad (if your feces were that large, they would be as big as your forearm!). Don’t fear large masses in your toad’s habitat. It is probably just a poo.
General Care
Keep the toad well-fed and well-watered and you will run into few problems. If the toad’s habitat starts to smell bad, simply change out the substrate and replace it. If you use garden soil, take out however much you need, dump the dirty soil where you got the fresh soil (to replace it), and add the fresh soil to the habitat.
As the toad grows, you may want to give it a larger place to live in, or you may wish to set it free into the wild. Remember that, by keeping it as a pet, you are protecting the toad from several outside stimuli and stressors such as competing invertivores, predators, mates, prey, weather conditions, etc. The toad may not be accustomed to life in the wild. If you choose to release the toad, release it in a place where it will be a little safer from harm, such as in a backyard or under heavy plant cover.
Identification
How can you be sure this is a Gulf Coast Toad?
Gulf Coast Toads have well-defined ridges on their faces and bodies. They are very bumpy as well. They can be distinguished by a dark back with a lighter-colored stripe down the spine. They also may have dorso-lateral stripes (stripes on the sides of their backs). Their undersides are a light color, lighter than the rest of the body. Compared to many amphibians, I’ve noticed that these toads appear rather “dry.” They aren’t glossy at all, except immediately after molting.
Males have a yellowish or greenish tint to the underside of their mouths (their “chins”), while females do not. They have very beautiful eyes, that have golden- to golden-brown shine.
They are very amazing creatures, and make fun, cheap, easy pets!
