Into the Archives 37-Toad

11/10/2011

Toads have always been one of my favorite animals. They are extremely easy to catch and their care is minimal, I just let them go after a week or two. 2003 was the first year that I started this little hobby of mine.

 A direct entry from my nature journal:

Toady and Spring

Spring 2003- 6 years old

It all started when we found a boy toad. It was April 1st and mom found a toad in the garden. Then mom called me, "A toad! Come and see a toad." I came and saw the toad. It was sitting on the dirt very still. When I tried to touch it, it jumped into the leaves. I dug into the leaves and I got it. But it wasn't easy but it was fun.

Mom got a tank ready for the toad. We brought him inside the house. Mom looked up "toads" in a nature book we got from the library. Later we checked out more books about toads and we learned that boy toads don't croak and they are a lot smaller than girl toads. And girl toads croak because they call the boys so they can spawn their eggs.

We brought the toad to the library to Teddy Time, then on Wednesday we brought it to story time to show the children.

Mom thought that we needed to let April Fool's Day go (that's what I names the toad). I said, "I don't want to let him go." Dad said we needed to get Toady Crickets so that he could stay alive (we started calling him Toady because it was a shorter name). So dad went and bought the crickets at the pet store. Toady ate them so fast that mom couldn't see his tongue catch the cricket, but I could. 

He started to look sick so we called Anna-Lisa, our friend that works at a nature center, and she said we should put some water in the tank and feed it every other day.

A few weeks later I was looking for lizards on the rocks. Instead I found a girl toad. I came running in the house and yelled, "A toad! Come and see a toad! I think it's a girl toad!" Mom came running out and I showed her the toad. I tried to catch the toad-it was as hard as catching the first. I finally caught it and I brought the tank outside and put both toads in a wading pool. I names the new toad Spring.

The first time I heard the girl toad croak was an hour later when I was getting ready to go to mom's concert. I was way in my bedroom and Spring was in the kitchen and she croaked so loud that I could hear her from my bedroom. We found out that Spring croaks more in the night time.

One day I put her into the wading pool. I was playing with some friends and when I went back to get her she was gone. In a few weeks mom was digging in the garden bu the gazebo and mom saw something moving in the dirt. It was Spring. we caught her and took her inside to the tank. I taught her toads tricks.

And then it ends right there. But the end of the story that is unwritten is sad. I was so attached to these first animals I had ever caught that I didn't want to let them go. But I also seemed to forget to feed and water them. One day I found Toady dead in the bottom of the tank. It broke my heart but I still refused to release the other one. A few days later she was gone too. I felt so guilty. To this day I still am. I still catch toads and many other little creatures but I always take good care of them. I learned my lesson and I am proud to say not one has died in my care since then.