A toad-y concern

TheEngineer · Jul 28, 2016

I live in a rural part of southeastern Pennsylvania. We have tons of wild life out here that roam in and out of the wildlife preserve my property borders. Our property is pretty wooded so the critters tend to get close to the house, even if they don't want to come out of the trees. Some of those critters live in and around our lawn, particularly... TOADS!

We've got at least a few dozen of them (and a few snakes that seem well fed) hopping around out there. They like to wait until just before I'm going to hit them with the mower to jump and make themselves seen so I can slam on the brakes and fly over the steering wheel trying not to turn them into toad milkshake. I can deal with that and it really isn't a problem. After the initial annoyance of getting thrown around I usually laugh and continue on knowing I'll see the same toad again in 5 minutes when I circle back.

Recently, one of the large toads has found itself enjoying the comforts of my front porch. There are 4 steps to get up onto the porch and every night, it jumps up the steps and annoys my dog until we go to bed. (The dog's always on the look out for dangerous critters :rolleyes:) Don't really mind that either though. Sooooo.... why am I writing this?

Every day I go outside and find the toad backed up into the corner next to my door. Every day I wonder if it knows how to get back DOWN the steps. I assume not, so I help it down only for the cycle to repeat itself each night.

Am I nuts? Do you think it is there by choice? We used to have a carpenter ant colony there last year and if it is eating them, I say more power to it!

Hard to tell scale in the picture, but that's about the size of my fist. Big sucker!

AcanSkywalker · Jul 28, 2016

Looks to me like he's there waiting for his breakfast, prolly an ant colony. I'm pretty sure he can get down those stairs easier than up. Give him a chance, let's see what happens. A Go-Pro then a couple million hits on YouTube sounds like a good idea, he picked that spot for a reason

Pruett-nc · Jul 28, 2016

It could be cool air at that spot. Alot of time you will find them in damp shady spots .

TheEngineer · Jul 28, 2016

AcanSkywalker said:
Looks to me like he's there waiting for his breakfast, prolly an ant colony. I'm pretty sure he can get down those stairs easier than up. Give him a chance, let's see what happens. A Go-Pro then a couple million hits on YouTube sounds like a good idea, he picked that spot for a reason

Waiting for breakfast is what I was thinking too. I let it go for a couple of days earlier in the week and it was still in that spot. Got me worried. I wish I had a go-pro to put there!

Pruett-nc said:
It could be cool air at that spot. Alot of time you will find them in damp shady spots .

That spot gets a bit of sun during the afternoon, but it could be a cool spot. Not as cool as the damp mulch UNDER the steps though :)

SandJ · Jul 28, 2016

We live in VA, so close to your area. Have the same toads EVERYWHERE. One that size lived on our deck for a few years. Either at a corner of our deck and house exactly like in your picture, or under our grill.

We have a small terrier and they drive her nuts! Word of caution though, if a dog does get one in its mouth it may start foaming at the mouth. Been there done that with same terrier. Toad was fine lol no idea how it got in our house though.

Pretty sure they can find their way up and down the stairs. Our deck has a couple steps and they seem to find their way up and down just fine.

I like the toads a lot better then the black bear that was on our deck a few weeks ago though.

Pruett-nc · Jul 28, 2016

It might see the wall as security even though it is wide open . I work in the power line industry and when we open transformers alot of times it is damp cool and shaded . Snakes even like them til the crawl across the energized bars .

TheEngineer · Jul 28, 2016

SandJ said:
We live in VA, so close to your area. Have the same toads EVERYWHERE. One that size lived on our deck for a few years. Either at a corner of our deck and house exactly like in your picture, or under our grill.

We have a small terrier and they drive her nuts! Word of caution though, if a dog does get one in its mouth it may start foaming at the mouth. Been there done that with same terrier. Toad was fine lol no idea how it got in our house though.

Pretty sure they can find their way up and down the stairs. Our deck has a couple steps and they seem to find their way up and down just fine.

I like the toads a lot better then the black bear that was on our deck a few weeks ago though.

Good to know you've had a similar experience! My dog's gotten a hold of a few toads, and regretted it immediately. Unfortunately not enough so to keep her from doing it again. :) I guess I'll leave this guy be and keep an eye out to make sure it doesn't look bad every now and then. Those carpenter ants are giant and juicy though, so I guess it doesn't need water. Ha!

TheEngineer · Aug 9, 2016

Quick update on my toad friend.

Yes, it can get itself off my porch. I don't know if it takes the steps or jumps off the side, but it does leave on occasion. It comes back every single night. I haven't seen an ant in the house since it has been there, so I'm gonna say she (he?) is the reason.