A New Addition to my Menagerie

One night I was with my best friend and we went to drop her brothers off at her house. Her brother hopped out and screamed, "There's a frog!!!" So immediately I jumped out and grabbed it. As soon as I picked it up, I knew it was a toad because of it's rough skin. (The tree frogs I have are different because they have smooth skin and tend to be smaller.) I got back into the car and held him in my hands, and he kept trying to jump out of my hands. 

When I got home I ran in the door screaming, " I found a new member to the family". Both of my parents were curious about what kind of toad it was. When my mother was little she used to catch toads that found there way into the window wells.  (Window wells are basement windows in the midwest). She was excited to meet my new friend. My dad was excited too and wanted to do research immediately. A short time later I left for a school football game. When I got back at 9 o'clock I found a new cage with a happy toad inside. My dad went to the pet store after he dropped me off.  He bought what we needed because he didn't want to see the toad let go right away and wated him to be happy. 

This toad is like my tree frogs because he eats crickets. I have a funny story. One night I fed him crickets. I set the clear plastic container of crickets outside his plastic cage while I was feeding the tree frogs. He saw the cricket container and was trying to eat the crickets through the plastic side of his cage. He was bonking his tongue as we'll as his head against the cage wall. I finally had to move the container of crickets, otherwise he would continue to try to eat them. It was hilarious and we all laughed at his funny behavior. 

Looking at this toad who we named, Beast Mode after Caleb from Big Brother, he has one stripe down the center of his back and spots on his belly. From this we know that he is a certain type of toad and a male. In his cage he likes to hide under the moss and play or sit in the water. When I reach inside the cage he freaks out, jumping everywhere, splashing water, and hiding. Perhaps this is because of the way I grabbed him when I caught him. In just the short time we've had him he's gotten bigger and more tame. It will be fun to watch him grow as we don't really know how big he will get.

Here are some photos of Beast Mode.