Hello. I recently installed a 100 gal. preformed pond in my backyard. At the
moment, it just has a few lillies and other plants, no fish. A week or two
ago I noticed dozens of little tadpoles in the water. Didn't think much of
it at the time. Today I saw a toad on the patio. Tried to capture it but
when I came back out with a box it was gone.

My problem is that I have dogs, and here in S. Florida we have bufo toads
which are highly poisonous to dogs.

I'm not sure the toad I saw today was one of the poisonous ones; I
understand that bufo toads can grow quite large but they have to start out
small, no? I'm concerned that the pond may be an attraction for them and
that it may be wise to remove it asap before one of my dogs gets poisoned.
In the 3+ years I've lived here I have never seen a toad in my backyard
until now. My dogs have had encounters with cats, squirrels, birds and
oppossums that have had the misfortune to stray into the yard, so I'm sure
they will not have any fear of a toad.

My question is: do small garden ponds attract bufo toads, and also is there
any way to tell if the tadpoles in the pond are baby bufo toads? Is there
any safe way to repel these toads, or at least the bufos, or was it just a
mistake to install the pond in the first place, given the bufo toad problem
in S. Florida?

Thanks
Don

Hi, I built a small pond and then 3 toads suddenly appeared. I found out in
our area they were called CO. toads. I looked them up in the computer and
they are also poisonous to pets, dogs, cats etc. They have poisonous glands.
So I went out and within a couple of nights rounded them up and relocated
them to a preserve near our area. Then I found thousands of eggs in long
strings in the pond. I remove them from the pond. No more problems. But my
small dogs still try to see if they are out there.They used to find them the
minute I opened the door at night to go to the pond. I do miss the darn
things, I'm crazy but I loved to hear them at night. Kc
"netnews.comcast.net" wrote in message
. net...
Hello. I recently installed a 100 gal. preformed pond in my backyard. At
the
moment, it just has a few lillies and other plants, no fish. A week or two
ago I noticed dozens of little tadpoles in the water. Didn't think much of
it at the time. Today I saw a toad on the patio. Tried to capture it but
when I came back out with a box it was gone.

My problem is that I have dogs, and here in S. Florida we have bufo toads
which are highly poisonous to dogs.

I'm not sure the toad I saw today was one of the poisonous ones; I
understand that bufo toads can grow quite large but they have to start out
small, no? I'm concerned that the pond may be an attraction for them and
that it may be wise to remove it asap before one of my dogs gets poisoned.
In the 3+ years I've lived here I have never seen a toad in my backyard
until now. My dogs have had encounters with cats, squirrels, birds and
oppossums that have had the misfortune to stray into the yard, so I'm sure
they will not have any fear of a toad.

My question is: do small garden ponds attract bufo toads, and also is
there
any way to tell if the tadpoles in the pond are baby bufo toads? Is there
any safe way to repel these toads, or at least the bufos, or was it just a
mistake to install the pond in the first place, given the bufo toad
problem
in S. Florida?

Thanks
Don

Xref: kermit rec.ponds:123066

Thanks, but if indeed the pond is attracting toads, I think that would be an
endless battle. Bufo toads are all over S. Florida; people find them in
their yards all the time and it's common for dogs to die from licking or
biting them, especially small dogs. Happened to one of my pastor's dogs
recently.

I don't know if the presence of a pond (or any body of water like a swimming
pool) attracts them, or if its just coincidental that I've never seen one in
the yard before I built the pond. Of course, they could have been here and I
just never saw them. But I'm not sure its worth taking the chance.

Anyone out there know if ponds are an attraction to these toads?

I don't have any experience with them, but found this :

http://unisci.com/stories/20011/0209015.htm

Says in there "Marine toads prefer developed areas, where they use man-made
canals and ponds for spawning and gather under electric lights to feed on
insects." Says that immature toads are hard to tell from native species,
but adults are easily identified by size as they can be up to 9 inches long
and 2 pounds. The article also tells what symptoms to watch for in your
dogs and what to do if they've been poisoned.

Good luck,
Lydia



"Don" wrote in message
. net...
Thanks, but if indeed the pond is attracting toads, I think that would be
an
endless battle. Bufo toads are all over S. Florida; people find them in
their yards all the time and it's common for dogs to die from licking or
biting them, especially small dogs. Happened to one of my pastor's dogs
recently.

I don't know if the presence of a pond (or any body of water like a
swimming
pool) attracts them, or if its just coincidental that I've never seen one
in
the yard before I built the pond. Of course, they could have been here and
I
just never saw them. But I'm not sure its worth taking the chance.

Anyone out there know if ponds are an attraction to these toads?

Anyone out there know if ponds are an attraction to these toads?
Any water would be I think.
I would look up the toads on Florida's fish and wildlife page.
If they are the bufo toads then remove all the eggs, taddies and inmature
toadlets from the pond and dispose of them.
As far as discouraging them from using your pond again try black bridal veil
netting stretched over the water or just monitor the pond, anytime you see a
string of black eggs, those are toad eggs, and you can remove them.

Good luck and hope your dogs stay safe!

k30a

Thanks, but stretching cloth over the pond pretty much defeats the purpose
of having a pond in the first place. It wouldn't look very nice and I'd have
to remove the plants so I might as well just remove the pond altogether.
It's not the eggs I'm worried about anyhow, although the tadpoles were
chewing up the water lillies which I didn't particularly appreciate.

My main concern is that the pond will attract adult toads that the dogs will
come in contact with. I guess I should try to find a company who does ponds
down here and see if they can offer some advice.

Lydia,

Thanks for that link; that's the guys I'm talking about. There are canals
all over the place around here; my house is not on the water but I'm only
about 300' or so from the nearest canal. I'm not sure if my little 100 gal.
pond is really much of an attraction when there are numerous canals and
swimming pools in the area, but then again I don't know whether its worth
taking the chance. Any pond owners in S. Florida here in this newsgroup?

Don wrote It's not the eggs I'm worried about anyhow

But you should be...
as they turn into the adult toads you don't want around and they often return
to the place where they spawned to breed as adults.
Females produce 8,000 to 50,000 eggs in a clutch and can breed at least twice a
year.
Other than denying them a place to spawn, your pond, there is very little you
can do to keep amphibians from water.
You can experiment with different sizes of netting. Applied when the plants
are dormant they will grow right up through it. Applying netting now will add
some measure of protection for your dogs. They breed June through January in
Florida.


k30a

Right - I meant that dealing with the eggs isn't really a problem. Whether I
periodically clean out the pond or put up some sort of barrier to laying the
eggs in the first place, there's a solution.

What I don't have a solution for is keeping the adult toads out of the yard,
assuming my little pond is more attractive to them than all the canals and
swimming pools in the area.

Don wrote What I don't have a solution for is keeping the adult toads out of
the yard,
assuming my little pond is more attractive to them than all the canals

The only thing I found was to pick up and keep inside any cat or dog food
dishes. These toads are different from 'regular' amphibians as they don't need
to see their food move in order to eat it. Keep the yard in total darkness, if
you can, so they can't sit under the lights and snarf up bugs.

You might scan your newspaper or community shopper and see if there is a pond
or koi club in your area. Ponders from your area could have the same problem
and have solutions. Also call animal control and see if they have any ideas.
Good luck and let us know how it goes! :-)

k30a