Hoop house toads- squash bugs

[Big Dave]

I am toying with the idea of putting toads in my 30x72 hoop house. I am thinking this is an all natural way of controlling squash bugs. I have never heard of anyone ding this. I do think outside the box. I am looking for feed back. Pro's Con's to why and if anyone has ever reared a toad. MEN has one story on this and it is short. It just says they live a long time and get one if you can. Do they really live 30 years? How many bugs can they eat a day? I do no till gardening and use wood chips that have decomposed for the growing medium. I have added bio char this year. Would the Bokashi method hurt them? Thanks for any replies.

[gweny]

Never heard of such a thing but I'd try it just to see. I have a large toad population here and putting toad houses in the garden does seem to cut down on the nat swarms. it also seems to attract snakes. Black snakes though so I don't mind.

[ksfarmer]

I didn't think toads will touch squash bugs.?

[Danaus29]

I put out toad houses and broken clay pots under mulch but never saw a toad using them. But last summer I did get one with the tiller when I tilled a bunch of weeds that had laid there through the winter.

[fishhead]

I released one into my basement a few years ago to control the spider population that keeps migrating up into my living quarters. I haven't seen it since but I don't think there are as many spiders in the house. Maybe I should set up a game cam and put a light on the floor to attract some bugs to the camera. I would be great if it's still alive but I doubt it.

I might try a little copper belly snake this year.

[fireweed farm]

I think the toads will die in the heat of the day, hard to make a cool enough spot for them in a greenhouse.

[Danaus29]

If they have a spot of loose shady dirt to dig into and a dish of water to set in they'll be okay. Problem would be getting them to stay in the hoop house.

But still, I don't know if they will eat squash bugs.

[Cygnet]

Depending on species, big toads will eat little toads. I'd also be worried about potential toxicity -- make sure you try your experiment with a non-toxic species.

That said, it'd be worth a try. At worst, you'd just have a bunch of toads to release, and they're good to have around.

As a kid, I collected and hatched out spadefoot toad eggs or tadpoles and then raised the tadpoles up. Used to turn them loose in the yard mostly because I just liked toads. :-) :-) Can't remember what I fed the tadpoles, but that would probably vary depending on species anyway -- you'd need to research it to figure out the best food for the babies.

[Tabitha]

you'll be better off with small banties. Get a couple of babies, they can be trained so when you let out the hunting call they will come running. They will learn to check what is near your hand, like when you lift up a board so they can eat the pill bugs. soon the learn where the food is on their own. A couple of ducks might do too. DH had a trained duck that worked very well on slugs and bugs. We did not have squashbugs though. You know how bugs are, they let themselves fall on the ground. Maybe you could train a toad to wait for you to shake the bugs down. Never thought of it.

[MO_cows]

Would toads be able to get the bugs up on the plants? They can only get bugs on or very near the ground from what I have seen. We have a LOT of toads but I don't know how long they live. They would probably like a pile of leaves, kept damp, to burrow into during the heat of the day. The variety we have is mostly nocturnal. Digging around during the day, sometimes we find where they have buried themselves. Loosely packed and damp = more likely to hold toads.

[MO_cows]

Originally Posted by fishhead

I released one into my basement a few years ago to control the spider population that keeps migrating up into my living quarters. I haven't seen it since but I don't think there are as many spiders in the house. Maybe I should set up a game cam and put a light on the floor to attract some bugs to the camera. I would be great if it's still alive but I doubt it.

I might try a little copper belly snake this year.

How is a toad on the floor supposed to get spiders? Our basement spiders build webs up in the floor joists, they don't crawl around on the floor. Your toad probably starved to death.

[fishhead]

The spiders in my house crawl all over even though they build webs in the rafters. I've seen plenty on the floor.

[Big Dave]

I have no experience with toads, but I do know about squash bugs. They live in the soil and at the base of the plants. So My thoughts were that the toads would eat the bugs. A couple of folks say the toads will not eat these bugs. I got to get me a toad. Now where would a fella buy one or for that fact find one that is not toxic???? Also how many bugs does a toad eat in a day???

[Danaus29]

Most toads produce toxins. Just don't lick them and you should be fine.

I've seen some pretty big spiders in our basement on the floor. Some of them were so big that I worried about the little toads getting eaten by them.

[Cygnet]

I would definitely avoid cane toads and colorado river (aka sonora desert) toads. Both are toxic, and the latter can hypothetically get you in trouble with the feds because people lick them for recreational reasons. I don't think I'd want them around anything I was going to eat, and they'll kill a dog if the dog gets ahold of them.

I personally love to see spadefoot toads in our garden as they're reasonably non-toxic (or at least, I never got sick from messing with them as a kid -- I wouldn't recommend eating them!) and they voracious eaters of pretty much anything that will fit in their mouths. They also don't need standing water, just damp ground. They're a desert adapted species. They breed fast, and now that I think about it, the tadpoles eat mosquito larvae, so they're pretty easy to feed. However, they may not be native to your area -- and introducing them may be a bad idea, because potentially invasive species. Might work in a greenhouse, though. They do need standing water to breed and they will burrow.

Originally Posted by Danaus29

Most toads produce toxins. Just don't lick them and you should be fine.

I've seen some pretty big spiders in our basement on the floor. Some of them were so big that I worried about the little toads getting eaten by them.

[Danaus29]

Just had a big one hop across my deck shortly after sunset.

[fishhead]

Just find a common toad or buy one from a pet store.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_toad

You may have native tree toads depending on where you live. They would take care of some climbing insects.

[Tabitha]

Originally Posted by Big Dave

I have no experience with toads, but I do know about squash bugs. They live in the soil and at the base of the plants. So My thoughts were that the toads would eat the bugs. A couple of folks say the toads will not eat these bugs. I got to get me a toad. Now where would a fella buy one or for that fact find one that is not toxic???? Also how many bugs does a toad eat in a day???

They eat a lot and they have a strong homing instinct. Just because you got one does not mean it will stay and you can not fence it in. I'd let you pick up a few from here, but they would try and come back home. check around in your area, there should be oodles of little ones pretty soon. Babies (not pollywogs) might want to settle in your space.

[fishhead]

Our common toads lay eggs after all the frogs are done in this area. Even though they are land dwelling they swim hundreds of yards out into the lake and attach their egg string to the aquatic plants in a single string of eggs.

I once watched a tiny little toad swim past me as I was standing chest deep in one of my fish ponds. His little legs were just a jerking as he inched past me.

[ldc]

Big Dave, here, (South LA) the toads are all toxic to dogs if eaten alive. Maybe Ag Extension could help with this for yr county?