How to Create a Habitat for a Toad

Creating a Habitable Yard Space

Make your garden safe for toads. No matter how appealing and gorgeous your garden may be, if it is unsafe for toads, they are not likely to want to live there. Make your garden safe for toads by: Providing cover. Toads are very wary of predators like birds, snakes, and house pets, and they will avoid areas where they are likely to be a meal. You can create cover by providing bushes and other leafy plants for toads to hide. Avoiding chemicals. Toads, like all frogs, have thin skin and are susceptible to pesticides and herbicides in your garden. Use organic gardening supplies including dirt, fertilizers, and pest- and weed-killers.

Choose a shady location. If you're lucky, you have a nice area in your yard with large shade trees that will do nicely. If you don't, you will have to pick a location and provide shade. Toads like a quiet home, so choose a place where pets and children don't run wild. A quiet corner of a yard is a nice place.

Decide if you want to convert existing garden space or start fresh. You can place a toad habitat in an existing garden, as long as you don't mind sacrificing several square feet of space. Otherwise you can convert another area of your yard into a toad habitat. Toads tend to prefer to be near lots of plants of various heights, so building your toad habitat as close to your garden beds as possible is best. You also want an area that is out of direct sunlight for a good part of the day, especially if you live in a hot and dry climate. To convert existing garden space, you will need to clear at least a square foot of space by pulling out a few plants. Choose an area in the garden that likes a lot of water, since your toad will need his area to be watered quite frequently. Unlike some garden plants, toads are not "drought tolerant."

Building a Habitat for Toads

Provide a water source. You will need a water source for the toad, especially if you're hoping he will make your yard a permanent home. Toads don't drink water, but instead they soak their bodies in it to absorb what they need through their skin. It is vital that you have a source of water that is big enough for the toad to soak in. Toads reproduce by bodies of water like lakes or ponds, so having a small pond or ditch nearby on your property will make your yard a more welcoming home for a toad. If you do not have a pond or other body of water nearby, you can use a large pot tray (the pie-pan shaped container that sits under a potted plant to catch the water that runs out). Dig a shallow depression in your garden and place this pot there, then pat the dirt around it into place so it sits securely flush with the ground around it. You can place flat rocks around the lip of the dish to keep it in place. Fill the dish with clean water.

Add plants and moss to the area. You want to provide plants that the toad can hide in, and you also want to attract insects to the area so that the toad can feed in the evenings. Try to include native wildflowers and plants of many types. One favorite among American toads is creeping veronica. To find the correct vegetation for your part of the world, visit a local wetland and see what is growing near ponds.

Keep it moist. As amphibians, toads need to be moist and have access to water at all times. It's true that they don't live in the water like their close cousin the frog, but they do need to have moist areas to hide. Wooden boards, logs, and large rocks make nice areas of cover for a frog that also stay damp.

Add an optional toad house, if you'd like. Toad houses are cute living spaces for toads that also serve as a garden decoration. They have the benefit of providing safety for a toad and also staying nice and moist, which is how toads prefer their living spaces. You can purchase a pre-made toad house online or in garden centers, or try your hand at making your own. The most basic way to make a toad house is to purchase a medium sized terracotta pot and use a hammer to break a large chink out of the rim of the pot. Then, you will turn the pot upside down and place it in the frog habitat, so that the toad can access the pot using the hammered-out opening as an entryway. You can also use a dremel saw or tile saw to cut a smoother opening in the pot if you'd like, and you can decorate the pot by painting it and gluing on small stones or broken tiles as you'd like. By watering the whole area including the toad house regularly, you can keep it moist inside for its lucky inhabitant.

Add decorations to enliven the space. This step is optional, but there are lots of ways you can decorate your toad habitat. Many gardeners like to create a woodsy, rustic space for toads, while others like to focus on bright colors and floral designs. Whatever your aesthetic, you can decorate your toad's habitat to match. Add smooth river stones around the water source, which make the space feel natural and also provide a place for bugs and insects to hide. Small garden figurines like gnomes or fairies are great accent pieces for a toad habitat, but avoid realistic-looking figurines that resemble toad predators like snakes, birds, or large wildlife. It's important to keep the safety of the toads in mind, so you may want to avoid putting bird feeders, bird baths, or birdhouses near the toad habitat. Small toads are a favorite food for many birds, so toads are less likely to feel welcome and safe in a toad habitat that's right next door to a bird habitat.

Maintaining Your Toad Habitat

Welcome your new toad friends. If you're lucky (and if you live by a pond or wooded area) you will not have to go out of your way to get new tenants in your toad habitat. You will just have to wait a few days for a toad to find the new water source and make himself at home. If you don't get a resident in your toad habitat within a week or two, you might want to go to a local pond or wooded area and see if you can catch one. You can also purchase toads in pet stores, but it is not recommended to release domestic toads into yards. They may not be used to living in the wild and may not have the skills needed to survive.

Try not to disturb the toad habitat. You may be tempted to go out and make friends with the local toads, but it's better to watch from a distance. Similarly, keep pets and small children away. Instruct older children to observe the toad house from a distance, and be sure to supervise younger children when they are in the yard. If you are unable to keep your pets from the area, you may need to construct a small fence around the toad habitat. Otherwise, toads are unlikely to make the habitat their home. You can gauge how comfortable the toads are in your presence by watching their behavior when you are gardening. If they don't run from you, you may eventually find that you can touch or even hold them. Just take your time.

Water the garden every day. Your toad likes a moist habitat, so keep the area pleasantly moist but not overly wet. Ensure that the water dish NEVER runs low on water or becomes murky or dirty. Because you must water the habitat frequently, it is important that the plants in the area prefer a lot of water to thrive. Otherwise, you may find that the frequent watering will drown the plants or encourage root rot. If you notice that the frequent watering harms the plants in the habitat, you'll need to plant something else that tolerates more water.

Consider installing a toad light. In most yards, bugs are plentiful and your toads will have more than they can eat without you needing to take any additional steps. If you are lucky enough to live in an area without many nighttime bugs, you may consider investing in a light to attract insects to the toad habitat during the evening and night. Any type of small garden light will do the trick, but it should be no taller than three feet high. Install it on the periphery of the toad habitat, and keep it lit at night in the warm months whenever possible.