Toads!
AdRock
Posts: 241
Hi there,
i'd like some more toads around the garden to help me fight against the hundreds of slugs and snails that seem to be ruling right now.
is it possible, and advised, to get hold of some and release them in my garden?
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markos, toads - like frogs - always try to go back to where they were born. The best thing to do is to try and wait until toads choose your pond. It is also not advisable to move toad spawn as you may introduce disease to your pond. You could always try and adopt a hedgehog.
Create the right conditions in your garden and the toads will find you
Please don't try to introduce wild animals into your garden (or anywhere else) unless you are a real expert and know and can provide all their environmental and nutritional requirements.
love the idea of adopting a hedgehog or 2! that's a great idea : )
silly question, but can you actually adopt from wildlife charities or just hope they come and stay naturally if i build some some living accommodation?
Dove is correct. No wildlife centre or professional will hand you hedgehogs purely for gardening purposes to battle slugs/snails. They are only released in places that already have a population, as this indicates a food source and a good living environment. Molluscs are only 5-10% of a hedgehogs diet in the peak of summer. You can make your garden more attractive but it has to be a natural process..
Last edited: 15 July 2016 10:27:59
ok, that's good advice. i'll look into hedgehog friendly shelters and make a few areas in the garden a bit more attractive for toads and other beneficial slug munching friends!
any tips for this?
http://www.hedgehogstreet.org/pages/help-i-dont-have-any-hedgehogs-in-my-garden.html
http://www.hedgehogstreet.org/pages/get-your-garden-ready-for-hedgehogs-this-spring.html
Last edited: 15 July 2016 10:39:13
that's great, thanks for that!
We find that toads like dark corners behind big pots on our terrace, particularly if we leave half of a broken terracotta pot there for them to crawl under and we make sure we keep the area damp. They also like overgrown areas of our shady borders. Again we leave broken pots in dark damp corners under low growing leafy plants and try not to disturb them by too much weeding and tidying
Frogs are easier to encourage with a suitable breeding pond than toads, which prefer larger water bodies (large ponds, lakes, gravel pits etc.). Ideally shallow with a decent amount of sun. Good terrestrial habitat for both is similar (and for hedgehogs) - plenty of nooks and crannies, logs, wood piles, stones, dead leaves, long grass or other plants etc to hide in and under and encourage insect prey. Avoid over-tidiness. This will also encourage ground beetles, which are also good predators of slugs.
I get lots of toads in my garden and I don't have a pond, not sure where they come from. I have a log pile at the top of the garden and in the summer the borders are very dense. I have a seeper hose which runs through the border which they like.
I used to work for a wildlife charity and people often asked where they could buy hedgehogs from. I was even asked once where someone might be able to buy a barn owl. I was often tempted to say the Co-op
. I'm afraid it's a case of create a wildlife friendly garden and 'they will come'.