Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Leeza the Toad

Last week we caught a lot of grasshoppers, lizards and more importantly...toads. Isn't this toad just the cutest? The toad pictured above is Leeza. She stayed with us for one night. We usually let our guest go the following day or night after we've caught it.

Here's a picture of Leeza shortly after her release. She was a little hesitant at first but then she found her way.

Here's a picture of Iza holding Leeza just before her release. She wanted to let her go near the tree where she found her and that's what we did.


11 comments:

  1. Leeza is awfully cute for a toad. Perhaps if kissed she'd turn into a princess?

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  2. i've seen them here in crete too - they look cute, but too slimy fo rmy liking

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  3. Toads aren't slimy at all. Neither are snakes or lizards, FTR.

    We had a toad named cinnamon who lived in our garage floor (dirt) when I was a kid. She stayed about 3 years and she was massive (like the size of a man's fist.)

    When we were in Chapel Hill, they'd drained our local lake to dredge it out - that spring we were invaded by thousands and thousands of baby toads. The birds were going mad, so I gathered up a few hundred in an aquarium and fed them until they were too big for a duck to eat. There were so many that our stone patio looked alive - thousands of pinkie nail sized toads hopping around.
    Syd - *loves reptiles and amphibians*.

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  4. Laurie, Thank you! I'll really have to look into something like that. ??? Ya never know...

    Lulu, LoL! We were teasing Iza about the fact that Leeza was a girl. The next night she caught a larger toad and named him "Toady". We told her to kiss it to see if it would turn into a prince and she just looked at us blankly... and said "no".

    Maria, these little things are everywhere out here and scare the living crap out of me some nights! But, they are just so cute.

    Syd-
    Cinnamon the toad sounds fun. I think that it's interesting that you were able to have her live in your garage for so long. That had to be such a great childhood experience. And, it sounds like she was definitely healty! That's so cool.

    The fact that you had so many toads after they drained the lake is amazing. How did you feed them? Did you catch crickets(& flies etc...) on your own? Or did you go to the pet store to buy them? That's so interesting and wonderful that you saved them!

    Since you love reptiles and amphibians so much I'm motivated to photograph the big green lizard that lives in the brush behind the house. I've only seen it once but the kids see it all of the time. I've looked it up online and haven't really found anything concrete about it. It's really green and really fast.

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  5. I dug bugs up for them - when they got bigger I bought mealworms and crickets at the petshop. I'm a little loopy, I know.

    Does your lizard have any other coloration? We had one on Crete that had blue/green. Those were beautiful. I don't have a herpetology resource here (I guess it's in my parent's garage?) but I can see if I find it online.

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  6. A bunch of herpetology fools took a trip to Northern Greece. Check the green lizard and the Balkan green lizard. Click Here for pics. I suspect one might be a match.

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  7. Gigi looks quite interested in Miss Leeza's liberation!!!

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  8. Biddy-Welcome! & yes...Gigi was extremely interested in Leeza. She chases toads, flies and bees. She's been stung 3x this summer.

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  9. Syd...I wanted to thank you for the link! That is icredible. I can't decide if it's just a plain green lizard or a Balkan green lizard. I'm hoping to get a shot of it soon...if it decides to show himself ...and then I can probably figure out just what it is.
    Oh, and I don't think that you're loopy!

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