Toads

[BeaufortBelle]

We have moved. Big garden, pond, etc. Cat just going out and bringing in toads. Birds and mice I have dealt with for years. The toads are freaking me, not least the jumping.

Any tips either to discourage the cat or help me to deal with them please. Four in five days so far.
.

Bump. Another this morning.

Maybe somewhere like Robert Dyas might have some sort of deterrent, Toad-be-gone or something similar. We don't have a pond but a random one turned up and Rollycat didn't know what to make of it.

Cannot link but there's loads of info on a Google search for eliminating/deterring frogs and toads. Good luck!

It will almost certainly be your pond - it could be an ancestral breeding site or something!

Toads can be toxic to cats, especially when carried in mouths it seems, so you're not daft to be concerned. Does your cat stay in at night? (Toads mostly stay hidden during daytime hours so keeping the cat inside from dusk to dawn, which is generally safer for them anyway, might be your best solution.)

DD has looked closely and researched today. She is sure they are common garden frogs. Darling cat is allowed out at night. I think perhaps I might stop that although having said that I've seen him whizz in twice at 6.30am (ish) with one between his jaws so it might not be that constructive a thing to do.

Heads off to look up ancestral breeding grounds. Eyes pond. It is old and there are only five fish. Am sure I could have a wonderful sculpture in its place instead. But it's so pretty with water lilies, a sculpted heron and fountain and waterfall and everything.

Grrrrrr.

You will still find frogs coming into the garden even if you get rid of the pond, they follow the same routes! My cat has brought a couple back from somewhere recently ( we don't have a pond). Sadly one was nearly dead when I found it but we saved the other one. Frogs are very good for pest control if you have a nice garden as they will eat some of the nasty things

I'll focus on that next time I bend down to pick up my shoes in the hall and one jumps with great velocity and makes me shriek . I get all the good things I really do; they just evaporate a bit with the unexpected jump. Why oh why can't they look like cute bunnies?

I went to a conference centre once where the driveway between the main block and the dining facilities had been laid directly across an ancestral route. I think I'll stop the story at that point.

This may seem a little harsh but we had to start semi-monitoring our little hunter's in and outdoor time.

She is out from 6am-about 8am, then we go to work. After work she is allowed out again 5pm-8pm. She knows that at 8pm she gets the 'dreamy shake' and that's time for home. She has more freedom at the weekends when we are in.

She was regularly bringing in live pigeons who flew about our one bed flat so now in the summer we let her in and out through the door mostly (opposed to the cat flap). She also has a tell-tale 'I've caught something' meow.

I don't mind the dead birds or mice or bat or frog. Even the dead rat was ok. However, no flying birds in the house is a general rule.

I did have to phone about the seagull chick.

Roll on winter - we get less presents in winter

I've had this with my cat but frogs - one the other day alive. There's not a lot you can do re the cat bringing them in but apparently praise is better rather than screeching and shouting (I was a bit pissed off not majorly but not happy when I got one ten minutes before I was due to leave for work last week). if you scream and shout I think it means you're not happy so cat brings more in (prey).

Also if the frogs are in your pond (as mine are) give them places to hide (bricks etc) - I also got my stepdad to come round to erect a nice fence round both pond areas so cat can't easily get frogs. I inherited the pond when I bought the flat so am loathe to rid the frogs of their home. Last resort get rid of the pond and the frogs will relocate.

I feel your pain though as I was freaked by the frog jumping - it edged itself right into the corner of my hallway so I couldn't get it then I wondered how to get it and eventually I braved picking it up in a towel and tossing it gently out the back door...