Fun with Nature, #9

This is the sequel to "Phantom", our son's pet toad story posted on our "Fun with nature, # 3"

Remember him?

Phantom is no longer with us but admittedly he lived a spoiled and silver-plattered lifestyle while inside his white bucket abode for a time being so our son could observe his habits.

Phantom was his sweet pet, strange how he got so excited about a toad! We had dozens of toads all over our former land, the norm was to run over them while driving our lawn tractor about every week during lawn cutting duties. Eww....

"Phantom"; Our son's pet "American Toad"

Judging by our son's plea, I suppose this toad was somehow different. He wasn't a bullfrog, or one of those outwardly ugly types of ribbit, he was an "American Toad", but if you asked me - he was still as ugly as any toad I've seen before! But something flickered in our son's heart because it wasn't a familiar thing for him to beg us to allow for an "observation time" aiming to have the thing living in the confines of our garage.

Keeping up the water in pickle jar lids and moisture in the soil was the easy part. Have you ever tried to find food for a toad? Hunting for crickets, worms, beetles, and ridding the house of pesky hand clapped mosquito remnants was the norm for our son's daily excursions to provide food for his dearly beloved "Phantom" pet.

It was a good experience in the end. Within his 5 gallon white bucket abode, Phantom the toad could burrow in the deep soil to his content, and peakaboo holes were made for observing his daily habits. It soon became obvious to our son that even with the very best intentions, he would not be able to keep up his dusk foraging for the toad's food and other assorted amusements just to say he had a pet toad and could keep him alive. It was best to free the warty fellow and allow him to return to nature where he belonged.

The End