Useful garden creatures with charm

What do toads look like?

The common toad is the largest European toad species. The males grow up to nine centimeters, the females up to eleven centimeters. Each animal has a slightly different skin coloration that can show various shades of brown, yellow, gray, and red. The eyes, with the pupils set horizontally, are light bronze in colour.

The stocky body is covered with warty glands. Protruding ear glands are located on the back of the head, which also secrete a skin toxin to ward off predators.

Why are toads so useful in the garden?

slugs, which can eat up entire beds in a very short time, are a nuisance for many hobby gardeners. Toads in the garden will help you get rid of this plague. The reptiles are a feast for the amphibians and after just a few nights they have considerably reduced the number of pests.

In addition, toads feed on:

• Fly,
• mosquitoes,
• insect larvae,
• worms,
• Be crazy,
• caterpillars,
• bugs,
• isopods,
• beetles.

Where do common toads live?

If there are still enough traditional habitats, the adult common toads stay within a radius of one to two kilometers around their spawning waters. If you have created a semi-natural pond on your property, it may well be that

Toads settle and overwinter on your property.

Common toads are nocturnal, during the day the cold-blooded animals hide in dark, damp places. Only in rainy weather do they venture out from time to time during the day.

How can I introduce common toads in my garden?

Since common toads are not allowed to be taken from the wild and released back into the garden pond, you must ensure that they settle in by creating suitable habitats.

Your garden pond should therefore be designed as follows:

• At least 5 square meters of water at a depth of one meter.
• The pond should be in a sunny to semi-shady place.
• Plant the small body of water in layers close to nature.
• From the outside, the water surface must be made easily accessible by stones.
• Avoid fountains and water features.

There should also be sufficient shelter on land. Heaps of stones, leaves, brushwood or dead wood in a shady location are very popular with amphibians. Alternatively, you can place a clay frog house in a sheltered spot near the water.

Since they find protection here all year round, dense natural hedges are particularly popular with toads. Leave some undergrowth so that the animals can hide well. Other subtenants such as hedgehogs, newts or birds also benefit from this habitat.