I Have to Watch My Step

Dan the builder will come back sometime this fall to finish the last detail of my new house. He will pour a sidewalk leading to the wide front steps. In the meantime, he reused a stack of pavers recovered from the old site to provide a temporary and functional sidewalk to the new house. All was well until tiny little toads began appearing on the temporary walk. There is no room to sidestep them. It is either step to the side into the mud and chigger infested grass, or... well... you know: splatt!

So far, there has been no tragic toad deaths beneath my deadly soles but I have to watch carefully. The tiniest toads are the same color as the dirt. When I step on the pavers, the toads begin to hop for safety beneath the front porch. There are several toads of varying sizes, including one I just noticed this weekend. He is much larger than the others and black.

I am not sure where these little guys come from, but they must live in the loose dirt beneath the porch. The dogs both spend time under the porch, too. I wonder if a toad or two was sampled before the dogs knew to leave them alone? I also wonder if the toads were already in the dirt, or if they found a home beneath the porch this summer after they graduated from tadpoles. I believe they are tiny Great Plains toads, which are predated by garter snakes. I should be on the look out for a garter snake next. 

Blackie the Toad

 

One of the babies, camouflaged.