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RAUK - Archived Forum - We chopped off a toads legs....

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We chopped off a toads legs....:

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Baby Sue
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Joined: 19 Feb 2008
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Posted: 22 Feb 2008

I love frogs and one day last year I was walking along a road and found a toad crawling around but I knew something was up with it because it shouldnÆt have been active at that time of day and then when I got close up to it I saw why it was acting weird. It had been run over and both of itÆs back legs were crushed and were only hanging on by a little bit of skin. I reckon it had been run over the night before. Anyway I believe in euthanasia and I was gonna jump on it because I have with other severely injured frogs and toads before but it was so active and it was doing fine at moving around. I have seen one a few years back which had one foot crushed but that wasnÆt doing good because it was just walking round in circles and couldnÆt go in a straight line, but this one was full of energy and was doing OK, it crawled up a verge and I just couldnÆt decide if it would be best to kill it, do nothing and leave it alone, or to take it home and cut off the useless dead legs which it was dragging along and were just getting in the way. I ended up taking it home and showing it to my mum and her boyfriend and they couldnÆt decide one way or another what to do with it too but in the end because it was ever so lively we didnÆt have the heart to kill it so I ended up getting my mumÆs boyfriend to chop off itÆs hanging off legs with a knife just above it's knees, which he did. (I didnÆt want to do it cos it was freaky. Good job I didnÆt too because they didnÆt come off right easily either. ) We watched it to see if it could walk OK and it could so we let it go in our garden under some rubble and stones as lots of frogs and toads live in our area and we knew theyÆd be food around for it. Anyway my question isà. was that the right thing to do? I thought about it lots and lots and lots afterwards wondering about it hiding in our garden and thinking itÆs stumps where itÆs legs had been might have been getting gangrenous or it could have lasted a few days and died of blood poisoning or something, or it might have been in a lot of pain and wanted me to jump on it, I didnÆt know if IÆd done the right thing or not. Does anyone know if toads can survive with amputations? Would it definitely have died soon after? Or could it be happy, about to come out to mate this year? IÆm bound to find more injured ones, what is the best thing to do usually? When I see that theyÆve been badly hit by cars and I can see their insides coming out of their mouths bad or a bone sticking out of their legs I jump on them so that theyÆre not left there suffering. One time last year though there were a couple of toads mating that had been hit and I saw them both on their backs looking dead and I thought they were both dead but then 20 minutes later one of them had turned over. It had itÆs tongue out of itÆs mouth but apart from that I couldnÆt see anything else wrong with it so I decided to put it to safety and give it a second chance. Soon after it hopped off and I never saw it again. I spoke to a woman who works for Leeds City Council who collates frog surveys about it and I asked her if it was OK to let it go or if it was cruel and she wasnÆt too sure. This seems like a good place to find out info so what do you reckon? & do frogs feel pain like us cos I always feel for them when I see them squashed but still alive. (Lots are run over but very often theyÆre not killed out right by the first car.) Oh by the way, IÆm the Riddlesden frog catcher and every year at this time I go out at night-time and look for them by the roads and put them into buckets and take them to the canal (or sometimes I donÆt bother with a bucket if itÆs a slow night and just put them at the other side of the road).


I wanted presents from lots of you. Snot fair that Ben Rigsby was the only one to send me Xmas & birthday presents.
Vicar
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Joined: 02 Sep 2004
No. of posts: 1181


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Posted: 23 Feb 2008
Hi Sue,

This really is a horrible situation to be in, I do understand your feelings.

I don't think that I can offer any general guidance, I think its up to the person on the spot, and the extent of the injuries.

In my garden I have an old frog-friend with only one front leg, and a toad with a deformed and useless back leg. Both turn up year after year, so they must cope OK.

The frog is the red form and has been the star of many county fayres and animal shows locally . He's not the most healthy looking animal, but as I say...he keeps on turning up !

Steve Langham - Chairman    
Surrey Amphibian & Reptile Group (SARG).
Baby Sue
Senior Member
Joined: 19 Feb 2008
No. of posts: 412


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Posted: 25 Feb 2008

Hey itÆs well cool to know that there are disabled frogs and toads out there, I might think twice about jumping on hurt ones in future. I was debating whether or not I should steal some squashed ones and take them home to our greenhouse to see if they live or die just cos IÆm curious.  ààBut I wouldnÆt do it if the frogs and toads werenÆt up for it. ItÆs hard to tell what theyÆre thinking and what theyÆd like though ain't it? I donÆt recognise frogs and toads in my area, IÆm not sure if IÆve seen the same one twice, I guess I must have picked a few of the same ones up before though. I tend to think that I might not see them again once IÆve released them though cos so many get squashed and I canÆt be on all the roads at the same time to save them.

 

BTW Vicar, your avator is well scary. Are you actually a vicar in real life?


I wanted presents from lots of you. Snot fair that Ben Rigsby was the only one to send me Xmas & birthday presents.
Baby Sue
Senior Member
Joined: 19 Feb 2008
No. of posts: 412


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Posted: 29 Aug 2008

I performed more surgery on a toadlet yesterday. I work at a joinery in the country and thereÆs a large pond nearby and the toadlets and froglets come out in an army and all make their way for a long hop down the dusty track to where thereÆs houses and they end up all outside my work and every morning I have to spend 15 or 30 minutes collecting all the ones that have fallen down into our footwell and canÆt get back out again cos itÆs too big a step. Yesterday I spent 45 minutes tackling the blighters and I had over a hundred of them in a small box plus I got some which got inside the joinery cos those ones are gonna die cos they canÆt get out and they get covered in dust. I canÆt get all of them though cos they get into places I canÆt reach or see. But I move all the ones on the footwell and steps cos they're in danger of being trodden on (and some do get squidged from time to time ). Anyway, I found a disabled toadlet, I dunno what had happened to it, whether it was born with itÆs front toes joined together or if something had made them get tied together, but they were joined and it was struggling around using itÆs legs together as one leg. So I took it inside for a close inspection and with two pencils I tried pulling the legs apart but they wouldnÆt budge and I couldnÆt put much pressure on cos IÆd break all itÆs teeny weeny bones. But I didnÆt want to put it outside like that cos it werenÆt right so I got my scalpel and carefully sliced it in two where itÆs finger ends would be and there werenÆt no blood and it jumped about just fine like a proper toadlet would and it seemed totally fine and able after. IÆm good ainÆt I? I bet no one else would go to the bother of that and most employees wouldnÆt spend so much time trying to save froglets every day, I love frogs and toads I do.


I wanted presents from lots of you. Snot fair that Ben Rigsby was the only one to send me Xmas & birthday presents.
herpvet
Member
Joined: 30 Oct 2006
No. of posts: 30


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Posted: 26 Sep 2008
Hi,

Sorry to chime in so late, but just a suggestion that you try to establish a good relationship with a local vet. The amputation described would preferably be done under anaesthesia with appropriate pain relief. Antibiotic cover initially may also have helped its chances.

I personally would also suggest that in the case described, the toad should be kept in captivity for a few days until you are happy that there is no infection in the wounds, although whether that's the best option is perhaps arguable.

Bruce.

Bruce Maclean, Bird & Exotic Animal Veterinary Services.
Baby Sue
Senior Member
Joined: 19 Feb 2008
No. of posts: 412


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Posted: 14 Oct 2008

[QUOTE=herpvet]Hi,

Sorry to chime in so late, but just a suggestion that you try to establish a good relationship with a local vet. The amputation described would preferably be done under anaesthesia with appropriate pain relief. Antibiotic cover initially may also have helped its chances. [/QUOTE]
Do vets actually muck around with frogs and toads?! The thought of going to a vet never crossed my mind. Do toads need anaesthetic and pain relief? Veering slightly off-topic; nowadays when I see a half squashed snail I usually donÆt bother euthanasing it and let it live (mainly due to not wanting passing school kids to pick on me again for being weird ), but do you reckon when snails have taken a hit theyÆre in loads of pain after? Some look so cute when theyÆre still alive and are struggling around with broken shells and have their tentacles out and look alert, I often havenÆt the heart to stamp on them when they look like they want to live. & yesterday there was an unwell caterpillar in my rabbitÆs grass bowl and I was gonna end itÆs life but instead thought better of it, I wonder if itÆd have wanted to be given a quick death?

 

[QUOTE=herpvet]I personally would also suggest that in the case described, the toad should be kept in captivity for a few days until you are happy that there is no infection in the wounds, although whether that's the best option is perhaps arguable.

Bruce.
[/QUOTE]

Next time I find a badly injured frog or toad IÆll try and put it somewhere so I can observe it.

 

 

 

BTW informed people?! IÆve been wondering about the health of the frogs that have been hiding under my hut. Meanie Mummy creosoted the hut floor on Sunday and it stinks. Apparently creosote is now illegal to sell because of the poisonous toxins that can be breathed in whilst itÆs being applied. IÆm worried that IÆve gassed to death any frogs that were under the hut cos itÆs gotta stink bad down there. & I couldnÆt have gotten them out cos thereÆs only a small gap, IÆd probably have poked them to death trying. Do you reckon frogs died in the process of my hut being creosoted?


I wanted presents from lots of you. Snot fair that Ben Rigsby was the only one to send me Xmas & birthday presents.
Baby Sue
Senior Member
Joined: 19 Feb 2008
No. of posts: 412


View other posts by Baby Sue
Posted: 19 Oct 2010

Found a toad with a badly injured hand this morning so for once I took your advice and took it to the vets. Left it on the doorstep in a cereal box with leaves in for them when the vets opened.  Made myself 15 minutes late for work in the process. Just phoned and they put it down. Poor toad.


I wanted presents from lots of you. Snot fair that Ben Rigsby was the only one to send me Xmas & birthday presents.

- We chopped off a toads legs....

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