Here’s an easy summer science project, one I just made: a toad habitat. It’s similar to a turtle terrarium (I’ll show how to make that too). I’d made the turtle terrarium ten years ago for my 8-year-old daughter (here’s some advice I gave her on her 16th birthday).

For this project you’ll need: a large flower-pot, fish tank, or plastic clothes bin. You’ll need some dirt for the bottom, and a small plastic bin, jar, or Tupperware for toad (or turtle) transport. You’ll also need a smallish plastic dish or tub (~6″ by 1″ deep) to serve as a lake in the toad habitat. For the turtle version you don’t need the lake, but will need a rock or brick. And that’s all, besides your toad or turtle. The easy way to get your pet is to find one by a river. If that doesn’t work, go to a pet-store and get one that is native to your area of the country. Local fauna (fauna= animals) will be heartier and cheeper, and will allow you to keep your terrarium outside if you choose. Keeping my toad outside means he (or she) can catch bugs without me having to buy them all the time. It also seems more “natural” to study animals in their natural temperature cycles. I caught my toads three weeks ago, in mid April after the last frost — I plan to set one free in the fall –the other I gave away.

For my toad habitat, I used a large, old flower-pot that I had sitting outside my house. It is 21″ across at the top and 18″ tall. I put 6″ of dirt in it. six inches is deep enough for the toad to dig in, and it left 12″ of airspace — I don’t think the toad can jump a foot in the air to get out. I made sure the soil was muddy, and had worms. Toads seem to like mud and they eat worms. Toads drink water through their skin, and may not like chlorinated water. I also added some leaves and a small flower pot for shade, and put in some bits of fruit and some bugs, and planted a single plant. My hope was to develop a colony of ants and bugs for the toads to eat. I buried my plastic water bowl, my mini-lake, slightly below ground level with the top 1/2″ above. I then went off with my toad transport to catch a toad or three in the wetlands areas near me (I live in Oak Park, MI).

Some good toad hunting spots in Keego Harbor MI

The first place I went was the banks of the Rouge river near Lawrence Tech. Sorry to say, the area showed no signs of toads, frogs, turtles, or even fish. There was an illegally connected drain, though — not good. I plan to bring the illegal grain up with the “Friends of the Rouge” (good group). I then went to an oak swamp on the Rouge. The area was beautiful and scenic, but there was no oxygen in the water and so no fish or toads; oxygen is important for the health of a river; without it, you’ve got  a swamp. I finally hit pay-dirt in Keego Harbor, MI, see map, a rural community 10 miles away from my home. In Keego harbor I found American toads aplenty: jumping all over, and big, hollow toad-mounds by the river. The locals were friendly too. Toad catching is a good conversation starter. I put two toads in my bin with some lake water and took them home to the terrarium, see movie.

My neighbor got the other toad and put him/her in a fish-tank terrarium in his bathroom. His terrarium has a screen on top with holes small enough to keep the toad and his food from escaping. He is feeding his toad meal worms, but I don’t have a movie. Apparently they like it.

I left my pot outside, as I mentioned, so my toad can catch insects that fly by, and spiders. My toad seems to like spiders. I also tried putting in wax-worms ($1 for 12). The good thing about wax worms is they move slowly, unlike crickets (crickets cost more and can jump out). My toad ate all 12 worms in 2 days. I have not put a lid on my pot yet. Perhaps that’s a mistake. My colony of bugs seems to be breeding fast enough to make up for escapees and eating, but perhaps that’s because the toad doesn’t eat many. A fellow at the pet store sold me ten small crickets for $3.00, but I don’t think the toad ate any before they escaped. See what your toad eats; it’s science. I think my toad is a female: it doesn’t vibrate or croak at night. Male toads vibrates and croak. Toads can be gender fluid, though; somethings two “female” toads will breed. Your job is to watch, enjoy, and perhaps learn something.

The main difference between this project, and the turtle terrarium I’d made is that the turtle terrarium was mostly water, with a brick, and this is mostly mud with a lake. I made the turtle terrarium in a laundry bin, a bigger environment, and flooded it except for the brick. I bought the turtles (a red-ears and a snapping) and fed it chicken bits and dandelion leaves. As with this terrarium, I kept the turtles outside through the spring, summer, and fall, but I brought the turtles in the winter. They lasted that way for about 8 years. Toads only live for 2-3 years, and mime may be a year or two old already. I won’t be too surprised if it croaks on my watch. For now, she seems safe and hoppy.

Robert Buxbaum, May 3, 2017. Here are some other science fair projects, chemical, and biological.