Rewilding My Lot

Our property is in the central part of a development, so to get to the development boundary, one would need to cross at least one street and one or more properties. I would have expected in these early years of the new development that most of the visiting wildlife would fly in or already be in the ground.

However, I have been surprised on three occasions now to have seen a Gulf Coast Toad (Incilius valliceps) in the back yard here. Surprised because I’m not sure how it would have got here, and surprised because there is not a permanent water source nearby (yet!). On the latter point, many of my neighbors have sprinkler systems, so perhaps that provides enough moisture. For food, Gulf Coast Toads are carnivores and they will eat almost any small arthropod that they can overpower and swallow. There are plenty of those food options here.

The earlier sightings have been a small toad at the back door, and a tiny specimen that was lurking inside a rain barrel support platform.

This week I had my largest Gulf Coast Toad sighting — this one was about 3 inches long.