I made friends with a few toad beings when I was a girl roaming the countryside, free from human companionship. One thing I learned is they pee on you when you pick them up, which is a defense move, but once that is out of the way, toads can get used to attention. I had one who lived under the cistern pump at my grandparent’s central Missouri farm. She came out every night, hopped up to me. I caught grasshoppers for her. She was fat on all the insects we had back in the 60s. There were so many, I never thought we would be in an insect population crash. But that’s another story.
Toads are magical beings, who are somewhat disgusting and mesmerizing all at once. Their special toxins have the ability to make people’s ego dissolve, similar to magic mushrooms. They were used by mystic horsemen called toadmen in order to become one with the horse. And then of course kissing one might get you a prince! But don’t count on it!
Toads live on the land, yet need to return to the pond or ditch they were born in to lay eggs. They travel at night back to their birthplace, undercover of darkness. The males make a cute little trill song to attract the partner, and if he finds her, he mounts her and holds on. More than one can grab on. It’s a frenzy called a toad knot. It can actually be dangerous for the females if there are too many because she can drown. Females lay around 7000 eggs in long double helix strands, from which tadpole/toad enters the world.
I didn’t know the little song, grasping and shaking thing my toad friend was doing when I pet him was a sexual thing. I mean for the toad. Lusty little critters, and one that tells us our water and our insects are healthy, and all is well with the earthly beings.
I made friends with a few toad beings when I was a girl roaming the countryside, free from human companionship. One thing I learned is they pee on you when you pick them up, which is a defense move, but once that is out of the way, toads can get used to attention. I had one who lived under the cistern pump at my grandparent’s central Missouri farm. She came out every night, hopped up to me. I caught grasshoppers for her. She was fat on all the insects we had back in the 60s. There were so many, I never thought we would be in an insect population crash. But that’s another story.
Toads are magical beings, who are somewhat disgusting and mesmerizing all at once. Their special toxins have the ability to make people’s ego dissolve, similar to magic mushrooms. They were used by mystic horsemen called toadmen in order to become one with the horse. And then of course kissing one might get you a prince! But don’t count on it!
Toads live on the land, yet need to return to the pond or ditch they were born in to lay eggs. They travel at night back to their birthplace, undercover of darkness. The males make a cute little trill song to attract the partner, and if he finds her, he mounts her and holds on. More than one can grab on. It’s a frenzy called a toad knot. It can actually be dangerous for the females if there are too many because she can drown. Females lay around 7000 eggs in long double helix strands, from which tadpole/toad enters the world.
I didn’t know the little song, grasping and shaking thing my toad friend was doing when I pet him was a sexual thing. I mean for the toad. Lusty little critters, and one that tells us our water and our insects are healthy, and all is well with the earthly beings.