The Safest Decorative Houses For Garden Toads

Buying decorative frog and toad houses for gardens is not only a way to create a magical outdoor environment, it can help protect one of nature's most overlooked garden visitor, the frog or toad. These adorable little amphibians rarely make their presence known in a big way. Sometimes, homeowners may not realize they have toads or frogs living nearby until it rains or becomes very humid outdoors.

Along with creating a frog-friendly backyard pond with plenty of plants like water lilies, your frogs and toads will feel more at ease having someplace to hide and rest. Frogs and toads are wonderful for keeping insect populations down in the garden. After eating 50 to 100 insects every night, they will want to kick up their frog legs and rest after such a big meal.

There is no point in having a cute house if anyone can just slide their claws in and snatch you out to eat you for dinner.Nor is it a pleasant thought to imagine an uninvited forked tongue slither into your front door ready to suffocate you to death.

When you think deeply about these products, you really must consider the little creature who may need to make them a home. A safe home. A cozy home. Hopefully a home that doesn't make it easy for you to be part of a fast food menu.

Below Are A Few  Housing Options To Consider

American Toads Love French Blue Houses

This looks like a pottery project I did in Junior High School, but it is one of the higher security styles that people purchase to protect their toad buddies.

 See The Other Colors Available

•  Gets excellent reviews for effectiveness.
• Can be set up at an angle to provide a back escape for the resident.
• A Made-In-The-U.S.A. product.

People who want to make quick and inexpensive dwellings for toads find that using an old broken clay flower pot turned upside down can work in a pinch. However, many clay pots have a big drainage hole. If you were a toad, would you want a big hole in your ceiling? Upside down clay pots don't have much decorative value either. Toad dwellings come completely covered on top for protection. Most are made of porous ceramic/clay materials just like flower pots. Clay houses collect moisture, which they love. The styles are quite unique and interesting. Some are smooth and plain with a rounded shape. Others are so fancy they look like mansions and castles. Yes, they even come in two-story designs.

These products come in so many different styles that any homeowner can easily find the type that blends into the theme of their garden. They can be woody and natural-looking and almost disappear into landscape. They can be used as a decorative touch serving a dual purpose. Some frog and toad houses are shaped just like,  you guessed it, frogs and toads. Some are very artistic in design. They create whimsy and ambience for outdoor spaces. The most popular styles are those that say a Toad or Frog lives here when family and friends come to visit.

Why do garden creatures like toads and frogs need houses? All animals need shelter and safety from predators. The nature-loving gardener puts these products in the garden to make it a friendly and inviting place for creatures to live. They need shelter from danger, extreme sun and bad weather. They love moist, shady places to hide and live. Having decorative toad dwellings in the garden is a conversation starter that brings awareness of the need to shelter them as their natural habitats become smaller and smaller. Frogs and toads can become the innocent victims of dogs, cats, raccoons, opossum’s, predatory birds and even pond fish.

The range of prices for these products really varies. There are top-of-the-line houses made to look like important sculptures of mystical garden mushrooms, magical castles with towers and many other great designs. There are V.I.T  ( very important Toad) two-story McMansions for the amphibian with discriminating taste. Some are small and inexpensive dwellings that kids are able to afford that will teach them about caring for wildlife. Most of these houses range from $15 to more than $90 for highly-decorative ceramic versions.

 Not only do these products add decorative value to an outdoor garden space, they make wonderful gifts when you can't think of anything to get the nature-lover in your life. They are wonderful teaching tools for children and those interested in biology. Frogs and toads simply jump for joy at their cool new garden houses. Sorry, I couldn't help myself on that one.

Many novelty Toad houses only have an entrance door. Depending on where you live, this can be a death trap, or no big deal. Caring for these creatures doesn't have to be complicated, but they are vulnerable in the wrong type of shelter. They may be safer in a suburban Toad house, but it depends. 

When I was 15 or so, I lived in a suburban housing development that was rapidly growing. The outlying country fields were being bulldozed for new houses. After one particularly rainy weekend, the construction trenches became full of slippery clay-mud. It was in one these trenches that I found a cute little Toad struggling to climb out of the slick mess.

I slide down the bank to rescue the poor thing.Not only was he coated with slippery clay-mud, he smelled like raw sewage. I carried Mr. Stinky to my car, wiped him off with a paper towel and decided he needed a better place to live.

I drove him to a beautiful place, The Tridelphia Reservoir. There,I walked with Mr.Stinky through patches of ferns and shady knolls until I found the perfect spot to let him go. I will never forget you Mr.Stinky. I hope you were happy and healthy there.