Sternberg Museum of Natural History

The Sternberg recently received three young Sonoran Desert Toads that were being illegally kept and sold.

Once staff members at the museum heard about the unfortunate event, they were happy to take them and add them to museum’s animal family.

None of them have names yet, but they are quickly making their way into the hearts of the Sternberg staff. Especially with Sternberg volunteers who have had the opportunity to spend lots of time with them, helping them adjust to being handled.

If you have ideas for names for the toads, there is a suggestion box at the museum admissions desk.

They love to eat crickets and to splash around in their water bowl. They have already grown in the few weeks the museum has had them. Alicia Gaede, Sternberg naturalist, said the toads will likely get much larger than they are now, and eventually will eat mice.

“I am happy we have them, but I hate the circumstances of how we got them,” she said.

The museum previously had a Sonoran Desert Toad, named Jabba, but it died of natural causes.

The toads are not on display yet, but once they get a little bigger and learn to eat from their caretakers’ hands, they will be moved to the bigger cage with the chuckwallas, where the public can see them. Staff hopes to have the toads on the display by the end of the summer.

As the name suggests, these toads are found in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and are the largest toads native to the United States. Sonoran Desert toads have extremely potent, defensive toxins that are released from glands in the skin.

Gaede said once the toads have been handled as pets, they are unlikely to cause harm to humans.

These toads depend on water more than most desert species typically do. During dry periods they will burrow and come out when it rains.

For more picture, and videos of these cuties, check out the Sternberg Facebook page every Monday in July. Click here to see a video of the toads.

Hays Post reporter Cristina Janney contributed to this story.