today when i was bringing out some orange peels into my compost pile, i noticed some toads living in it. what should i do? i dont want to accidentaly squash them or hurt them when im packin in the layers and mixing it around with my big metal pitchfork thing. please post some advice.
I never had this problem but you could try gently shaking the compost around and see if the toads run away.
scoop emout by hand &move em away somewhere? never had that but i bet theyre just diggin round inthe top layer for bugs & such ya might wanna move emto any sectionof the garden with any kinda bug probs thentokeep emout maybe cover the pile with chickenwire or something
Be glad they are there. I have a worm bed I use for compost. I always catch a small toad and keep it in there. They keep the bugs from taking over, that's why they are there. Just be careful you would not want to hert them, but they are very tough critters. My little girl likes to find the toad when I work the bed, she thinks it's Kool.
By the way I always let the Toad go at the end of the fall season. The first one I find in the spring get guard duty for the year.
the presence of amphibians means your land is very healthy. I wouldn't do anything, except be real careful when you turn your compost pile. I'd probably just bang around and make lots of noise so they can run and hide.
lucky you! probably the best thing you can to is to scoop them out by hand. if you're worried about them coming back, maybe you can put some screening over your compost, then you wont have to worry about squishing them.
