This is Melanie. She is a bufo melanostictus who happened to find herself homeless last summer when her services were no longer needed at a children's summer day camp and she found herself at our local pet store. They were unsure at the shop as to what species she was and I wasn't sure at first either. I had no trouble finding this toad online by searching for "bufo black+fingertips". It came right up. The black fingertips and "lipstick" give this toad a really unique look, but as for her care, I follow the basic toad care regimen. She is shy and spends most of her time in her rock cave and comes out when she is alone (or thinks she is), to soak. She is quite large, measuring a good 4" from snout to vent. She loves crickets, but eats earthworms with a vengence, too! Her favorite food is pinkie (newborn) mice, though. She gets one every other week.
A friend of mine who speaks Latin told me her name means "black toad"
Note 8/30/2007: I don't know how old Melanie was when we found her at the pet shop in the late summer of 2004. She was obviously an adult toad who was well into breeding years. She could have been anything older than five years old in my estimate, and to be honest, she could have been much older than that. Interestingly, unlike our female bufo americanus toads, like Muffin (and may she rest in peace, Woodstock), who carried thousands of eggs and it is/was obvious, Melanie never appears to be full of eggs (yes, we are sure she is a girl). Anyway, she is a minimum of eight years old now. Her pictures from this site were used in an ad compaign in Asia and she is by far, the only toad we have that actually earned her keep! We were paid a small price for her photo. She's a good model!
