My family used to have a shore house down in Chingoteauge, Virginia. In actuality the shore was about 15 minutes away which made our vacation home on a different island that was kind of in the country. I remember the dirt was more sandy than dirty and there were different types of trees that you don't find up here in New Jersey, even though it is only 4 hours away. We had a decent backyard and two side yards that probably made up about a quarter of an acre.
As a child I loved the outdoors and would collect and gather any type of animal I could. I have had, at one point or another, baby birds, squirrels, turtles, bunnies, and a mole in shoe boxes in an attempt to save their lives. It rarely worked. I must have been in quite a delight the first time I found all the toads on Chingoteauge Island. The place was full of them. During the daytime we would come across the random toad in the grass, sometimes up on the deck sunbathing, many times mushed flat on the oystershell road. At night they came out in swarms, probably due to the huge amount of mosquitoes.
My dad would let us collect the toads using a bucket and a flashlight. My brother and I would scurry around the yard, covered in bug spray, gathering toads into our five gallon bucket, sometimes with our hands and other times using a small crabbing net. The net could grab up to 10 medium to larger toads at a time but the smaller ones, which were about the size of a golf ball, would slip right through. One time we found a toad so big it bent the net. Seriously it was the size of a cat and was so big my even my dad didn't want to pick it up. We called her "Big Momma", and she went free that night undisturbed. The other toads all made their way into the bucket, which eventually filled to the top.
With our hands covered with toad piss (they pee on you when you pick them up and no, it does not cause warts) we would bring the bucket up on the porch and dump it out. TOADS! TOADS! Everywhere toads! Oh, toads in your toes. Toads jumping off toads that are jumping off toads. Don't step our you'll flatten a family at a time. "Mom, don't panic!" How many toads at a time can sit on your feet? Like a drop of food coloring in a glass of water the toads started off concentrated in the center and gradually spread to the edges of the porch, then jumped down into the night grass. There were always a few that lingered, daring their captures. Too bad we didn't eat frog legs.
