Meet Savannah Mikell and her Insta-Famous Toad Toby

While a lot of us dream of online fame, sometimes it happens completely out of the blue. As many of us know, the internet can be finicky about the things it likes and the people it chooses to promote. Random success was the case for Gainesville native Savannah Mikell, and her toad Toby. Savannah began taking photos of Toby last summer and posting them to Instagram, to the amusement of over 60,000 followers. She’s been featured on several local news outlets as well as nationally on the Kelly Clarkson Show. I caught up with Savannah this week to discuss internet fame and tiny furniture. 

“June 20,” Savannah said, when asked about the first time she took a photo of Toby. She posted it to a Facebook page called Frogspotting, and it quickly garnered significant likes online. This shocked Savannah, but she continued to take photos of Toby to the satisfaction of herself and others online. “I own a couple of professionally made dollhouses and I just thought it’d be funny to take a pic of him sitting on one of the little couches.”

The objects that Toby poses with in photos truly come from all over and are meticulously crafted. “My dollhouse and ‘beach house’ were built by my aunt who is a miniaturist,” Savannah stated. “She inspired my love for miniatures, and it has been a hobby of mine into adulthood. Some things she made, some things I’ve made, and a lot comes from miniaturists from all over the country! A lot are handmade and some pieces are mass produced.”

I couldn’t seem to wrap my head around how a toad would be so willing to sit down and take photos for Instagram. According to Savannah, Toby is still a wild toad and spends most of his time in the courtyard of her building or outside on her porch. She said that he doesn’t really mind the photos much though, and she described her process when the two of them set out to take a photo. 

“Toby kind of doesn’t care what’s going on, he eats crickets from my hand,” described Savannah. “There have been times where he doesn’t want to sit still so I just leave him alone! But not often. I always set up the scene, take a couple practice shots to get the angle and lighting right and then actually taking the picture of him in the scene takes about 15 to 30 seconds.”

The popularity surrounding Savannah’s photos was a complete surprise to her. She explained, “What started as just something a little funny for Facebook turned into me signing with an agency, being on the news several times, multiple news articles and web articles to the Kelly Clarkson Show! All in a matter of a few months. It’s been like a dream!”

I asked Savannah what was coming up next for her and Toby. A record deal? Possibly a TV show of their own? Excitedly, she told me that she expected more opportunities for her and Toby around every corner. Currently, she’s crafting a Toby Toad calendar which will be available to purchase sometime in 2020. 

If you want to find out more about Savannah and Toby, their respective Instagram handles are @vannah_mikell and @yaboi_toby_toad. 

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