When is toad breeding season

Toads play an important ecosystem role as insect consumers, thereby keeping populations in check. Appearance : Toads are shades of brown in color and are covered with warts.

They have a wide head and short front limbs. Behind the eyes, there are kidney bean shaped glands; these paratoid glands produce toxins that give the toad an unpleasant taste. Females are slightly larger than males and lack the characteristic dark colored throat seen on males.

It has copper-coloured eyes with a horizontal pupil. It can grow up to 13cm in length and females are larger than males. Not to be confused with: the common frog. Toads tend to be larger as well as having shorter legs than the common frog.

The toad also walks or crawls whereas frogs hop. Toadspawn is laid in long strings, whereas frogspawn is laid in large clumps. After hatching, toad tadpoles are black while frog tadpoles are greener. Find out the difference between our two favourite amphibians, the frog and the toad.

Toads are active at night, when they hunt for a variety of invertebrates including slugs, spiders, worms, aphids and ants. They sneak up on prey and use their sticky tongues to catch it. While the average female common toad will produce 1, eggs, as many as 5, have been recorded from one female. Male toads arrive first and wait for females at these ponds, although some choose to ambush the females on the way, jumping on their backs mid-journey.

Males vie for the attention of a female by fighting competing males. When spawning, the female releases double strings of fertilised eggs among waterweeds.

One female will produce around 1, eggs. After 10 days, the tadpoles emerge. Tadpoles mature in around 16 weeks, gradually losing their tails and growing legs as they develop into toadlets. They usually leave their spawning pond in May. In their natural habitats most American toads live for a year or significantly less. Successful or lucky! In captivity, American toads are known to live much longer. One captive individual, for example, lived for 35 years before its unfortunate accidental death.

The attachment of the tongue inside of the lower jaw facilitates its rapid extension toward prey. Prey items readily taken by B. In a three month season, a single toad will consume just under 10, insects and, thus, has a significant economic value for farmers and gardeners.

If the prey is two inches or less away, the toad will remain motionless and use a rapid tongue extension to capture the organism. Many predators would be expected to find B. Relatively few predators, though, readily take American toads for food. Its cryptic coloration, ability to change colorings to match substrate, and its avoidance of daylight and even moonlit nights all contribute to the excellence of its camouflage.

They reach reproductive maturity at years. Habits: Encountered infrequently during the summer, American toads are inactive during hot, dry periods and from late fall until breeding begins early in the year. They are most active at night, spending the day hiding in burrows or underneath logs, forest ground litter, or rocks. These toads show hiding spot fidelity, sometimes returning to the same location every day.

During the non-breeding season, individuals have a home range of several hundred square feet, but adults may travel more than half a mile during the breeding period. Adult American toads eat a variety of small insects including ants, beetles, moths, and earthworms. Tadpoles consume aquatic organic matter such as algae, detritus, dead fish, or other tadpoles.

Predators of adults include several species of snakes, birds, and mammals. Some are immune to the toxic secretions of the parotoid glands and skin, while others have adapted to tolerate the chemicals. When threatened, American toads will crouch and remain still, relying on camouflage. In some instances, especially during encounters with snakes, they will inflate their body and extend their hind limbs so as to appear larger. Toxins are also found in eggs, though they are lost in the larval stage.

Predators of tadpoles include predaceous diving beetles, giant water bugs, dragonfly naiads, crayfish, and birds.