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Toad behaviour
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Posted by chippewacat Devon UK (My Page) on Sat, Jun 25, 05 at 4:08
| What are people's knowledge and experience of toads? I have loads in the garden (at least a dozen individuals I can identify) but not a lot of obvious spawning activity so the bulk of that must still be done elsewhere.
I understand that toads don't spend time in ponds except when breeding, otherwise they are out in about on land. Well the reason why I know about the toads is that they do spend a lot of time in my pond, doing everything but breeding. In the evening several make a beeline (toadline?) for the pond from under the shed, house, rockpile and glory knows where else and hop in, suspending themselves in the pondweed and pretty much stay around the pond for most of the night. In the daytime I can often find one or two in the pond all day sleeping (and those are the ones I can see as they do hide well).
Does anyone else notice sleeping toads in their ponds? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Toad behaviour
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My folks have loads of Toads in their ponds, and from my observations it appears that they prefer to spawn in the Pond in which they themselves matured - we started off with some spawn from both frogs and toads from a local lake and in the first year we had both in the ponds,but from then on only the toads re-appeared each year, with the numbers increasing each year - this year we must have had at least dozen in there and so much spawn we had to transfer the bulk of it back to the lake where we got the original toads (they've had a heron problem, which has destroyed the frog and toad population the last couple of years)
Anyone else noticed this kind of behaviour? |
RE: Toad behaviour
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| Getting the hang of this....note one toad in pond, not breeding! |
Here is a link that might be useful: Toad
RE: Toad behaviour
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| Chippewacat, that looks like a frog to me. My toads are much wartier, uniformly dark brown, and rounder. In case of doubt, get it to move (preferably on land) - frogs leap, toads crawl. I've also heard that toads go back to their pond of birth; nevertheless I had a pondful of toad tadpoles this year - even though the pond was only put in Easter 04. |
RE: Toad behaviour
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| yep - definately a frog!! |
RE: Toad behaviour
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| Frogs have a beautiful smiley face whereas toads have a more frowning face. |
RE: Toad behaviour
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| Well this could get interesting....This particular toad/frog I see quite regularly out of the water but is now a bit bigger (its an old picture), and it crawls, (not hop), and when it's dry looks quite warty. There are plenty of other toads about that are more dumpy than this one, but also have a very spotty front and brown/red back. (Then there are other toads which are either very red, or a kind of black/light coloured mottled look.) They all crawl, and mainly live under the stones, house, and shed, and in the toad hole. Now the frogs (the ones I have been comparing this one too) look very different to this one. They are much sleeker, have very smooth skin, and very sleek faces, and those very powerful back legs. They range in colour from olive to a more yellow colour, and some have quite intricate mottling. There is one rather elderly brown frog, that doesn't look so smooth (boy can she hop though) but she again is much sleeker than this one. Oh drat, now that I look more closely, those legs do look more froglike on this particular one. (I took this picture about 3 years ago). I am sure the others sleeping in the pond recently are bonafide toads--so during the week I will have to get a photo sorted! We could take votes...toad? frog? Trog? |
RE: Toad behaviour
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That is def a pic of a froggie
All The Toads I have seen have been
Dark Brown,Dark grey, Dark Olive Green etc.
Dave |
RE: Toad behaviour
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RE: Toad behaviour
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Sorry - I also think it's a frog.
I very seldom see my Toads, apart from when they 'migrate' across the garden at spawning time. Just a comment- the frogs in my ponds are 90% light tan with a brown mask only get a few darker ones.
This morning saw a 'newcomer' trying to find it's way into the ponds across the nets.
It was a very light colour (nearly yellow) with just a few green stripes on it's legs. What was unusual was that it had no 'mask'. Very pretty frog which looked remarkably like the Natterjack toad on the link below but more 'yellow'! (also it didn't hop it crawled)
Could it be???!!! Surely not -wrong environment - wrong part of the Country.
I tried to take a photo but the batteries in my camera needed charging! If I see it again will rush for the camera.
I 'pushed' it through a hole in the nets (I cut holes to let the plants grow through)
Whatever it was - it was very unusual. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Toads and frogs
RE: Toads
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Just looked at other pictures of Natterjack Toads on the 'web'. It's colour was nothing like them [lol]
Oh well! |
RE: Toads and frogs
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Had to laugh at myself re the above.......think I just saw a frog with unusual colouring.
Problem is.....I get sooooo excited when I see something 'different' in the pond. Must learn to calm down and act 'British' [lol]
Sue |
RE: Toad behaviour
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Sue's link was interesting.
I forgot to mention the unmistakeable ridge
going down either side of the FROGs body
from the eyes to the hips.
Dave |
RE: Toad behaviour
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Sue I once thought I had a mutant frog as it looked a bit like those rubber chickens you could get and it had lots of legs etc. I was so shocked and tried to get it out of the water. It jumped away, but on reflection I am sure that what I really saw must have been a few males on a female who was sprawled out on the bottom of the pond. It was my first year ponding and I didn't know any better then.
Alison |
RE: Toad behaviour
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Anyone got any pics of home grown Toads ?
Dave |
RE: Toad behaviour
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| Well, thanks for all your comments and helpful advice, I do think it is a frog and can't understand why I didn't see it in the first place (but as an amphibianphile, I do feel rather foolish !!). That website is really helpful. It was one of the first visitors to the pond on a regular basis, and when I took the picture I thought toad, and it stuck in my braincells. Watch out for those sticky braincells. Now, this is a picture of one of the sleeping 'toads', but not a very good photo. There are several who I see crawl over to the pond in the evening, and this one seems to spend the rest of the day there too sometimes, especially when it's hot. Now, frog or toad? (I can hear the f word already....) |
Here is a link that might be useful: maybe a toad?
RE: Toad behaviour
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RE: Toad behaviour
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| Hi folks - original pic is most surely a frog BUT the "maybe a toad" toad is surely a toad! Toads mostly only go to ponds to breed but will do so when the environment is quite dry - they "drink" through the skin of their tummies so the easiest way to do it is to sit in a pond or a puddle! Sorry to sound like an anorak but I am an amphibian ecologist! I chanced on this forum and thought I'd post a reply - nice to see folk concerned about our moist garden companions!!! Toadboy. |
RE: Toad behaviour
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| Gee thanks Toadboy--that explains why there have been several sitting along the rim of the pond recently. I am now much better at telling my toads from my frogs.... What a lovely job to have, I bet this forum is a bit of a busman's holiday for you! Glad you found the site and pop in again. |
RE: Toad behaviour
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| here is another website which might be of interest |
Here is a link that might be useful: Reptiles & Amphibians of the UK
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