August 16, 1990 - In Search of the Truth About ToadsC12 The Suffolk Times • August 16, 1990
In Search of the Truth About Toads,
By Paul Stoutenburgh
Just after one of the many downpours
we had recently Barbara and I noticed a
toad hopping across our lawn. This was
unusual because most amphibians do
their foraging for food at night. What
made it so important to Barbara was her
remark, "There goes my toad." Seems
she has seen him in her garden each
time she's been out.
Although toads in general are thought
to have a pretty low IQ, I'm told they
do have some memory ability, which is
a prerequisite for intelligence. It's with
this memory they find their way back to
their favorite resting place after a
night's hunting. People have often told
me of a toad under their porch or in a
hole alongside the house, etc. — a
guardian of a certain spot.
To some there is a bit of confusion
between toads and frogs. If you remem-
ber toads wander away from ponds after
they breed and frogs always stay near
the water and that toads' thick skins are
dry and warty- looking while frogs are
smooth and generally wet - looking,
you'll have no trouble in separating
them.
Some toads have actually been tagged
and found to wander almost a mile from
their maternal pond. These ponds act
like a mecca and during the springtime
the toads' chorus can be heard luring the
females to come and join their renewal
of life. Toads from all over head for
these birthing areas where the males
outnumber the females by a large
majority.
The sound generated by the toad is
Focus on
Nature
amplified by a resonant sac under the
chin and down the throat that becomes
enlarged, looking much like my grand-
son's inflated bubblegum.
Males Lie in Wait
Once the female is lured by the
chorus of toads to the pond, she is
immediately pounced upon by waiting
males. Her job will be to lay the eggs,
attached in long strings, while the male
literally helps squeeze them out of her
and then fertilizes them. A single
female toad can produce as many as
20,000 eggs, of which a large majority
will feed other predators. It's a real
orgy; some male toads are confused and
pounce on other males only to receive a
discontented grunt.
In about 12 days, more or less, de-
pending on the water temperature, tad-
poles will hatch and start their gleaning
of the ponds. I've already seen tadpoles
in some of the farmers' rain ponds. If
the ponds dry up before the toads ma-
ture, they're doomed. Vegetable matter
will make up the majority of their early
diet as these little black pea -size globs
swim about.
In six weeks to two months they'll
grow legs and start to lose their tail.
Then they'll emerge from the pond as
small toads. It's often on a rainy day
that this movement of thousands of
small toads takes place. It's from this
mass movement during a rainstorm that
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COMMON TOAD — Hatched from eggs laid in a pond, the toad tadpole
develops legs, loses its tail and takes to the land, where it will stay and
forage for insects. Next spring it is again lured back to the pond for
mating.
the idea came that it was raining toads
and frogs. On the contrary, the rain
made it easier for the little toads and
frogs to start their new life on land. I
can remember once when I was quite
young that during a rainstorm there
were toads all over the lawn, the side-
walks, patios, the roads, and one could
well imagine they had dropped out of
the sky.
`Our Toad'
We feel quite lucky in having "our
toad' in the garden for they do a great
job of insect collecting. With their long
retractable tongue that acts like one of
those birthday party gimmicks the kids
blow out in a long tube that quickly re-
coils. The tongues of the toad and frog
operate in the same general manner.
They are quite accurate for their tongue
has a sticky surface which grabs the in-
sect and brings it back into the mouth.
I'm told you can actually hear the quiet
snap of the tongue as it hits its mark,
something like a quiet snapping of your
fingers. With this ability to rid our gar-
dens of pesty insects, we should all en-
courage these interesting little creatures
to stay around.
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Toads are good jumpers and not too
easily caught but these evasive tactics
can easily be overcome by any enthusi-
astic child or the young -at -heart. Of
course, there's nothing to the old wives'
tale about getting warts from handling
toads. They do sometimes excrete a liq-
uid that is distasteful; this is the toad's
way of protecting himself should some
cat or dog or other animal think about
making a meal of him. Once that taste
is detected, the toad is dropped and never
again will that cat or dog select toads
for a meal. They have an additional
irritant, excreted through a special
parotoid gland in their skin, that also
acts as a deterrent to would -be
aggressors.
Toads to some might not be rated as
good looking what with their squat,
dumpy, warty looks. These negative
ideas are generally acquired through life.
To a child, a toad is something special
and most are anxious to hold them or,
better yet, have one as a pet. To a cer-
tain extent I'd condone keeping a toad
for a short while for a pet. Gathering
bugs and worms to feed it will in itself
prove an exciting youthful experience,
plus the fascination of having your own
pet where you can observe it close at
hand.
Toads do make good pets and most
learn to accept the confined quarters of
an old aquarium or box without too
much discomfort. Being concerned par-
ents and knowing young people's short
span of attention, I'm sure you'd agree
that one or two weeks is just about
enough before letting the toad go.
I hope not only children but parents
as well will start to appreciate our good
neighbors the toads and realize how im-
portant they are in the balance of keep-
ing the insects down. It's during these
close encounters that we realize toads
have special attributes, one which I've
already mentioned, his ability to catch
insects. The other wonder is his eye,
which is something special and has to
be seen to be appreciated. It was Shake-
s
peare.who said, "A precious jewel in