Southern Toad

Tiny Southern Toads (Anaxyrus terrestris; formerly Bufo terrestris) are complicating my gardening this week. At first glance one wouldn't see them. They are no bigger than the end of your finger. . . but in large groups they are emerging from the ponds and spreading out across the yard. The Buddhist, vegetarian in me can't step on a single one of them. . . so I'm having a hard time negotiating the yards. Above: They are incredibly cute and cuddly . . . and tiny.



Its been years since the toads emerged in large masses as it has been so dry. The rain a couple weeks ago apparently convinced a pair to come out and mate on the ponds and I started seeing masses of eggs. . . and then a couple days later tadpoles (above). It took them about two weeks to start crawling out of the water.



The southern toad is characterized by highly pronounced knobs and crests that occur on its head. The two crests run forward from the knobs and come close to one another near the snout. Overall they are as you see in these images I made today. . . kind of brownish black. . . but those that have made it into our woods have turned a rosy red color.



The material these toads secrete from the parotid glands (located at the back of the head, behind the ears) may be irritating to some humans, but they are not toxic. The oak leaves in the image above are maybe 2" long (50 mm) to give you some idea of how tiny these little creatures are.



They appear to be traveling in groups of 25 to 50 individuals. . . heading toward shady or damp areas. As we haven't had a drop of rain in 5 days they're mostly hanging out around the air conditioning unit and its discharge and around where I've been irrigating the plants.

Like most toads, the southern toad is most active at night. It hides for the most part during the day, most often seeking shelter in burrows that are self-constructed. Southern toads will eat small invertebrates including beetles, earwigs, ants, cockroaches, mole crickets, and snails, but are also known to eat anything they can swallow. I'm hoping these little guys are eating some of the swarms of mosquitoes that are around. In the images above and below you can see individual grains of sand on the toad's bodies which give you some idea of how small they are.



Above: Click on the image to enlarge. I was carefully digging trying to plant some flowers this afternoon and a group of the toads crawled up what must have looked like a mountain to them. Notice how our soil is really nothing more than quartz sand. I haven't figured out how I'm going to mow the yard with all these toads around. I guess for now it will have to wait.

Some of the groups were crossing the road this afternoon, far from their birthplace in our ponds. They move quite quickly. The adults will be much larger. . .something like 4.5 inches long when fully grown (115 mm). In the past there were so many toads on rainy nights that I could not hear to talk on the phone. The rains are their cue to sing in search of a mate.

The native Southern Toad is sometimes mistaken for the Marine Toad (Rhinella marina; formerly Bufo marinus). . .also known as the Giant Toad or Cane Toad. It is the largest toad found in Florida. The Marine Toads secrete a highly toxic substance from their parotid gland which can be deadly to cats and dogs and cause great irritation to humans.

Marine Toads were introduced to Florida in 1955 when 100 specimen were accidentally released from Miami's airport by a pet dealer. Subsequent releases in the 1960s were on purpose as sugar cane growers used the toads to control grubs in their fields. While we did once have Marine Toads in our ponds I don't believe the current critters to be of that species. The adult cane toad is a whopping 15 inches long (381 mm; 38 cm) and can weigh up to 6 pounds.



Above: Tomato hornworm caterpillar Manduca quinquemaculata parasitized by Braconidae wasp larvae.

Elsewhere in the gardens I ran across some Tomato Hornworms (Manduca quinquemaculata) that were being parasitized by braconid wasp larve (the white things attached to the worm). Braconidae is a family of parasitoid wasps. There are perhaps 150,000 individual species of wasps in this family. The wasp larve eat the worm for sustenance.

Below: The Five-Spotted Hawkmoth (Manduca quinquemaculata) in its other form (e.g. Tomato Hornworm).



Below: My friend 'Tahoma' the Red-eared Slider Turtle that is stranded in our ponds. Tahoma is better known as Trachemys scripta elegans. He's giant now. . . about the size of a big dinner plate. . . but often when I go looking for him all I can find is his head sticking out of a bunch of plants. . . like in this image made this afternoon. I named him Tahoma because of its Native American Indian origina and meaning "that frozen water." He's great at playing hide-and-seek.

I bought at 50 pound bag of cat food about a month ago and he's just about eaten all of it. The food comes in different colors/flavors. . . and I've noticed he will eat all the red nuggets first. . . then finish off the rest.

I've found some sliders in a lake that has a lot more water than ours and I've thought of moving him there. . . but. . . for now I'll continue feeding him and tending him . . . I just think he must be very lonely as the ducks, otters, and other turtles have all disappeared. . . so he is pretty much alone as far as I can tell.