I have been catching these Southern Toads (
Anaxyrus terrestris)
during the spring and summer for years in Texas and South Carolina. I caught this little toad in my driveway on the evening of Thursday April 7, 2011. He (or she) is the first toad I have caught this season. There is a burrow in the small patch of grass between the driveway and the lamp post. Over the last two years, I have seen this same burrow used consistently. This is a fully metamorphosed adult and probably spent the winter in that burrow. When I released him back to the burrow, I saw another toad crawling around in it. The area near my house is the perfect habitat for these toads to complete their life cycles. A good section of the field near my house floods throughout the summer because of the evening thunderstorms providing the moisture needed for their rapid breeding season, rapid tadpole phase and an ample food supply. Around august, there are froglets everywhere. They are so cute! Unfortunately, this is also the perfect habitat for birds, squirrels and other predators and few froglets make it to full adult. Some do however and every spring about six full size adults emerge from their burrows around my house alone to repeat t
he cycle.
This specific toad is smaller than most of the other toads I have caught around here. They usually range from this size to the size of my full palm. This is probably this toads first season. The short legs, paratoid glands, and warts show that he belongs to the family Bufonidea. The locality, light stripe, and very pronounced cranial ridges show that he is an
Anaxyrus terrestris. The feet also had tubercles but I could not get a good picture. This may have been the toads first night out of the burrow because he felt very cold and was not very active. I handled him quite a bit more than I usually handled other toads because I was trying to get good pictures. The more I handled him, the more active he became leading me to believe that my body heat was warming him up more. Usually the toads pee on my in self defense after I catch them. This toad never peed on me leading me to believe that he had not absorbed enough moisture yet and didn't have any available. After handling him a lot, he started vibrating which really surprised me. He was not making any noise when he was vibrating so I think is was his attempt at self defense. Perhaps a predator would drop him if they were startled by the vibrating. After I was done, I put him back right where I found him. I look forward to seeing him throughout the summer. (Vanessa Skinner, Charleston, SC)
during the spring and summer for years in Texas and South Carolina. I caught this little toad in my driveway on the evening of Thursday April 7, 2011. He (or she) is the first toad I have caught this season. There is a burrow in the small patch of grass between the driveway and the lamp post. Over the last two years, I have seen this same burrow used consistently. This is a fully metamorphosed adult and probably spent the winter in that burrow. When I released him back to the burrow, I saw another toad crawling around in it. The area near my house is the perfect habitat for these toads to complete their life cycles. A good section of the field near my house floods throughout the summer because of the evening thunderstorms providing the moisture needed for their rapid breeding season, rapid tadpole phase and an ample food supply. Around august, there are froglets everywhere. They are so cute! Unfortunately, this is also the perfect habitat for birds, squirrels and other predators and few froglets make it to full adult. Some do however and every spring about six full size adults emerge from their burrows around my house alone to repeat t
he cycle. This specific toad is smaller than most of the other toads I have caught around here. They usually range from this size to the size of my full palm. This is probably this toads first season. The short legs, paratoid glands, and warts show that he belongs to the family Bufonidea. The locality, light stripe, and very pronounced cranial ridges show that he is an Anaxyrus terrestris. The feet also had tubercles but I could not get a good picture. This may have been the toads first night out of the burrow because he felt very cold and was not very active. I handled him quite a bit more than I usually handled other toads because I was trying to get good pictures. The more I handled him, the more active he became leading me to believe that my body heat was warming him up more. Usually the toads pee on my in self defense after I catch them. This toad never peed on me leading me to believe that he had not absorbed enough moisture yet and didn't have any available. After handling him a lot, he started vibrating which really surprised me. He was not making any noise when he was vibrating so I think is was his attempt at self defense. Perhaps a predator would drop him if they were startled by the vibrating. After I was done, I put him back right where I found him. I look forward to seeing him throughout the summer. (Vanessa Skinner, Charleston, SC) 
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