The Common Brown Toad is a Prince or a Princess in its own right; They may not look like much unless you're another toad, but they sure can do a lot for a garden and pond! PESTS BEWARE! Toads eat those pests we all try to get rid of including slugs, snails, mosquitoes, spiders and flies.
In the wild, toads spend summer days under rocks or similar things. Although they live on dry land, they must have water to breed in. In ponds these guys will eat mosquito larva and other bugs that frequent the area. The tadpoles will nibble on algae that coats the sides of ponds and will eat mosquito larva and other bugs that frequent the area.
When breeding season comes, toad courtship takes place near water and mating takes place in it. When the happy couple is ready, they hop into the water, do their thing, and eventually the female releases a long mucous strand filled with black eggs, each the size of a pin head. Sometimes this strand of eggs will be several feet long and contain thousands of eggs. You will know if you see toad or frog eggs, frogs lay their eggs in clusters.
In one or two weeks, most of the eggs will hatch into tiny tadpoles. In a couple more weeks, the tadpoles will be larger, their tails will begin to shrink, and little back legs grow. Soon these little middlings will be sitting on water lily pads and stones out of the water. Then, hundreds of these tiny toadlets, no bigger than a child's fingertip, move onto land and start a “toads life” on land.
There are several varieties of toads, all of which sport the same rough body and chunky frame. They all love to deprive your garden of unwanted pests. In most species, the males are smaller than the females. Toads make EXCELLENT pets, and despite common myths about warts, A PERSON CAN NOT CATCH WARTS FROM TOADS!!!!!
Because declining numbers of amphibians have been noted in recent years, it is an ecologically sound practice to encourage toads to live in your garden. It also creates less need for pesticides, and makes time in your yard more pleasant!
Below are pictures of one of our precious pet brown toads, Bumps. We have several of these wonderful little toads that we've hatched from tadpoles and raised up to adults. Toads make AWESOME pets, especially for little boys!
