Sunday, February 23, 2025

Toad, your companion in the backyard!



Toad is different from a frog. It lives mostly a terrestrial life. It is usually seen at dusk moving out from its hiding place and search for its prey. It is greyish brown in colour merging with the soil's colour. Skin is rough and dry unlike that of the slimy frog. Female toads are larger than the males. 

They are seen in the fields, forests and country sides having dry areas. At daytime, they are usually seen under stones camouflaging with its surroundings. They live for even 10 years long! 

They are said to shed off their skin repeatedly and eat it! Their preys are slugs, beetles, caterpillars, earthworms, flies, ants and spiders. You can detect about its presence somewhere near, by noting its poops found dropped on the soil. Watch a video on it here:


These poops contain the most of these parts - ant heads, beetle wings that are thrown out as undigestible food. 

They dig pits in the moist soil at dusk, to keep themselves cool in the hot Summer! Watch a video on it:


Female toads lay eggs on the pond water. The hatched out tadpoles grow into small toads before they hop on to the land to survive as an adult. Toad's predators are rats, cats, crows and herons. 

It is the CommonToad (Bufo bufo). It bloats up its body to make its body big when it is attacked. Thus it tries to threaten its predators displaying about its big capacity to offend them! Funny, poor thing.

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