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Mary Alice has had an iris garden along the side and the back of the house for about 15 year. The original rhizomes were given to her by Glen Bowers, who was the executive director of the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Through the years, she has spent more hours on the iris plants than any other flowers in her garden.
This past spring the plants had very few flowers. Mary Alice decided to clean out and separate the plants earlier than usual, and, in doing so, she discovered that the rhizomes were infested and rotted. This led her to dig up the entire iris bed. In the process, she startled a toad. I was called over to the patio to find out if it was a toad or a frog.
It was a toad and before I could move the toad it hopped under our front porch.
I remember my mother warning us kids that if we touched a toad we would get warts on our hands. Of course, we didn't listen and continued to pick up toads and we didn't get warts. I do remember one time when I had picked up a toad and it urinated on my hand, and I was sure that I would have warts on my hand.
I now know that a toad will sometimes urinate on the holder's hand, causing the holder to quickly drop the toad. The liquid, which a toad sometimes expels, is only water that the toad holds in reserve in case of a drought or dry spell and not urine.
Toads have nothing to do with human warts. The so-called wart glands are the two-large glands behind the eyes of the toad. These glands do give off a slightly poisonous substance, which the toad uses as a defense against predators. However, this poison is not strong enough to injure humans, but could sting if it came in contact with the eyes.
Frogs and toads are classified as amphibians. The word amphibian comes from two Greek words -- amphi, meaning of two kinds, and bios, meaning life. This refers to the fact that toads and other amphibians can live both on land and in the water. Toads are cold-blooded (technically called ectothermic animals), meaning that these animals have to move to either warmer or cooler places to change their body temperatures to a comfortable level.
A toad also breathes through its skin while on land and absorbs oxygen through its skin while underwater.
Although most frogs have smooth skin, there are frogs with rough skin. While some toads have either bumpy or warty skin, there are toads with smooth skin. Since frogs need to keep their skin moist, they are more aquatic than toads, which have skin that tends to be drier.
Here are some differences between frogs and toads:
• Toads are ground dwellers, while some frogs live in trees
• Frogs tend to be shades of green and brown, while toads have earthy tones
• Frogs have long legs for leaping, while toads have short, stocky legs used for hopping
• Frogs tend to ambush their prey, by leaping from a distance, while toads tend to crawl until within striking distance of their prey.
Both frogs and toads have long sticky tongues, with the frog's tongue attached to the back of its mouth and the toad's tongue attached at the front of its mouth. This is why toads are able to stick their tongues out farther than frogs.
Although both frogs and toads hibernate, their habitat is different. Frogs usually hibernate in the mud at the bottom of a pond, while toads hibernate in either leaf litter or soft soil, below the frost line. After emerging from hibernation in the spring, both frogs and toads head for water.
The male toads will sing a loud, high trill that continues for about 30 seconds. This singing is to attract females to come to the males. Mating takes place in the water. After the male climbs on the females back, she begins to lay eggs in a long slender string, which can exceed 60 feet in length and contain up to 15,000 eggs. Frogs will lay their eggs in large clumps.
The male toad fertilizes the eggs as they emerge from the female. Depending on the water temperature, the eggs will hatch in 3-12 days. The young tadpoles, often called toadpoles, are black and easily distinguished from frog tadpoles. After the tadpoles reach about one-half inch in length, they begin a metamorphosis.
At first, they begin to absorb their tails and develop legs, a process that can take up to two months. At the end of this period, the young toads are ready to leave the water.
A young toad sheds its skin every few weeks, while an adult toad will only shed its skin four times a year. The toads will eat their cast off skins.
In Pennsylvania, we have three species of toads: the eastern American toad, Fowler's toad and the eastern spadefoot toad, with the eastern American toad being the largest of the three.
Have you ever envisioned a toad, with its short, stocky legs, as a sumo wrestler? I have.
Bill Bower is a retired Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Officer. Read his blog and listen to his podcasts on the outdoors at www.onemaningreen.com.