Kids Nature Blog

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Greetings nature lovers! Thanks to everyone who voted in another exciting contest for the Herp Room Animal of the Month. This month was very different from last month; we only had one animal lead the voting the entire time. So without further ado, let’s get down to business…

The February Herp Room Animal of the Month is…

The Eastern American Toad!!!

These critters can be easily found all over the North American continent; from Manitoba, all the way down to Georgia. They hibernate in the winter, but you can see them in standing water in spring and early summer and in forests in late summer and fall. Spring is their breeding season, where males will call non-stop through the night and each female will lay over one thousand eggs into marshes and ponds. When they hatch the tadpoles stay in schools like fish to stay safe. They also are poisonous so many animals cannot eat them anyway. These toads have a “toadlet” stage. This occurs right after they mature from being tadpole; they look like really tiny toads and they stay near water until they get a bit bigger. Once they become adults, they head to the forests until the next spring; where they can be found under logs and dead leaves. The adults are also poisonous, with beanlike sacs called paratoid glands right behind their eyes. Don’t worry, this poison will only secrete when they are being eaten. Toads eat all kinds of creepy crawlies; including worms, crickets, beetles, spiders, and much more. Our toads eat crickets three times a week with the occasional worm.

Thanks for watching everybody! Be sure to vote for next month and keep checking in for more things that are happening at the Delaware Nature Society. Until then, this is Austin Conley saying Stay Wild!

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