Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It's been a cold spell for the last few weeks and the common frogs in the garden stopped spawning after the first flush of activity on Feb 19th. They're back in action today as it's warmed up a bit. My european green toads have been fairly torpid in their peat filled tank in my garden shed. The only heat in there is the radiating heat from the turtle tanks around them but still the inside of the window has frosted up on cold nights. Today the pair of toads seem to be very active and the female looks as if she has shed her skin. The male was trying to eat some mealworms but seemed out of practice. I left him to it. I take all these as signs that spring is truly here. The toads spawned last year but nothing came of the tadpoles. They all hatched but then most went bad and I decanted them into the garden pond but I never saw them again. Let's hope I have more look this year. See attached picture.

Have these guys bred for you before? What body ofwater do you use?

reako45

The toads spawned last year some time in the earlysummer which is when I took the picture. I keep them in a tank in a shed with peat moss and bark etc. with just a bowl of water for them to sit in.When I noticed that the male was acting more active than normal,hard to specify exactly how, I put him and the female into a two foot by one foot tank with mature water and pond weed already in it.I always include a piece of branch from a non toxic tree for the spawn to be wound around It was outside on my decking. I wedged a piece of plank across the width of the tank at water level so the toads don't have to swim non-stop and left them to it. The male soon grabbed the female and they stayed in and out of the water for over a week. The female didn't look willing for a while and tied to escape but eventually she spawned and he did his bit and I had fertile spawn. Unfortunately the tadpoles started going bad just after the wiggling and swimming independently stage. I slid them all into my garden pond to spread them out away from infected individuals but none of them reappeared.
I've had similar experience with Bufo bufo in the past.Captive females I've overwintered have spawned within days of being put into a tank with wild caught breeding males, even though they've shown no sign of swelling or breeding activity in captivity.I'm sure it's the presence of a fertile male that stimulates the female.
The interesting difference was the speed at which the green toad spawn developed compared to the Common toad spawn.The tadpoles were out of the jelly in days for the greens compared to weeks for the commons. Common toads spawn here in Late March early April when the water is very cold to the touch. The water was pleasantly warm when the Bufo viridis spawned in Summer.