Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Herman (see photo in previous post), the PacMan is doing well, loves his humid home, his dusted crickets, etc. Thank you to all who posted about PacMan care, it's been very valuable. I got the guy because he was rather darned cute and wish I could bring more home because Pet***** has a few more sitting around the shelf looking kinda sad in tiny beta-sized cups. That's in Clovis / Fresno if anyone reads this and wants to make a frog happy. They really do make wonderful "clean up" crews for other cricket-eaters. Scorpions (I have 2) either eat or not and you never know which. This guy helps with the waste and is a kick watching eat.

Here's my question - - - is it actually a frog or a toad? Forgive my ignorance, but I can give you the intricacies of quite a few types of animals I have or have had in the past, but not frogs (yet). What IS the difference between them?

Thanks so much for your responses which help people like myself learn.

Cara Fusinato and Herman the PacMan

They are members of Leptodactylidae, subfamily Ceratophryniae, genus Ceratophrys.
They are technically classified as frogs for a more complete discussion please see Biology of Amphibians by Duellman and Trueb.

Ed

I think that real toads are Bufo species, but there are other toads. I don't know what the difference is between them but think that all toads are frogs but not all frogs are toads. If that made any sense?
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CokeOfMan

Yes all toads are frogs...a toad is a type of frog that has a paratoid gland on its back...true toads are all bufo while some frogs referred to as toads include bombina (fire belly toads) and palobatidae (spadefoot toads). Bufo is defined by the presence of a bidders organ(sexual tissue of the opposite sex), no upper teeth in the jaw and a heavy ossified skull.

Stupid question: Are there poisonous frogs? Since you said toads have glands on their back (I assume that is where the poison is?) where do frogs get their poison from?
I was primarly thinging of Dartfrogs, if they really are frogs, since they don't look like toads.
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CokeOfMan

Mantellas, Phyllomedusa bicolor, pickeral frogs...

There are a couple off the top of my head. Many species of frogs have toxins in their skin. Not all of them are in sufficient quantity to harm people but some can (I had my hand swell up one time from skin secretions from a Haitian Giant Tree frog getting into a small cut)

Ed

the poison glands of frogs are a different set of glands than the paratoids of a toad although the glands of a frog are also usually found on a toad in addition as is my understanding