Toads migrate back in Spring to their breeding ponds along well trodden toad traffic highways.
- They return back to the pond in which they were born.
- This can cause them great danger as roads or housing estates may have been built across their route
- Adult toads will try to cross roads with no awareness of the dangers.
- They walk or waddle slowly unlike frogs that leap and bound.
- In some hotspot problem areas volunteer Toad Wardens carry the toads over the roads in buckets to help them safely across.
Their journey will take place later than a newt or a frog and they are fussy about their eventual breeding ponds.
- Toads like a deeper pond rather than a shallow one.
- But on the Nursery we have had them spawn in a low trough on the ground of 3 inches deep!
- She lays her eggs in long, gelatinous strings whilst swimming with the male on her back
- He fertilises the eggs immediately.
- The 1/2" wide strings of spawn then get wrapped and tangled around the plant vegetation that is well below the water surface as she swims.
- They need free water space in which to execute this ritual
Emerging stems of Caltha palustris, foliage of Iris and other pond plants giving upright growth beneath the water as well as oxygenating plants are all good for the spawning toads.
- You may need to lift the plants above the water to see the strings of eggs attached.
- This is why toad spawn is not as frequently noticed as the frog spawn commonly laid on a shallow shelf.
For more detail on Toads in your pond see our Tips and Advice page.