California Toad

What a lovely surprise to find a pair of California Toads with a trail of eggs attached!! I was cleaning up our Artesian well and did not find out there were these toads lurking till the third when the bog refilled. I think I will fast track some of the aquaculture projects I had in mind to utilize all the tad poles I expect to be soon swimming and hungry.

Hopefully they haven't been too disturbed by your maintenance. They look pretty happy anyhow.

I always wonder where my toads come from. They don't seem so numerous as the frogs, which I often see in the grass and the spawn in the pond. There are a few toads though. One used to like it in the polytunnel, which you'd have thought was a bit hot for it, but it seemed happy enough - plenty of food presumably. I never see the spawn though. I gather they can be a bit fussier about their spawning grounds than frogs, who seem here to spawn in any reasonable puddle!

Interesting about the poly tunnel. My guess is the additional moisture is favored despite any additional heat.

I relocated some tadpoles to two different locations near the cabin in zone 1 so could keep an eye on them. One is planted with aquatic plants and some soil here the tadpoles are thriving and are about 3x the size or the original pond tadpoles. The second basin is too small and the algae to thick for them, I will transfer these this next week. I will update with photos this week.

Lots of reproductive reptiles here!