Western spadefoot facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Western spadefoot |
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The Spea hammondii, also known as the western spadefoot toad, is a special type of toad. It's an amphibian, which means it can live both in water and on land. You can find this toad in western California in the USA and northwestern Baja California in Mexico. It got its name, hammondii, from a doctor and naturalist named William Alexander Hammond.
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What Does the Western Spadefoot Look Like?
This toad has smooth skin. Its eyes are a light gold color with pupils that look like a straight line (vertical). Its back is green or gray, often with small bumps (called tubercles) that have orange tips. Its belly is whitish.
A special feature is a black, wedge-shaped "spade" on each of its back feet. This spade helps it dig! Adult toads are about 3.8 to 7.5 centimeters (1.5 to 3 inches) long. Young toads look like adults but have clearer spots.
Where Do Western Spadefoot Toads Live?
Western spadefoot toads live in many places, but their groups are often spread out. They can be found across California's central valley. They also live along the coast south of San Jose and in some desert areas.
These toads like grasslands, scrublands, and chaparral areas. They can also be found in oak woodlands. They are active at night (nocturnal). You will mostly see them during the wet season, after summer storms, or when the ground is very moist.
If you handle them, they are usually calm. They have fewer skin secretions than other toads. Their secretions smell like peanut butter and might make you sneeze! Even though they are listed as "near threatened" in some areas, they are still common. They are losing some habitat, but their numbers are not dropping much.
What Do Western Spadefoot Toads Eat?
Young toads, called tadpoles, eat mostly plants. They also feed on tiny living things in the water (plankton), algae, and small insects like ants. Sometimes, if food is scarce, they might even eat dead amphibian larvae or other tadpoles.
Adult toads eat different kinds of insects and other small creatures. Their diet includes grasshoppers, true bugs, moths, and various beetles like ground beetles and ladybird beetles. They also enjoy spiders, flies, ants, and earthworms.
Life Cycle and Reproduction
The western spadefoot toad usually lives for about 12 years. They are ready to have babies when they are about three years old.
Laying Eggs
Female spadefoot toads can lay up to 2,000 eggs in one season. They lay their eggs in long chains or irregular clusters. These egg chains attach to plants or other objects in puddles or ditches. The male toad then releases sperm to fertilize the eggs.
Tadpole Stage
The eggs hatch very quickly, sometimes in as little as 15 hours! After hatching, the tiny tadpoles must grow into toads before their puddle dries up. This fast growth takes only 12 to 13 days. It is the fastest change (metamorphosis) known for any frog or toad.
For the first 7 to 10 days, the tadpole mostly floats among plants. It breathes using gills on the outside of its body. After about four weeks, skin grows over the gills, and they become internal.
Growing into a Toad
Between six and nine weeks after hatching, the tadpole starts to grow legs, but it still has its tail. Around 9 to 12 weeks, the tail gets shorter, and front legs begin to grow. Lungs also start to develop. By 12 weeks, the young toad looks like an adult toad, but it is much smaller.
It usually leaves the water between 12 and 16 weeks after hatching. It will live away from the water, eating insects and other bugs. Later, it will return to the water to mate and lay more eggs.
- This article is based on a description from "A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Coastal Southern California", Robert N. Fisher and Ted J. Case, USGS, https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/81502
See also
In Spanish: Spea hammondii para niños
