Meet again the Spadefoot Toad that lives here at our property showing up once in a while in our pond.

Since our weather has been warm for this time of the year, I started watering. The next morning this Spadefoot Toad was in this fabricated pond. We placed these fabricated ponds into our natural ponds for water conservation. Our part of the High Desert has been getting drier then normal due to the limitation of water. We felt in 2014 that 2015 might be worse thus the prefabricated ponds.

As soon as we installed these two prefabricated ponds, this Spadefoot Toad showed up in this one. Last year the tadpoles hatched,grew and left the pond. This cycle looks as if it will continue in 2015. We have no clue how long this species of toad has lived here on our property? Since we have other species of frogs here, the singing of frogs and toads coming from our ponds goes on both days and nights. I try and photograph the visitors or the residence of wildlife we have here at home.

The photographs you see here are from two days. The first day this Spadefoot Toad wanted nothing to do with me, kept coming up in the shade mind you. As soon as the Spadefoot Toad noticed movement down it went into the dark depths of the pond!

The Spadefoot Toads head usually was in the shade. Might be to hot in the sun? Frogs and toads skin is very thin…..

I took several shots of the feet. Being diggers the feet of the Spadefoot Toad is different then water based creatures.

Since I do not pick up the toads or the frogs here without cause, such as death, this Spadefoot Toad is not touched by anyone! I do not allow us to pick  the Spadefoot Toad up by our hands. I just do not want to hurt them! So this Spadefoot Toad comes and goes as it wants to. Only seeing one adult stuck in the fabricated pond so far. Tadpoles are a different story and I have a net for these, again I just do not want to touch them.

You can see the side of the prefab pond in some of these shots. On day two the Spadefoot Toad seamed very…. it no longer was darting down under the water to the black depths of the pond. This concerned me due to the Spadefoot Toad behavior when it first was seen in the pond the day before. The question, what would happen to this Spadefoot Toad if it was unable to get out of the pond and go back into it’s burrow went through my mind. I dont want to hurt the Spadefoot Toad by being ignorant!

I expressed my concerns to Guy when he got home from work and he seen the Spadefoot Toad was not expressing the liveliness of a creature who is doing well. So Guy placed a board in the pond, if the Spadefoot Toad wanted out, this could be a way it could get out. Since we have no idea how on earth the Spadefoot Toads even get into the pond? Assuming the need to breed is so great, getting into the prefab pond is easier then getting out for the creature…….

The next morning the Spadefoot Toad was gone. I like getting the photographs I do of the wild creature who show up here, but I am not going to go so far as stressing out the creatures who show up here. Stress is a killer of both small and large creatures. That to me is not a good host.

Who knows there might be Spadefoot Toad eggs again in 2015? It is still very early in the year….. We may just see this species in this pond again?? I have yet to see a grown Spadefoot Toad in the other pond. I did photograph several of the tadpoles last year in the other pond. Lets hope the snakes do not move in and wipe out our little ponds this year? I am on the watch for snakes, and the smell of such snakes!

Thank you for coming by and checking out these photographs!