From: arf@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Jack Schmidling)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Toads and Frogs
Date: 8 Sep 92 14:26:14 GMT
Article-I.D.: ddsw1.Bu9K3r.4wp
Organization: ddsw1.MCS.COM Contributor, Chicago, IL


 
 Article 7703 (14 more) in sci.bio:
 From: moore@aiag.enet.dec.com ()
 Subject:   Toads...going going gone?
 
 >I would appreciate any information (references, studies, 
 general knowledge) regarding the habitat of the common toad. 
 I live in Massachusetts and over the last eight years toads 
 in may neighborhood have become very scare.
 
 That is a more or less nation wide problem.  I participated 
 in a frog and toad survey sponsoed by the Ill Conservation 
 Department for about 5 years and quit because it was so 
 depressing.  
 
 Every volunteer had 20 sites in a two mile route and the 
 idea was to stop and listen for ten minutes and make an 
 estimate of the number of individuals and species.  We were 
 furnished with audio tapes of all the Illinois anurans and 
 could identify them quite readily.
 
 Every year at least 25% of the sites from the year before 
 were gone.  Subdivisions and shopping centers are just not 
 good habitat.  There was also a constant decline in the 
 populations at the sites that remained intact.
 
 By the time we made the last run, I think we heard a few 
 frogs at one of the original sites.
 
 >My goal is to establish better environment for what ever 
 toads are left. In particular a pool for egg laying/tadpole 
 rearing in the spring and more hiding places for the toads 
 to stay in during the day.
 
 I have a small pond in my urban back yard that I have been 
 putting toad tadpoles in for many years and am still waiting 
 for the day I hear one sing in Spring.  They just do not 
 survive.
 
 I have a very strong suspicion that it has a lot to do with 
 non-native predators that are out of control.  
 Specificially, starlings.  I see them poking around the pond 
 constantly but can not say I have ever seen them eat a 
 tadpole or a toadlet but I can not imagine where else they 
 all go.  The yard is fenced and closed at the bottom so 
 virtually nothing can get out.
 
 > One on my theories (besides acid rain) is that people with 
 swimming pools destroy large numbers of tadpoles when they 
 "clean" out ther pools in late May to early June.
 
 That is an interesting hypothesis but ground level pools are 
 so rare around here that they would not have much impact.
 
 >  Next spring I hope to persuade the pool owners in, my 
 neighborhood to catch or allow me to catch the tadpoles 
 before they are destoryed.....
 
 I have been collecting them from the same tire ruts in a 
 grassy area of a forest preserve for years.  This year was a 
 bummer as there was no water at the right time.
 
 > and I want to now what would make a satisfactory 
 enviroment with minimal impact to my yard. What should the 
 ph be? How deep/shallow and big/samll should the pool be. 
 What predators should be deterred, etc? What do the need for 
 food.
 
 My lack of success hardly qualifies me as an expert but you 
 need a shallow pool in partial sun to promote algae which is 
 the tadpoles prime food.  A three foot diameter kids' pool 
 should support hundreds.  The bigest threat are birds.  Once 
 they turn into toadlets, you are on your own.  They will eat 
 ants and other small insects and meal worms when they get 
 bigger.  
 
 I have had even worse luck trying to winter them over in the 
 house.  I keep them in a 40 gal terrarium and by Spring, 
 every one has some debilitating disease.  Four years in a 
 row, I got the same results.  I am too lazy to make an indor 
 habitat for them and I suspect there is something in the 
 terarium but I am not inclined to redo it.
 
 >Lastly my town sprays for mosquitos. Is this spay hazardous 
 to toads either chemically or because the food supply is 
 reduced? 
 
 Depends on what they spray.  If it is the usual oil spray to 
 suffocate the larvae, it could be deadly to tadpoles if they 
 happen to be emergent and into the lung mode.  God knows 
 what other chemicals would do.  But spraying has had a 
 devastating effect on insectiverous bats and no doubt 
 effects the anuran population also.
 
 >Have there been any studies concerning the contributing 
 factors toward the dissappering toad population.
 
 You can write to the Conservation Department in Springfield 
 and get a copy of their study but I think the main cause is 
 obvious.. loss of habitat.
 
 >I have fond memories of going on toad hunts in my youth and 
 always finding some under logs or rocks or at night by 
 street lights.
 
 What is even more pathetic is the almost total extinction of 
 snakes from near urban environments.  When I was a kid, just 
 about every board picked up in a vacant lot had a garter 
 snake under it.  I have not seen one in twenty years around 
 here.
 
 > My youngest daughter who is seven has never help or seen a 
 good sized toad.
 
 >I hope to change that!
 
 Good for you.   I get so sick of hearing (through the fence) 
 people (kids and adults) wake past my yard and say "ooeweee 
 there's bugs and snakes in there".
 
 js