My sisters and I were walking after a heavy summer rainstorm when I was a youngster. We looked and looked, going up one little ravine after another, but couldn't find the poor lost babies. We went home and told our uncle, and he practically fell out of his chair laughing. It burrows down into the ground as the desert dries up after the summer rains, and hibernates. When heavy rain penetrates far enough, it wakes up, comes to the surface and calls for a mate.
New babies are born during the brief time there are small pools and puddles.
As they dry up the toads burrow down where it will stay cool and hibernate until next time. They are quite small, but have very loud voices, and are one of the fun happenings after a desert rain. Now, they only run when there is enough rain to bring enough trickles down from higher ground. He said as the River dried up they developed lungs and their eyes were on stalks so they could see above the sand. The Sand Trout would bite, then you would haul them in quickly.