The eggs develop rapidly and hatch into larvae. Frog and toad larvae, called tadpoles, are good swimmers and eat mostly plants. Salamander larvae, which eat insects, develop legs quickly so that they can walk on the bottom of the pond. The tadpoles of some species forage in schools and use chemicals to communicate and warn of danger when wounded. Adult frogs, toads and newts are active in the daylight hours in the North, and feed on insects and other small creatures.
Salamanders are nocturnal, hiding under logs and leaf litter.
With the onset of freezing temperatures in late summer, amphibians retreat to their hibernating sites. Life in the North Amphibians are cold-blooded and must obtain their warmth from the environment. Their colonisation of the North has been limited by extremely cold winters, cool short summers, scarcity of hibernation sites and insufficient snow cover. In winter, northern amphibians survive by hibernating underground, under ponds or under leaf litter beneath a thick blanket of insulating snow. In effect, these frogs can be 'frozen solid' during hibernation and still emerge safe and sound in spring.