Species
Eastern spadefoot
Scaphiopus holbrookii
A burrowing toad with cat-like eyes that appears in hundreds only after heavy summer storms.
Photo Joshua Liverman (opens in a new tab) / iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab)
At a glance
- Size
- About 4.5 to 7 cm long
- Habitat
- Sandy or loose soils in woods and fields
- Diet
- Insects, spiders and worms
- In Georgia
- Statewide, most common in the Coastal Plain
- Voice
- A low, groaning "waaah"
- Rabies vector
- No
Identification
- Key marks
- Smooth skin; vertical, cat-like pupils; a hard, dark spade on each hind foot
- Told apart from
- True toads, which have warty skin and horizontal pupils
- Where to look
- On roads and in temporary pools on stormy summer nights
Behaviour
Spadefoots spend most of their lives buried, digging backward with their hind-foot spades. After heavy rain they emerge together to breed in temporary pools, and the tadpoles develop very fast, sometimes in two weeks.
Why they matter
They are adapted to breed in pools that last only days, and are a sign that temporary wetlands are still present.
Reproduction and lifecycle
Eggs — Strings in temporary pools
Hatching — In a day or two
Tadpoles — Change into toadlets in as little as 2 weeks
Maturity — In a year or two
Lifespan — Several years
Calling — On stormy nights
Living around people
- Its skin secretions can irritate eyes; wash hands after handling.
Misconceptions
- Frogs appear from nowhere after rain. Spadefoots were buried underground all along.
Related species
Seasonal activity
When this species is breeding, and when there are nests on the ground. Mowing during the shaded months is how most nests are found.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breeding | Jan: no | Feb: no | Mar: no | Apr: no | May: no | Jun: no | Jul: no | Aug: no | Sep: no | Oct: no | Nov: no | Dec: no |
| Active nests | Jan: no | Feb: no | Mar: no | Apr: no | May: no | Jun: no | Jul: no | Aug: no | Sep: no | Oct: no | Nov: no | Dec: no |
| Notes | Buried | Buried | Breeding after heavy rain | Breeding after heavy rain | Breeding after heavy rain | Breeding | Breeding | Breeding | Active | Burrowing in | Buried | Buried |
Where it lives
Recorded in 20 states and provinces. Each one links to the other animals there, and to the rehabilitators licensed for them.
If you found one
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