American Toad (Bufo americanus)

County List:

Rule:

Forested or Nonforested Landscapes

Habitat Requirements may be distributed across the COMPARTMENT

1st alternative:
      (Any Forested Upland Except Conifer Plantations (Any Size Class))
      or (Any Lowland Deciduous (Any Size Class))
      or (Mixed Lowland Hardwoods (Any Size Class))
      or Grass
      or Upland Brush
      or Savanna
      or Fields/Pastures
      or Residential
neighboring:
      (Pond or Sewage Lagoons & Farm Ponds or Any Emergent Wetland)

2nd alternative:
      (Any Forested Upland Except Conifer Plantations (Any Size Class))
      or (Any Lowland Deciduous (Any Size Class))
      or (Mixed Lowland Hardwoods (Any Size Class))
      or Grass
      or Upland Brush
      or Savanna
      or Fields/Pastures
      or Residential
   containing:
      Vernal Pools

Habitat List:

view size class definitions

Literature:

They can be common even in suburban areas as long as shallow ponds are available for breeding, but toads quickly disappear if these small wetlands are drained or polluted.

American toads typically inhabit open woodlands and wood edges but also occur in meadows, marshes, lakeshores, and suburban gardens. They are often seen moving about on rainy or humid nights, but hot, dry periods and the winter months are spent buried in moist soil or plant debris.

From early April to early May, males move to ponds, ditches, sloughs, or floodings and begin calling from the shoreline or shallow water.

Tadpoles feed on algae, other plant material, and carrion. American toads eat a wide variety of insects as well as spiders and earthworms, and are useful animals to have in a garden.

Habitat: Found in almost any habitat: gardens, woods, yards with cover, damp soil and a food supply. Usually moist upland woods.

Special Habitat Requirements: Needs shallow water for breeding. Hibernates in burrows underground to 12 inches (30.5 cm) deep from October to late March or April.

Hunter, M. L., J. Albright, and J. Arbuckle (editors). 1992. The amphibians and reptiles of Maine. Maine Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 838. 188p.

Habitat: The American toad is virtually cosmopolitan in its habitat requirements. After dispersing from breeding sites, solitary toads may be encountered in open fields, deciduous and evergreen forests, residential yards, urban areas, near lake or river shores, in various kinds of wetlands, or on mountainsides. Preferred breeding sites are in open, shallow water in temporary pools, ditches, old beaver flowages, flooded gravel pits, or artificial ponds with sparse vegetation and gradually sloping bottoms of mud or fine sediment, but even coves in large lakes are sometimes used. In hot, dry weather toads often burrow into loose soil during the day emerging only at night to forage. Cool or rainy weather allows them to remain active both day and night. When winter approaches, toads, burrow deeper into soft soil or forest-floor litter, where they hibernate until the following spring.