In the spring of 2023, I purchased 200 Southern Toad (Bufo terrestris) tadpoles from a breeder for the purpose of restoring the local wild toad population.
I raised the tadpoles in the patio breeding tanks used by my neighborhood’s tree frogs.
I transferred the tiny toadlets to one of four plastic barrel bottoms that had been set up as open-top terrarium habitats, also located on my patio.
Predation and cannibalism reduced the population of toadlets to 19 juveniles, plus 3 individuals of the same age collected in rural Madison County, Georgia, to boost genetic diversity.
The 3 wild-collected individuals might be a different species, either B. fowleri or americanus, but all three species are known to regularly hybridize, with hybridized populations having a high level of physical diversity.
The wild toad appear to be B. terrestris, but I’m hoping for hybrids. A more physically diverse population is likely to be more adaptive.
These 22 toads will start producing thousands of toadlets each spring.
As the case with most amphibians, the vast majority of the individuals in these large broods will be eaten by birds, snakes, spiders, and everything else.
