Your frog and toad habitat provides the water and plants that frogs and toads need for food, water, shelter, and a place to raise their young. It includes a pond with shallow water where frogs and toads can lay their eggs and tadpoles can live until they go through metamormophosis. It also includes a bog garden with damp soil where toads can burrow.
For more information, click on the links below:
Alabama's Frogs & Toads | Life Cycle | Habitat Needs | Interesting Facts | Other Species
Frogs, toads, and salamanders make up the group “amphibian”. Amphibians with no tails are called “anurans” – this includes frogs and toads.
Alabama is home to 30 species of anurans – 4 toads and 26 frogs.
All toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads! There are three easy-to-spot differences between frogs and toads:
- Frogs have smooth, moist skin and toads have bumpy, dry skin.
- Frogs have longer back legs than toads.
- Because of the difference in leg length, frogs leap long distances while toads hop short distances.
To see a full list of the frogs and toads found in Alabama, CLICK HERE!
You can also click on the links below to learn about a few common frogs and toads that you may find in your outdoor classroom:
| American Bullfrog | Bronze Frog | Cope's Gray Tree Frog |
| Fowler's Toad | Southern Toad |
Frogs and toads both live part of their life in water and part on land. Baby frogs do not look like adult frogs. They undergo metamorphosis, or a physical change as the grow.
Step 1: They begin life as eggs in water.
Step 2: They hatch from the eggs and spend time as an aquatic (in water) tadpole. They look more like a fish than a frog at this point. They have no legs and a tail, their mouthparts are for eating algae, and they have gills instead of lungs.
Step 3: The tadpole begins changing – growing legs, mouthparts shifting, tail shrinking, and finally gills becoming lungs.
Step 4: The tadpole moves onto land with all four legs and lungs and eats bugs. At first, it will still have a short tail but will quickly absorb it.
Step 5: It is now an adult frog that will reproduce and lay eggs to start the process all over again.
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| Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) |
| By Sally Ray, Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program |
The pond and bog in your Frog & Toad Habitat provide food, water, and shelter for frogs and toads as well as their tadpoles.
Food: Frogs and toads begin life as herbivorous, aquatic tadpoles that feed on vegetation in the pond. As they go through metamorphosis their mouthparts change and they become carnivorous, terrestrial adults. The water in and vegetation around your pond will provide food directly for the frogs and toads as herbivorous tadpoles, as well as carnivorous adults by attracting insects and insect larva.
Water: Frogs and toads require water for reproduction, their aquatic larval stage, and for keeping their skin moist and hydrated as adults. The pond will provide the water needed for frogs and toads throughout their whole lives. The aquatic plants inside of and around the pond will filter and aerate the water.
Shelter: The marginal aquatic plants in the pond, the rocks lining the pond, the bog plants and the moist soil in the bog will provide shelter for the frogs and toads.
Place to Raise Young: Frogs and toads will lay their eggs in your pond. They do not protect or stay with the eggs once they are laid, and tadpoles hatch from the eggs ready to start life on their own.
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| Cope's Gray Tree Frog Toe Pads |
| Tyler Burgener |
Fact #1: Frogs and toads have specialized feet for their habitats. Tree frogs have toe pads that help them stick to surfaces while they are climbing. Species of frogs, like bullfrogs, that live in water have webbed hind feet to help them swim. Spadefoots, a type of frog that burrows into soil and lives there most of the year, have hardened “spades” on their hind feet that help them dig. Each frog and toad species has a unique call that they make to communicate with each other. Most call during warmer months, but a few species actually call during colder months, including a group called chorus frogs.
Fact #2: Frogs absorb water and even breathe through their skin. This is why it’s important that you don’t hold them in your hands for a long time (they’ll dry out) or hold them if you have chemicals on your hands like bug spray or lotion. This also makes them “indicator species” in their habitats. If the water in a habitat is contaminated or polluted and frogs absorb it into their skin, we will begin seeing the frogs and toads in that area die before we may see other types of animals die.
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| Red Hills Salamander |
| Flickr – Seánín Óg |
Fact #3: Alabama has the third highest number of amphibian (frogs, toads & salamanders) and reptile (snakes, turtles, lizards, and alligators) species out of all 50 states in the United States.
Fact #4: Our “State Amphibian” is the Red Hills Salamander. (pictured on right)
There is a variety of animals you may find in and around your frog and toad habitat. Of course, this includes frogs and toads, like the Fowler’s Toad, Southern Toad, Cope’s Gray Tree Frog, Bronze Frog, and American Bullfrog. You may also find bees, like the Eastern bumble bee, pollinating the flowers planted in the habitat. You may also find other insects in the moist soil or mulch like little black ants, pillbugs, and red wigglers. You may also find salamanders, like the Slimy Salamander, under logs or rocks near the habitat.
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