Howdy from our 4th grade classroom

My students collected and brought to school several gulf coast toads over the fall semester. I have taken them home in an attempt to hibernate/brumate them, as we would love to host a successful breeding this spring here in South Texas.

The 5 toads are being housed in a 40 gallon long tank with plenty of space to burrow and hide. I fed them very well until it began to get below 40F outside, when I stopped feeding and moved the tank to a room in our house that is usually pretty cool (probably low 60s) and turned the light off. The tank is next to a window, so I'm hoping the natural light cycles will help them decide to slow down.

The toads dug down and hid for a few weeks, but now they're back up, huddling together, and looking at me! They've been this way for a couple days now. We still have another month of "winter," if you can call it that in Texas. Should I continue to withhold food and warm temps?

Help!

This website may help, look at the texas toads and the Great pLains toads sections(click "english", then "species"), which have similar biology.

Echte Kröten (Bufonidae), Gattung Bufo

C

Really comprehensive information there, Chris--thanks for that. We'll start small and slow.

Good luck! I cannot help but smile and laugh at the visual of a bunch of little toads, huddled together and staring at you with big, black eyes. That must have gotten a bit of a laugh out of you!

No need to visualize--here they are in living color!