Common spadefoot toad and frog. Common spadefoot - Pelobates fuscus
The spadefoot toad or frog. First we need to talk about why these toads are called spadefoot toads. The fact is that in case of danger or if such a toad is grabbed by someone who wants to snack on it, the toad becomes furious, it swells and squeaks, and at the same time a secret is released on its skin that emits the smell of garlic. This garlic smell sometimes saves a toad's life. This is where the name spadefoot toad comes from. There are several types of spadefoot: Syrian, Iberian, Moroccan and common. It is believed that the spadefoot toad is a type of amphibian toad, but in its own way fast movements superior to ordinary toads and more similar to a frog. The spadefoot spadefoot jumps quickly, making large, frequent leaps, and swims quickly and deftly, which is not typical for toads. Spadefoots eat insects, love beetles and spiders, crickets, caterpillars, cockroaches, and strawberry pests slugs.
A peculiarity of the spadefoot is its way of life. Toad leads night look life, at night it moves in search of food and hunts insects. she does not live in water, but descends into it only to spawn, and after a few days she gets out onto land.
With the appearance of the first rays of the sun, the spadefoot hides in the ground. But this does not mean that she lives in constantly dug holes. No, the toad digs a new shelter for itself every time, choosing more suitable loose soil for this. She does this very deftly and within a few minutes she is no longer visible on the surface of the soil. Small sizes, and she is only 8-9cm and weighs only 20g, allowing her to quickly hide.
The spadefoot toad buries itself using its horny calluses on its thick rounded head and hind legs with internal tubercles. The toad digs very quickly and interestingly; first it rushes forward, simultaneously pushing out the soil with its hind legs. It turns out that it is drilled into the soil and hidden under it in a vertical position, the spadefoots breathe in the ground, due to the air, because the soil is sufficiently loosened and breathable. But this is not a hole, because it has no entrance or exit and permanent place, where the dawn overtakes, there the toad takes refuge.
According to its lifestyle, this amphibian prefers places with soil that is more accessible for digging shelters, and for reproduction it can reach a reservoir located several kilometers from its habitat.
The common spade frog, one of the first amphibians in our area, lays eggs, after a long hibernation. If warm weather comes early, then already at the beginning of April both the female and the male find a pond and live in it for about a week. During the mating season, toads poke their heads out of the water and become especially vocal, croaking. But spadefoot croaks do not croak very pleasantly; their croaking is more like gurgling or grunting.
The tadpoles of the spadefoot toad have a long body, up to 17 cm, due to their long intestines. After all, tadpoles most of They spend their lives in water, and their diet is plant food. In reservoirs with cold water tadpoles do not have time to undergo the process of metamorphosis and overwinter in the larval stage.
I would like to talk about the benefits of spadefoot toads. They are an integral part of the earth's ecosystem; they destroy harmful insects and at the same time loosen the soil. There is no point in keeping such toads at home. After all, this toad is nocturnal and will not be visible all day long, then why keep it.
Candidate for pet Among the frogs is the common spadefoot (Pelobates fuscus), a representative of a separate family of spadefoot spadefoots. This is a small amphibian up to 8 cm long, usually yellow-brown or light gray with brown and black spots and red dots. The common spadefoot got its name due to the fact that the skin sometimes begins to smell like garlic. The common spadefoot is found in areas with soft soil, as they like to burrow in the ground. Therefore, they can often be found in the fields, but only at night and mainly in wet weather or before its onset. Spadefoots burrow into the ground using hind legs, armed with a spade-shaped tubercle.
The spadefoot moves into reservoirs only for the spawning period, that is, for 20-25 days. The female lays 1200-1800 eggs. Among all amphibians, the spadefoot has the longest hibernation - up to 200 days. Development lasts longer than in other amphibians - 90-110 days. Therefore, spadefoots can appear interesting object to study the process of reproduction and development of amphibians.
Maintenance and care of common spadefoot
Young spadefoot tadpoles feeding plant food, adult spadefoots eat ants, ground beetles, spiders and insect larvae, which makes up 80% of their food. The spadefoot also takes great pleasure in eating earthworms, slugs and other invertebrates. It is recommended to maintain the same diet if you decide to keep the common spadefoot as a pet.
To keep the common spadefoot at home, we recommend a 30-liter terrarium with a mandatory separate reservoir, the water of which should preferably be changed daily. It is recommended to lay a 5-8 cm layer of earth, peat, tree bark at the bottom, and you can add a little sand. The presence of green plants is a must. For adult individuals, additional heating of the terrarium is not required; 15-20 °C with air humidity from 75 to 90% is sufficient. Since the spadefoot is nocturnal, the terrarium does not need to be equipped with lighting.
You can buy common spadefoot in pet stores or large poultry markets.
The common spadefoot (Pelobates fuscus in Latin) is a tailless amphibian from the spadefoot family (Pelobatidae in Latin). It is often called thick-headed weed. She is missing ribs and teeth at the top of her jaw, and big tongue the anterior part is attached to the lower jaw.
Spreading
Spadefoots live on plains with a loose sandy or clay layer of soil. These amphibians can be found on heather heaths, among dunes, in gardens and vegetable gardens. For their homes, they dig burrows in loose soil or use underground tunnels made by other rodents.
The amphibian does not like to settle on hills; it cannot be seen above 400 meters above sea level. There must be a body of water near her home in which she can lay her eggs.
Outside mating season The spadefoot avoids damp places and rocky soils. Its habitat extends to the Eastern and Central Europe, Western Asia.
Reproduction
During mating season from April to July, the spadefoot goes to a pond and spends about a week in it, mating and spawning. How rainier summer, the longer the breeding season lasts.
The clutch looks like a thin sausage, 40 to 70 cm long and up to 2 cm thick. It contains up to 3,000 eggs. The cords of eggs envelop the plants or can lie freely on the bottom.
Young tadpoles are colored reddish, while older ones are golden brown. To feed, they hover vertically and collect the food they need from the surface of the water. They swim in shallow water very rarely.
As soon as the tadpoles develop their front legs, they come out onto land and hide underground or behind rocks until their tail falls off. The development process lasts from 3 to 5 months, and the late brood develops until June next year. After metamorphosis, the juveniles grow up to 3.5 cm. Puberty in spadefoots it occurs at the age of 2-3 years.
Behavior
The common spadefoot is one of those amphibians that are nocturnal and thrive on land. During summer travel it goes from the nearest body of water to a distance of more than 600 meters. After a day's rest, it goes out to hunt at night and hunts for snails, insects and worms.
After night hunting the amphibian digs the soil with its hind legs, and plunges into the ground with its back, being almost in a vertical position. At this time, she closes her nostrils and eyes. For total immersion It takes a couple of minutes for the garlic to get into the ground.
As a form of self-defense, a frightened spadefoot secretes a skin secretion that smells like garlic, which can suppress the attacker's appetite. If it is not possible to hide at this moment, then, croaking loudly, it swells and stands on its feet in order to increase its size and thereby scare away the aggressor.
Description
Body length reaches 8 cm. Large bulging eyes with vertical pupils located on both sides of the massive head. The muzzle is short and rounded.
The dense, wide body is grayish-brown or olive-green with visible spots. irregular shape. The lighter sides are strewn with small red spots.
The skin is smooth and shiny with small flat bumps. The hind legs are very muscular and the toes are connected by swimming membranes. At the base of the first toe there are horny calcaneal tubercles.
IN wildlife common spadefoot lives on average about 5-6 years. In captivity good care she lives to be 11 years old.
Another frog pet candidate is Common spadefoot spadefoot (Pelobates fuscus)- a representative of a separate family of spadefoots. This is a small amphibian up to 8 cm long, usually yellow-brown or light gray with brown and black spots and red dots. The common spadefoot got its name due to the fact that the skin sometimes begins to smell like garlic. The common spadefoot is found in areas with soft soil, as they like to burrow in the ground. Therefore, they can often be found in the fields, but only at night and mainly in wet weather or before its onset. The spadefoot burrows into the ground with the help of its hind legs, armed with a spade-shaped tubercle.
The spadefoot moves into reservoirs only for the spawning period, that is, for 20-25 days. The female lays 1200-1800 eggs. Among all amphibians, the spadefoot has the longest hibernation - up to 200 days. Development lasts longer than in other amphibians - 90-110 days. Therefore, spadefoots can be an interesting object for studying the process of reproduction and development of amphibians. Source:
Maintenance and care of common spadefoot
Young spadefoot tadpoles feed on plant food, adult spadefoot tadpoles feed on ants, ground beetles, spiders and insect larvae, which makes up 80% of their food. The spadefoot also takes great pleasure in eating earthworms, slugs and other invertebrates. It is recommended to maintain the same diet if you decide to keep the common spadefoot as a pet.
To keep the common spadefoot at home, we recommend a 30-liter terrarium with a mandatory separate reservoir, the water of which should preferably be changed daily. It is recommended to lay a 5-8 cm layer of earth, peat, tree bark at the bottom, and you can add a little sand. The presence of green plants is a must. For adult individuals, additional heating of the terrarium is not required; 15-20 °C with air humidity from 75 to 90% is sufficient. Since the spadefoot is nocturnal, the terrarium does not need to be equipped with lighting.
You can buy common spadefoot in pet stores or large poultry markets.
Appearance
Pelobates fuscus fuscusBody length 4-6 cm, weight 6-20 g. Body oval, slightly flattened. The limbs are relatively short. The skin is smooth. Distinctive feature is a vertical pupil and a very large shovel-like hard yellowish calcaneal tubercle. The color is dull, the top is light gray, sometimes dark gray, with a yellowish or brown tint, against this background dark olive, dark brown or black spots with red dots stand out various shapes and size; the underparts are light (grayish-white), with a slight yellowness, with dark spots, sometimes without spots. Numerous skin glands secrete a poisonous secretion that smells like garlic (hence the name). The tadpoles of spadefoot spadefish are very large: the length including the tail reaches 10 cm or more. Sometimes it is confused with the common toad from the toad family, differing only in its darker color.
Spreading
The range of the common spadefoot is located within the borders of Central and Eastern Europe, Western Asia. In the European part of Russia in the north it reaches approximately 60° N. w. In Belarus, spadefoot is quite normal look, distributed throughout the territory. It is found almost everywhere in Ukraine, with the exception of the mountainous regions of the Carpathians, where they live in the valleys and foothills of rivers, most often no higher than 350 m. In Crimea, it is found in the Karadag Nature Reserve, also in the eastern part of Crimea (Mount Opuk).
Ecology
Common spadefoot - terrestrial view, sticks to places with light and loose soils. On slightly damp sand it manages to burrow completely into the ground in 2-3 minutes, raking the ground with its hind limbs to do this. Usually buried during the daytime. For wintering, it burrows into the soil to a depth of no less than 30-50 cm or uses other shelters (rodent burrows, basements).
Notes
Literature
- Amphibians. Pauzuny: Entsyklapedychny davednik. Mn., BelEn, 1996. ISBN 985-11-0067-6
- Pikulik M. M. Do we need amphibians? - Mn.: Science and technology, 1992. ISBN 5-343-00383-4
- Pisanets E.M. Amphibians of Ukraine.
Links
Categories:
- Animals in alphabetical order
- Species out of danger
- Anurans
- Animals described in 1768
- Amphibians of Eurasia
- Poisonous animals
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