The common toad can reach 19cm in length in the case of females but there is a lot of regional variation in size. The back and upper surface can be brown, grey or greenish with dark spots and the tone can be altered according to surroundings. The underside is cream or grey. It has a large head with a rounded nose and its eyes are copper or gold with horizontal slit pupils. The skin is warty and can excrete toxins when threatened which deter predators. Back feet are partially webbed.

Photo. Common toad.Bufo bufo.Crapaud commun.France

The common toad can be found in all regions and all types of habitat in France often with no apparent fear of human contact and is adaptable to saline water in coastal regions. In your garden a common toad will frequently use the same place of cover for months under a piece of wood, a rock or some other niche and regularly patrol the same territory in search of food. It is an excellent swimmer and climber, mainly active at dusk and during the night. When disturbed it crouches on the ground and inflates its body. Hibernation commences in October in a hole in the ground, any type of cavity or in a barn or shed, it is not unusual to find several individuals together in a good location.

Photo.Southern common toad.Bufo bufo spinosus.Crapaud commun.France

Reproduction starts in March in a pond or lake and it is likely that they return to their birth place where they gather in large numbers. There seems to be some preference for water where fish are present, this presents no real problems for the tadpoles due to their toxic skin. Males fight furiously for a female and a single female can have as many as ten males on top of her in a heap which sometimes ends with the female being crushed or drowned, part of the difficulty is caused by the spawning process whereby she swims around laying the spawn in long strands which are fertilised by a male that has attached himself with a firm grip. Anything from 200 to 7000 eggs can be produced by a single female, 1500 being typical.

Although common and widespread with large populations there has been an overall decline in numbers due to loss of native ponds and wetland destruction, garden ponds have provided some compensation. Berne convention, Annexe 3. Protection Nationale, Art.1.

Top of page