What is the difference between frog tadpoles and cane toad tadpoles

These land and water-dwelling creatures begin to stir when spring rolls around, hopping out of hibernation and heading to their breeding pools to mate. But how do you tell them apart? While these little amphibians might look very similar at first glance, there are actually a plethora of key differences between them.

Read on to find out the differences between frogs and toads. Toads are warty-looking, covered in little lumps and bumps, while frogs are sleek and smooth. Toads also virtually always have dry skin, whereas frogs look wet even when they are out of the water.

Toads cope much better with dry conditions than frogs, as their skin is more waterproof. Frogs lose moisture a lot more easily, and so are rarely seen too far away from water, which explains why they always look moist. Frogs have long legs, longer than their head and body, which are made for hopping. Toads, on the other hand, have much shorter legs and prefer to crawl around rather than hop. Frogs are lithe and athletic-looking, whereas toads are somewhat squat and dumpy.

Their faces are different too; frogs have a pointed nose while toad noses are much broader. One way to identify them is to compare the tail length to the body length. With cane toads the body and the tail are about the same length or the tail may be slightly longer than the body section. Cane toad tadpoles grow to about 30mm total length before turning into toads.

This catches many people out as they expect toad tadpoles to be big because toads are big. This is not the case, cane toad tadpoles are smaller than most of our native tadpoles when they get their legs. Marbled frog tadpoles are also quite dark but they are easy to pick from cane toads because they are much bigger when they have legs and their tail fin is dark, not clear like the cane toad tail fin.

Green tree frog tadpoles look brown rather than black and their tail fin is slightly marked with veins making it easier to see than the cane toads. The tip of their tail is pointy. At certain times cane toad tadpoles group together making them easy to net and you can also use traps to catch them with great success. Netting is the easiest and they are often grouped up and in shallow water at night. It is possible to get tadpoles to group up by using bait.

We have used traps with dead toads or dog biscuits with some success. Usually the tadpoles group together when they have their legs and just before leaving the water making control very effective.

Tadpole traps, baited with the toxin of cane toads, can very effectively catch tadpoles allowing you to easily remove them from water bodies. Image shows 1 nights catch from Marrara in using 1 tadpole trap. You should avoid handling frogs in case your hands have perfumes, creams, soap or other toxins on them and you should install a wildlife float in your pool so that frogs can escape.

If amphibian eggs dry out they will die so they must be laid in a damp environment. Most amphibians lay their eggs in water, although there are some that will lay them in trees, on land or even attach them to their bodies and rely on a moist environment to keep them alive.

There are over frog species in Australia and they are the only amphibians that are native to this continent. Toad spawn forms into long jelly strings which come to rest under the water.

Female cane toads will lay between and 35, eggs in one clutch and may lay up to 2 clutches per year. The mother coats the eggs in toxin for protection making this a highly toxic life-stage. The eggs are short-lived and will hatch after around 3 days, so if you see them in the water, pull them out! Most frog spawn forms into lumps of jelly or foam.

Most frogs lay their eggs in the water, among vegetation although some will lay their eggs in trees or on land. Frog egg clutches are much smaller than that of toads, ranging from just 16 for the Corroboree frog to nearly for the Bleating tree frog. Hatching times vary between species from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. Cane toad tadpoles are pretty easy to identify due to their behaviour. They will swam together in a big family group with their siblings, in the shallows where the water is warm.

Toad tadpoles are jet black with an opaque sheen to their belly and they will grow to about 3cm in size. They have black tails surrounded by opaque frill which makes their tails appear quite slim. Their eyes are placed on the top of their heads and they will already have a hint of that strong ridged brow developing which makes them quite bulky and diamond shaped in appearance.

There will be far less of them and they are more solitary. They come in a variety of colours ranging from browns to greens and beiges and will sometimes have spots or striped patterns. They come in a variety of shapes with some appearing big and bulgey and others slim and dainty.

Some of them will look similar to cane toad tadpoles like the spotted marsh frog tadpole which is a chocolate brown colour, almost black, so make sure you pay attention to small details. If you are new to the amphibian world, this can be the hardest stage to be ID confident in. However, once you get more familiar with cane toads and native frogs, you will find that you are able to tell them apart quite easily.

The main thing you need to be aware of at this life stage is that many Australian frogs are quite small, so fully grown native frogs can get confused with baby cane toads. Small cane toads come in a variety of colours and patterns. When they first leave the water their skin will be black and smooth and when they are a little older, their skin will get rougher and become more colourful. They will generally be grey, beige or brown and usually have some stripes, as in the picture above.