Toad ID Please :)

[chase thorn]

So I caught a toad tonight at the pond. I was curious what kind of toad it is! It's bugging me as I can't remember what it is called...

 

[Floof]

Looks like a Western toad (Anaxyrus boreas). Cute!

 

[Yvonne G]

I think you're right, Taylor (Floof)!

http://ndis.nrel.colostate.edu/herpatlas/coherpatlas/cdow_herpetofaunal_atlas_species_toads.htm


That's the same kind we have around here in Central California.

 

[chase thorn]

That's what I thought too I couldn't be 100% though

 

[BowandWalter]

Does it have orange toe pads? It doesn't look quite like a western toad. It's very beautiful either way.

 

[chase thorn]

It kind of looks like one but not on the dot... no orange pads that I could see

 

[BowandWalter]

I've never seen a Western Toad without orange toes and I've seen a lot! It could be a subspecies I'm not familiar with. But I'd almost guess Wood House Toad. They're that beautiful gray white coloration.

 

[Floof]

I had two Boreal toads, a subspecies of Western toad native to Utah (and probably elsewhere, that's just where I found mine--not sure what entails the rest of their range), neither of whom had orange toes and were identical to the one Chase photographed... Maybe it's just the subspecies in your area that has orange toe pads?

 

[chase thorn]

These guys are just awesome to watch

 

[Atra42o]

Kinda looks like my Fowler's toads... Where are u located?

 

[Floof]

Kinda looks like my Fowler's toads... Where are u located?

They do bear a striking resemblance... But the OP is in Colorado, and, from what I can find, the Fowler's range doesn't stretch that far west?

 

[Atra42o]

They do bear a striking resemblance... But the OP is in Colorado, and, from what I can find, the Fowler's range doesn't stretch that far west?

Oh ok... Maybe American then? They are almost identical

 

[chase thorn]

Wow there are so many! I wish I got a better pic

 

[Floof]

Curiouser and curiouser. With the mention of Woodhouse's toads, I decided to look them up.. And I'm starting to doubt whether mine were Woodhouse's or Boreals. I assumed Boreals because they're supposed to be common in the area where I found them. But upon further investigation, Woodhouse's are probably native to that area, too. Sigh!

Can't find anything definitive on the orange toes thing, though (other than a picture labelled "adult woodhouse's toad" that displays orange toepads, but my browser froze up when I tried to access the website for more info... Bah humbug).

---

Okay. Dug out my Western Reptiles and Amphibians field guide. It briefly mentions yellow on the undersides of the feet in Western toads, but otherwise the only real way it talks about to differentiate between it and the Woodhouse's is by looking at the cranial crests. Western toads apparently don't have crests? Where Woodhouse's have prominent crests.

I don't have the toads here to look at them (recently found them a new home), but looking through some old pics of them, it looks like mine had the cranial crest, making them probably Woodhouse's toads. Here's the pic in question:

Here's a photo from online that shows the crest from a better angle:

SO, I think my toads were actually Woodhouse's. Go figure! As for Chase's find--do you remember it having a prominent crest like you see in the second picture here? Seems to be the only definitive way to tell them apart--they're practically identical otherwise, LOL!