Prairie Wanderings: A large toad and a large snake
By PAUL G. JANTZEN
Contributing writer
On a recent June evening, Becky Lindsay was sitting on the front steps of her house when a large toad hopped toward her. Apparently oblivious to Becky's presence, the toad hopped up onto the step beside her. Noticing several insects nearby, Becky encouraged them to move toward the toad, hoping they would provide its supper. With a flick of the tongue, the toad snapped up one insect, and then another. A toad's sticky tongue is attached at the front of its mouth and can reach a surprising distance.
I asked Becky to inform me of a future visit so I could identify it.
Later, in July, Becky told me that the toad was on her front porch again near the flower bed she was watering. A close look identified it as a Woodhouse's toad, Kansas' largest toad and formerly known as garden toad.
Woodhouse's toads are common in much of the United States and throughout Kansas, especially in lowland, sandy areas, and near human habitation. It is the most common toad in central Kansas.
Like most toads, Woodhouse's toads forage for food at night. They eat bees, beetles, ants, webworms, and other insect larvae, and spiders. They may eat up to two-thirds of their own weight in insects in one day.
Breeding occurs at various times from March to September. The males gather near water and lure the females with repeated low trills lasting three or four seconds. In water, the male mounts a female clasping her behind her front legs and sprays spermatic fluid over the eggs as they are released by the female. The thousands of eggs, if fertilized, develop into algae-eating tadpoles which become land-dwelling adult toads.
***
This past spring, Dennis Layton called for a snake identification. It was more than four feet long and had fallen from a tree. Since his family was uncomfortable with snakes, he had severed the snake's head from its body.
I needed help with the identification and told biologist Richard Wall about the snake falling out of a tree. He said immediately that it must be a black rat snake.
The black rat snake is one of Kansas' largest snakes, up to six feet long. In Kansas, it is found only in the eastern half inhabiting forested areas or open woodlands on rocky hillsides.
Adults are usually black or dark brown with little or no markings. The belly is cream-colored with indistinct dark blotches.
These rat snakes feed on frogs, lizards, snakes, birds or their eggs, rodents, and rabbits. They constrict their prey.
Their main predators are hawks who locate the snake while it is being harassed by other birds whose nests are being plundered.
