RAUK - Archived Forum - What temperature gets toad activity?

What temperature does it need to be at dusk for toads to migrate? I should have made a note of this last year cos I had a thermometer in my garden back then. ....But I didnÆt. Cos itÆs useful to know ainÆt it cos now itÆs coming up to toading time and I canÆt decide when to go out or not. By my records I ainÆt due out for another couple of weeks but today is supposed to be warm so tonight might be warm, they could come out but IÆll probably be sat at home watching telly and eating thinking they wonÆt come out. In frogging weeks I usually go outside and wait in my yard for it to go dark, (if I go too soon I miss catching the first lot crossing the road and walk straight past them whilst theyÆre hiding, leave it too late and theyÆre already squashed û gotta time it just right ) and whilst IÆm waiting I can sorta tell if itÆs gonna be a busy night or waste of time going out cos if my hands feel cold, the toads are cold and will stay hidden, but if IÆm quite warm and it ainÆt windy then theyÆre gonna be out, but a more useful way to tell whatÆs gonna happen is to just look at the thermometer at dusk I guess. Has anyone else already worked out what temp it is for frogs and toads to be on the move and what temps wonÆt see them out?

Well IÆll answer my own question seeing as nobody else bothered to!!! .... This toading season IÆve been keeping a dusk temperature tally and to me they seem to come out at 10 degrees, sometimes at 9 degrees and they came out once at 8 degrees though usually they donÆt seem to want to come out at 9 degrees. If itÆs wet tonight and also 9 degrees IÆll probably hit the streets just to see if the rain encourages them out, havenÆt had a wet night yet, always do every other year, I love struggling around with a bucket, torch and umbrella.

Think the toads have had a bad year this year. I was out all last week for about 2 and a half each night and they were getting mowed down heaps, doubt many actually made it to the other side of the road near me cos there was just too much traffic. If theyÆd have come out this week itÆd have been better cos the clocks have now changed and theyÆd be less traffic although the funny thing last week was that there was knack all difference between 6.45pm and 8.30pm traffic. I was getting really pissed off by the end of the week cos it was a losing battle trying to save the toads, there were just too many cars and all were whizzing past real fast, far too fast to spot toads even if they wanted to. I remember the days when I used to spot a toad in the road up a head and run at it to beat a car getting it, fat all chance this frickinÆ year, everyoneÆs been driving like maniacs, havenÆt outrun any. Plus there were all the local problems of roadworks everywhere, not working street lights and bridge closure making my life harder and making more toads die. On Sunday and last night when I went out and they werenÆt out it was like a totally different neighbourhood, on Sunday I got passed by about 8 cars in the whole 45 mins I was out and there werenÆt much more cars on the road last night either, toads could have easily crossed and some would have made it to the other side. Bad luck for the toads ay? Should have waited a week, last week was as busy as hell, IÆm amazed I didnÆt get run over by the amount of cars using the streets as a race track.   Wonder why the cars have quit driving around? It was so busy last week IÆm telling ya.

Oh and I dunno about the temp for frogs but this year I must have caught about 5 frogs whilst toading at around 10 degrees at dusk. I tend to miss the frogs altogether and just spot the odd one on toad nights. Two of my frogs were out on my street at 4 degrees though.