3 Types of Toads Found in Minnesota! (ID Guide)

“Don’t pick that up, you’ll get warts!”

If you’re anything like me, you heard this quite a few times growing up from a parent telling you to leave a toad alone. With their bumpy skin, staring eyes, and loud, insect-like calls, it’s understandable to be cautious around toads. But luckily, it’s a myth that toads give people warts!

Today, you will learn about the different kinds of toads in Minnesota.

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#1. American Toad

• Anaxyrus americanus

Identifying Characteristics:

• Adult length is 2-3 ½ inches.
• Coloring is usually brown to gray, olive, or brick red. Typically, they have patches of yellow, buff, or other light colors, with dark spots.
• The American Toad is distinctive for its many warts present all over the back and legs.

American Toads can be spotted easily in Minnesota.

The subspecies you can find here is the Eastern American Toad, the larger of the two.

American Toad Rangemap:Credit: U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior/USGS

It is one of the most common and widely known species of toad! They live in forests, prairies, and suburban backyards. American Toads are carnivorous and mainly eat insects, worms, spiders, and slugs.

American Toads have a very recognizable call. Listen for a musical trilling noise that can last for up to 30 seconds.

They like to breed in shallow water, and tadpoles have an amazing defense against predators. Their skin secretes a toxic chemical so powerful that eating one American Toad tadpole can kill a fish!

Much like their tadpoles, adult American Toads are also toxic to other animals. Even large dogs that handle or try to eat one can have discomfort or pain from contact with their milky-white secretions. This is something my dog found out the first (and last) time he played with one!

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#2. Great Plains Toad

• Anaxyrus cognatus

Identifying Characteristics:

• Adult length is 2-4 ½ inches.
• Coloring is pale white to tan or olive with large, dark-colored pairs of blotches down the back. Lighter tan or white belly.
• A crest on the head forms a “V” shape from the snout, moving outward on the head toward the back.

Great Plains Toads are found in western Minnesota living in temporary shallow pools, quiet streams, marshes, or irrigation ditches. They are most common in grasslands but also can be found in desert brush and woodland areas.

Great Plains Toad Rangemap:

There are only a few weeks out of the year that are suitable for the Great Plains Toad to feed and reproduce. Amazingly, they spend the rest of the year mostly dormant in underground burrows made by other animals.

Symmetrical dark splotches running down its back make the Great Plains Toad one of the easier toads to see, but you will probably hear one nearby long before you can spot it. Its call can last more than 50 seconds, and is similar to a jackhammer!

When large groups of Great Plains Toads are calling, the sound can be near-deafening.

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#3. Canadian Toad

The Canadian Toad (Anaxyrus hemiophrys)  lives only in a limited area of northwestern Minnesota. It has an average length of 1 1/2 to 3 inches and brownish coloring. The Canadian Toad is typically found in or very near water. It spends the cold winters of its habitat in Minnesota underwater, in hibernation groups. One subspecies of the Canadian Toad, the Wyoming Toad, was discovered and had a limited population in Wyoming. It is now listed as extinct in the wild, though some do still exist in captivity.

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Do you need additional help identifying toads?

Try this field guide!

• Peterson Field Guides to Reptiles and Amphibians

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Which of these toads have you seen in Minnesota?

Leave a comment below!

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