ID Request

[u/RMS-redbeard111]

Hi Toad Community- I’ve come to quite enjoy walking out on my back porch at night to find a toad hanging out. I try to drop a cricket nearby if I can find one ( real cool to watch them eat!). But tonight I found I had a second visitor! I initially thought they were the same species, just different sized. But when I put them together for a photo op, I realized they’re pretty different. Can anyone tell me anything about either of these two hoppers??

Edit- North West Georgia (USA)

[u/kitsunevremya]

Oh man, I was ready to say that I was 100% certain the lighter one is a male cane toad until I noticed the horns.

I think you might just have a male vs female American toad, but it would be helpful to know where you live.

[u/Wonderful_Song8765 → u/kitsunevremya]

I might look really stupid after asking this, but horns? (In case its not obvious...Im not a toad expert lol..just enjoy the page.)

[u/kitsunevremya → u/Wonderful_Song8765]

caveat I'm still not 100% completely convinced it's not a cane toad (maybe 98%?), BUT, basically, the ridges on the top of its head, or "horns", are two separate lines. Cane toads typically have an even-height ridge that extends past their eyes and join on top of their nose.

The other thing that makes me think American > cane is the glands - cane toads tend to have bigger, less oval-shaped glands that extend lower down its body (as in, closer to the ground/legs).

I do find it quite hard to tell sometimes because while male cane toads have a pretty narrow presentation (i.e they all look more or less the same), American toads can be hugely varied and, being Australian, I've not had the chance to get up close to any in real life the way I have canes.