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Southern toad

Anaxyrus terrestris · Frogs and toads · Amphibians

Southern toad (Anaxyrus terrestris): Toad 40-113 mm, brown, grey or reddish with several dorsal spots and warts; belly greyish with a spotted chest. High cranial crests with pronounced knobs between and behind the large, protruding eyes distinguish it from the American and Fowler's toads. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Scientific name
Anaxyrus terrestris
Family
Bufonidae
In North America
Native
Range
NatureServe lists it in the southeastern US: Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Biology

How to identify it

Toad 40-113 mm, brown, grey or reddish with several dorsal spots and warts; belly greyish with a spotted chest. [1][2]

High cranial crests with pronounced knobs between and behind the large, protruding eyes distinguish it from the American and Fowler's toads. [1][2]

Males smaller with darker throats; tadpoles are solid black with a diagonal gold line behind the eye. [1][2]

Compared with the american toad: Southern has high cranial crests with pronounced knobs between and behind the eyes, which helps separate it from the American toad. [1][2]

Compared with the fowler's toad: Southern has high cranial crests with pronounced knobs between and behind the eyes, which helps separate it from Fowler's toad. [1][2]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a southern toad before you act. Compared with the american toad: Southern has high cranial crests with pronounced knobs between and behind the eyes, which helps separate it from the American toad.[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Wide variety of wooded and unwooded habitats, usually on sandy soil; burrows when inactive; breeds in permanent ponds, woodland pools and flooded depressions. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Mainly nocturnal; hides in self-made burrows by day and often feeds under lights near buildings. [1][2]

Terrestrial until breeding, when it migrates to nearby wetlands; males call during breeding and sometimes in heavy rain at other times. [1][2]

Eats spiders, beetles, ants and other invertebrates; inactive in the coldest months. [1][2]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

NatureServe lists it in the southeastern US: Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology