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Spring peeper

Pseudacris crucifer · Frogs and toads · Amphibians

Spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer): Small frog, about 20-25 mm (to 3.7 cm); gray, pink, brown, olive or yellowish above. Dark X-shaped cross on the back (may be broken), a dark stripe from snout to eardrum and a dark bar between the eyes; dark bands on legs. 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.

Spring peeper on pine needles
Adobe Stock · Free asset, Standard License (asset 637136634)
Scientific name
Pseudacris crucifer
Family
Hylidae
In North America
Native
Range
Eastern North America from southeastern Manitoba east to the Atlantic, south to eastern Texas and mainland Florida (not the Florida Peninsula, per Animal Diversity Web). Introduced in Cuba.
Biology

How to identify it

Small frog, about 20-25 mm (to 3.7 cm); gray, pink, brown, olive or yellowish above. [1][2]

Dark X-shaped cross on the back (may be broken), a dark stripe from snout to eardrum and a dark bar between the eyes; dark bands on legs. [1][2]

Toe tips enlarged into disks, hind toes only moderately webbed; belly cream or white. [1][2]

Call is a single high piping whistle rising slightly, repeated about once a second; a chorus sounds like sleigh bells. [1][2]

Field knowledge

Where it lives

Moist wooded areas near ponds, marshes, ditches and swamps, preferring fishless, often temporary pools with standing plants and debris. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Mostly active at dusk and night but also by day in wet weather; males call from vegetation beside water or low in woody plants. [1][2]

Eats small terrestrial invertebrates such as ants, beetles, flies and spiders; larvae eat algae and debris. [1][2]

Calls from uplands in autumn, far from water; hibernates under logs and in tree holes; breeds early spring in the north. [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

Eastern North America from southeastern Manitoba east to the Atlantic, south to eastern Texas and mainland Florida (not the Florida Peninsula, per Animal Diversity Web). Introduced in Cuba.

Biology

Sources

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

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

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

    University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Animal Diversity Web