Considering frogs and toads very much like mosquitos and mosquito larvae as a food source, what most likely happened in Kathy Durrum's situtaion is that by introducing mosquito dunks and killing the larvae they removed the food source for the frogs which caused a large number of them to starve to death. Removing the dunks allowed the mosquito population to proliferate which then also allowed the predators of mosquitos, frogs and toads, to also proliferate. Any time you remove or reduce the amount of an animal from an environment that is a small ecosystem you're doing damage to that entire system, not just the one specific animal in it.

I was under the impression that frogs/toads are insect eaters. Any chance that your friend's buds are collateral damage? I have loads of toads in the yard and the greenhouse is occupied by frogs, and I've never lost anything other than bugs to them. Can't wait to see the photos and fing out more...a mystery for sure. Perhaps she can capture and humanely relocate it to a better environment. Kristi

It's quite possible that the Greener one is a genuine Bombina Orientalis (Chinese Fire Bellied Toad) from China whereas the brown one is a Bombina species from Russia or another part of Asia. Wildlife laws have changed a lot and once commonly available herps are now harder to find, so they subsitute with the next best thing. Dave

Those are good numbers for this time of the year. I would discourage "over hunting" the area though. If you check a spot too frequently, you tend to scare off prey items as well as the predator. Over hunting especially hurts your chances if you are flipping rocks too frequently. This breaks the seal around the rocks and allows them to dry out. I would hold off for a couple of weeks if not a month before fall rains and cool weather comes and you should be happy with the results. I tend to find many good spots as well as average ones and only hit them a couple of times a year. Try new things like road hunting and walking through good habitat in the evenings during the off months. Good luck.