Eastern Spadefoot

How to identify

• Stout body, smooth skin with small warts
• Large, golden or copper-colored eyes with vertical pupils — unique among Virginia frogs
• Two light yellow stripes from eye down back
• Hard, dark spade-like projection on each hind foot
• Brown or gray above

About this species

The eastern spadefoot is one of Virginia's most secretive amphibians, spending most of its life underground and emerging only during heavy rains to breed explosively in temporary pools. They dig with a hard, spade-like projection on each hind foot — the source of their name. A large aggregation of calling spadefoots during a summer rainstorm is an unforgettable herpetological experience.

Often confused with

Did you know

"Eastern spadefoot tadpoles develop incredibly fast — they can metamorphose in as little as two weeks, an adaptation to breeding in temporary pools that may dry up quickly."

Sightings & citizen science

Help document Virginia wildlife by logging your sightings on iNaturalist. Every observation builds the conservation data that researchers and rehabbers depend on.