Burrowing frogs spend dry times lying in wait up to a metre deep under the soil. They can stay there for years until a good soaking of rain softens the ground enough for them to move to the surface to breed. If it has been wet, then it has been a good year for burrowing frogs. Heavy rains can cover vast areas of inland Australia with temporary lakes. This creates ideal breeding conditions for burrowing frogs. Around a third of…
If you live in sandy areas in northern and eastern Australia, keep your eye out for a small, pudgy frog with brown colouring and markings. The Ornate Burrowing Frog, Platyplectrum ornatum, grows no larger than 50mm and is often mistaken for small Cane Toads. These frogs are generally active after heavy rain during spring and summer. Warm humid nights are a good time to find foraging adults. Ornate Burrowing Frogs feed on all t…
As heavy rains and floods turn parched, cracked earth to oozing mud, one of Australia's most incredible frogs is just waking up. Droplets of water dripping down into its chamber up to 1 m underground are telling the Water-holding Frog that it's time to swim, feed and breed. If you live in western New South Wales, southern Queensland, north-eastern South Australia, western Western Australia or one of the select spots in the Nor…
