Gopher Frog

Gopher frogs have stocky bodies with short arms. Their noses are pointed and they have a ridge running along each side of their back. Their body is light-colored and marked with dark brown or black blotches in different shapes and sizes. They are 6 to 9 cm from nose to end and weigh 47 to 151 g. Males are smaller than females. Their skin can be rough or smooth and is yellow-white to brown or gray in color. Underneath, they are white, cream, or yellow with dark spots. Tadpoles are yellow-green, olive-green, or gray and have large black spots on the upper body, tail and fin. Tadpoles usually get to be 84 mm long, but can be longer than 90 mm in North Carolina. (Conant and Collins, 1991; Palis, 1998; Palis, et al., 2010; Roznik and Johnson, 2009a)

Gopher frogs live in dry mountainous areas with cold, clear, rivers. They mostly live in forests of longleaf pine trees with sandy soil. Their habitats also have shrub-like pine trees, and groups of trees in dry open areas. They usually find shelter underground in gopher tortoise burrows, and get their name from gopher tortoises. They also use burrows of small mammals like rodents, or under logs and in holes in stumps. When traveling, they hide out under clumps of grass and leaves on the ground. This protects them from both weather and predators. Gopher frogs especially prefer habitats where the trees aren't too close together, because there are more available burrows. They breed in temporary ponds or ones that flood in certain times of the year, but spend most of their time in burrows on land. (Denton and BeeBee, 1993; Gentry and Smith, 1968; Godley, 1992; Lee, 1968; Palis, et al., 2010; Roznik and Johnson, 2009b; Seebacher and Alford, 2002; Thorson, 1955; Wright and Wright, 1949)

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