Golden toad led bachelors to attack amplectant pairs and form what has been described as a "writhing masses of toad balls". During the 1977 and 1982 seasons, males outnumbered females by over 8 to 1 at breeding pools. Each toad couple produced 200–400 eggs each week for the six-week mating period, with each egg approximately 3 mm in diameter. The eggs of the golden toad, black and tan spheres, were deposited in small pools often no more than one-inch deep. Tadpoles emerged in a matter of days, but required another four or five weeks for metamorphosis. During this period, they were highly
Common toad warn the wearer of attempts to poison them. Shakespeare mentioned this in "As You Like It": Mr. Toad Esq. is one of the main characters in the children's novel "The Wind in the Willows", by Kenneth Grahame. This has been dramatized by several authors including A. A. Milne who called his play "Toad of Toad Hall". Mr. Toad is a very conceited, anthropomorphic toad and in the book he composes a ditty in his own praise which starts like this: George Orwell in his essay "Some Thoughts on the Common Toad" described the emergence of the common toad from hibernation