Probably a little of both... with more being just their cultural situation. My neighbor is a professor and curator of herpetology at the main State University here. Herpetology is the zoological study of reptiles and amphibians. He has identified my aquatic garden's toads as Eastern American Toads, the most common in the US. He also told me that it isn't uncommon for two or even three to latch on to one another in a mating-game and actually drown one another.

It is a chemical within the toad, can't remember what he called it, but I guess it is a lot like human testosterone in as much as it gets elevated and causes all sorts of behavioral mishaps for the toads.

He has told me that it is not uncommon for toads to have an 85% mortality rate the first year... hence why I guess nature has them laying so many eggs.

We too have had weather that went from a hard winter to a quick two weeks of summer-like, only to flash back for prolonged cold/cool spells. The toads were active during the warm spring weather and now they are quiet and haven't laid nearly the level of eggs that I'd consider "the usual."

Any how, I find a few dead or drowned toads each spring... but one particularly cold morning I went out to the skimmer box for a quick leaf pull... I had 22 in there!

Good luck with your toads!

Thanks pondbucket!

today I found one floating. He looks like he has a dusky slime all over him (dead). And there was a female on the floating milk crate in the same position as yesterday, and it was very cold last night. I tried to see if she was alive, and she barely moved. Maybe she went back into hibernation, but it seemed like a strange place to be. I picked her up and put her under a bush with some leaves.

I can believe the craziness........I sometimes saw 2 males on 1 female and it appeared that it was really hard for her to get to the surface for air.

At least I have a few million eggs!
wow.....22 dead toads? Are you sure they were dead? Unbelievable! This is the most toads I've ever had in my little pond. I suppose it is alot to deal with......producing millions of eggs, trying to stay warm, trying to get air, fluctuating temps. Its just hard enjoying their wonderful song, then finding them dead. But such is life, right?

We had wild temperature fluctuations here this spring and for the first time ever I have found dead treefrogs in our ponds. :(

Over the last few years, mostly in the spring and late winter, I have found a few dead toads. This year, however, I've already found two: one adult that I believe was a female probably drowned during mating, the other a juvenile, probably from last year's spawn. It was still quite small, and happened right after a cold snap. Nature can be hard on our amphibian friends. I had a bunch of eggs and tadpoles in the pond and stream already this year, but I think the colder temps have played havoc with them too. They're all gone. And we're having another cold spell today. Spring is having a hard time hanging on this year.

Oh gosh, I did type that, "22...," but I meant that I had 22 live toads hiding out in my skimmer's leaf basket :))

I think they were seeking cover from the cold, usually there are only one or two in the skimmer box/basket.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Oh, that's good pondbucket! Sure seamed like way too many dead toads! (that's alot of live toads too!)

We're lucky here in the neighborhood where we live; I think there are home ponds /water gardens on every block in each ordinal direction... so I think the toads can pack a lunch and make it to the next drink still in the same day!