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AmphibianTerrestrialIntermediate
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New Mexico Spadefoot Toad
Spea multiplicata
The New Mexico Spadefoot is a small fossorial toad featuring a round body and striking golden eyes. It is equipped with black spade-like tubercles on its hind feet, enabling exceptional digging skills.
Class:Amphibia
Order:Anura
Family:Scaphiopodidae
Genus:Spea
Species:Spea multiplicata
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Environment
Terrestrial
Humidity
30 - 50 %
Day temperature
24 - 27 °C
Night temperature
18 - 20 °C
Ambient temperature
24 - 27 °C
Minimum enclosure
>= 45 L
UVB
Low
Species description
Geographical Origin and Habitat: Native to the southwestern United States and Mexico. They inhabit arid and semi-arid regions including deserts, grasslands, and dry shrublands, spending most of the year buried deep underground to avoid dry conditions.
Taxonomy and Genetics: Belonging to the family Scaphiopodidae. Commonly known as the Mexican Spadefoot or Southern Spadefoot. They are adapted to explosive breeding in ephemeral desert pools after heavy summer rains.
Behavior and Habits: Strictly nocturnal and fossorial. They burrow backwards into the soil using keratinized spade-like tubercles on their hind feet. They remain dormant underground for months during dry spells.
Morphology: Reaches 4–6 cm in length. Females are slightly larger and wider. Breeding males develop dark nuptial pads on their inner fingers and have a dark vocal sac.
Care, breeding and tankmates
Terrarium Setup: A horizontal semi-arid enclosure (minimum 50x30x30 cm) is suitable. Provide a deep burrowing substrate layer (minimum 10–15 cm) consisting of a loose sand and coco fiber mix. Furnish with flat cork bark hides and smooth rocks.
Lighting and Heating: Keep daytime temperatures at 24–27°C, dropping to 18–20°C at night. Provide a natural day-night light cycle. A low-output (2–5%) UVB source is recommended.
Humidity and Hydration: Requires a moisture gradient in the soil. Keep the bottom layers of the substrate slightly damp to prevent dehydration. Spray with dechlorinated water weekly. Provide a small, shallow water dish.
Feeding and Supplementation: Voracious insectivores. Feed on crickets, roaches, earthworms, and isopods. Dust all food with calcium and D3 supplements twice a week.
Compatibility: Peaceful. Can be kept in small groups of similarly sized individuals in a spacious enclosure.
Health and Common Diseases: Skin infections can occur if the substrate is muddy or waterlogged. Dehydration is a risk if the substrate dries out completely. Handle only when strictly necessary, using wet hands.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Native to the southwestern United States and Mexico. They inhabit arid and semi-arid regions including deserts, grasslands, and dry shrublands, spending most of the year buried deep underground to avoid dry conditions.
Origin
Central America and CaribbeanNorth America
Amphibian profile
- Diet
- No verified data available
- Life expectancy
- No verified data available
- Adult size
- 6.4 cm
- Lifestyle/Microhabitat
- No verified data available
- Activity cycle
- No verified data available
- Sociality
- No verified data available
- Reproduction
- No verified data available
- Toxicity
- No verified data available
- Life stage
- No verified data available
- Handling tolerance
- No verified data available
- Brumation
- No verified data available
- Molting
- No verified data available
The catalog's scalar value is 6.4 cm. The AmphiBIO v1 source reports a maximum adult measurement of 6.4 cm for this species, recorded as snout–vent length (SVL). These figures are not interchangeable: the first is the profile's editorial reference, whereas the second is a published maximum under a specific measurement convention; differences among sources can reflect sex, population, life stage and measuring method.
Image gallery
Licensed images linked to the species or, when marked, to the closest representative taxon.
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