Your True Tales
October 2006 - Page 25
Toads in Concrete
by Dave Stacey
This account comes to mind after reading your section on "Animals Sealed in Stone". I'm a landscape gardener and a few years ago we were demolishing a shed and breaking up its old foundations. As one lump of concrete came up I found three or four fully grown toads underneath, all pushed against and on top of each other, as if they were in a little nest.
I called my mate and the lady we were working for and all agreed that they must have somehow crawled up inside the concrete from beneath the foundations. But on a closer look, I saw that this couldn't be the case because the hollow they lay in took their shape completely like a jelly mould, as if the concrete had set around them.
Also, there was concrete beneath meaning they were fully encased. Judging on the state of the old shed the base was at least 20 years old, but more likely 30 or more years, so I suppose the toads had been there that long as well. Yet within a couple of minutes of being freed they became very lively and hopped off into the undergrowth. Concrete is slightly porous, but surely not enough to provide enough air or moisture to survive for decades. So do they go into suspended animation, like an extended hibernation?
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