On spring evenings, this Western Montana wetland fills with the loud calls of hundreds of Pacific tree frogs and provides a haven for amphibians, reptiles, and aquatic insects because fish cannot survive in this ephemeral wetland, which often dries up by the end of summer, sparing eggs and larvae from fish predation. Along the wetland's edge, common garter snakes hunt frogs, toads, and salamanders, and both the western terrestrial and the common garter snake are found here. Long-toed salamanders travel one-third of a mile to breed when ice and snow still partly cover the water, and their eggs hatch into voracious juveniles that devour mosquito larvae. Boreal toads arrive in late May, announced by soft, high-pitched cheeps; females lay eggs that hatch in about ten days, and as water levels drop in July, tadpoles change into one-half-inch-long toads. Pacific treefrogs arrive in March and linger until May, forming a spring chorus during breeding season. Giant water bugs, Montana's largest aquatic insects, are predators that stab, poison, and suck up their prey and can also bite people. American bullfrogs, which are not native to Montana, threaten native species as large predators and should never be released into the wild or moved from one pond to another.