cane toads and dogs

[Andy]

Glen, we use a sharp shooter shovel....chops them right in half. Found a bunch of little ones the other day...they weren't so easy to catch and dispose of. We eventually got rid of our water feature, though it did make a great trap for them. You need to see the above mentioned documentary...poor Australia.

[Carey]

KTA in Puinaka has some nice looking nets (not sure about how toad worthy..), in the isle with fishing, flip-flops & such... cannot help with the BB-MA10, but I am sure there is a market for them....

OH, make sure that those buggers are good & frozen.... we did a field collection of coquis in Leilani back in '07, doing a comparable size study...had a bag of hundreds of the little chirpers in a freezer overnight & for most of a day....then went to another site, with the buggers in a chilled cooler....hours later "Co-qui" chirps were heard from the cooler.....

Not sure of the proper mass/freeze time for the frogs or toads, but after that I would caution to error on a longer estimate.... or stiffer than a board...

[Kapohocat]

quote:

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Originally posted by KathyH

The bufo are attracted to water, any kind of water feature like a pond, no matter how small. Not sure about swimming pools, don't think chlorine is their friend....

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Yup, they even go in swimming pools. We find a few every week and were oh so lucky to have eggs in our pool (I cant find any reference to how toads lay their eggs so I am assuming it was the bufo not another frog or toad species. How nice of them.

The eggs look like a black string but if you try to grab the string it breaks up into millions of pieces. Maybe it's only hundreds of thousands but seems like millions.

[Bullwinkle]

Found cane toads all over mr woofs' bones one night. (kta has good dog bones) seems the toads like the same food the dog does - ever since woof isnt allowed out at night without supervision and his kibble sealed tight.

Always amazes me how strays survive most challenges and our coddled pooches always seem to be in harms way - grin

[KeaauRich]

We have a little freshwater fish pond and a big saltwater pool...bofos seem to love the fishpond, but avoid the pool. But maybe we've just been lucky so far...

[missydog1]

Makes sense that they'd dislike the salt. They're not sea toads, after all.

Yeah, the first time I found those nasty eggs in my nice clear pond I was grossed out, and they turn into a million zillion polliwogs too.

My favorite Christmas song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-lHZqNcRH0&feature=related

[David M]

Yep, they like the swimming pool, but not too frequently. Every now and then pull out half dozen of the little tiny swimmers.
Good luck, finding a good barrier. Apparently they can be pretty good jumpers. They are also diggers, but not sure if there is a limit for depth. Someone suggested burying mesh along fence perimeter, but that's a lot more work than I'd care to do right now,but would definitely consider if I were to redo the fence. Maybe even embed it in concrete
As for a net, I use my pool net. I think HD has them.
Luckily, not all dogs are attracted, but some, like my oldest male, I'd liken to a drunk or druggie, just can't seem to see beyond the initial buzz. Some dogs, just once is a learning experience.
The toads I've run over in the drive can be an attraction as well as toad jerky.

David

Ninole Resident
Please visit vacation.ninolehawaii.com

[missydog1]

The saltwater question and points about water habitat got my curiosity up, so I did a little bit of research just now.

The strands of egg slime can contain up to 30,000 eggs. A female reproduces in her second year. A male can reproduce as a female if its testes are injured, as it has a rudimentary ovary. Yes, they will happily eat pet food, so outside dishes are a deterrent.

Personal anecdote: I have had one jump through my cat door into the house, perhaps searching out the kibble motherlode?

Interesting Video (Kelena, watch this and see someone handle the toad with bare hands and not freak out!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUxRZ5orOPI

The toads are amphibious, and this means they live on land but must breed in water, so water is a must. On salt tolerance, I learned that toads generally have a lower salt content in their bodily fluids than the ocean, so when they contact salt water, osmosis occurs, drawing in salt, and the toads become dehydrated and die.

However, the bufo marinus is one species that has adapted to tolerate brackish water, although not full on sea water.

Google books passage on toads' intolerance to salt water

quote:

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Bufo marinus (Linnaeus), originally a native of Central and South America, was introduced to Australia from Hawaii in 1935 and since then has been successful in establishing itself in a wide range of environments. These environments include the frontal dunes of ocean beaches, the inland border of coastal mangroves, tidal mud-flats, wet and dry creek beds, as well as pools of brackish water (van Beurden and Grigg, 1980; Covacevich and Archer, 1975).

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Scientific article on the effects of salt water on toads:
http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/eserv.php?pid=UQ:9241&dsID=_Bufo_Marinus__L.pdf

ed. The Google Books link was making the page too wide, so I removed it.

[CaveManRogers]

I'm coming to Puna Jan.10th!! I can't wait. I've been reading about the Cane Toads because I used to have a dog...I'll be looking for side work so if anyone needs help toad catching....Let me know.

[csgray]

Cane toads are one of the few organisms that are toxic at every stage of their life cycle, so if one lays eggs in a Koi pond and the fish eat the eggs, you get dead Koi. The older cane toad video I recommended has a segment with an irate fish pond owner swearing revenge on toads for killing his fish. They lay their eggs in long strands with as many as 30,000 eggs per clutch and the tadpoles are always black.

Carol