12-29-2011, 10:42 AM
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
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.
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:
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).
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.