AZ Members - Beware Sonoran Desert Toads

2000Z-71

2000Z-71

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Eagle River, AK
As we were pulling up in the driveway last night, my wife noticed we had a huge "frog" on our entry walk near the front door. We got out of the car and I walked over with my 4 year old daughter to take a look at it. Sure enough, there's a bigass green toad hanging out next to our front step. My first thought was cool, the thing can help with the cricket invasion that started this week.

We get inside, feed the pups, get my daughter ready for bed and tuck her in. Then being the geek that I am, I get on the internet to see if I can find out what it was. Sure enough it's a Sonoran Desert Toad. They basically live underground for most of the year and only come out at night during the monsoon season. They are Arizona's largest toad and can grow to more than 7.5" in length. Then I get to this part:

"The species’ skin toxins are strong enough to kill a dog and reportedly have hallucinogenic qualities."

So they've come out for the monsoons, be careful if you have dogs or kids.
 
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This toad issue kind of makes the cock roach in Florida a mute subject. If a dog licks a roach it won't die.:eek: Are these guys edible like frog legs?
 
mtb1bkr said:
Don't lick the toads!!:rolleyes:
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Crazy people have done/do that:eek:

We have big non native toads here in Fl, Forget which kind. My Springer Spaniel once grabed one in her mouth and instantly started foaming at the mouth, spitting, puking. She ended up OK, but never touched another one again!
 
Bufo Marinus

OCD1 said:
Crazy people have done/do that:eek:

We have big non native toads here in Fl, Forget which kind. My Springer Spaniel once grabed one in her mouth and instantly started foaming at the mouth, spitting, puking. She ended up OK, but never touched another one again!
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Very toxic. The Aussies imported them as well, IIRC, to control the bugs in the cane fields. It didn't work there either. No part of the toad is safe to eat. They are mainly cardiotoxic. One Aussie medical student ate an ovary of one on a dare (GOKs why some bets are made and taken) After he arrested and was revived, he had several more "events" and eventually got out of the cardiac ICU but had permanent myocardial damage.

If your dog puts one in it's mouth, rinse out the mouth with a strong stream of water. If the dog collapses, you need to find a vet fast.

For more information...
Cane toad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Anthropologists have long speculated that ancient peoples of Mesoamerica used a toad, Bufo marinus, as a ritual intoxicant. This hypothesis rests on many iconographic and mythological representations of toads and on a number of speculative ethnographic reports. The authors reject B. marinus as a candidate for such use because of the toxicity of its venom. A more likely candidate is the Sonoran desert toad, Bufo alvarius, which secretes large amounts of the potent known hallucinogen, 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT). The authors demonstrate that the venom of B. alvarius, although known to be toxic when consumed orally, may be safely smoked and is powerfully psychoactive by that route of administration. These experiments are the first documentation of an hallucinogenic agent from the animal kingdom, and they provide clear evidence of a psychoactive toad that could have been employed by Precolumbian peoples of the New World.
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http://www.erowid.org/archive/sonoran_desert_toad/davisWeil.htm
 
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Aloha,

Many years agoo, Hawaii also imported a variation ot the bufo known as the "cane toad".

Killed dogs which either bit or mouthed them. For some reason, they are sort of rare now. Haven't seen them around for a while.

Same problem in Austalia. The Australians have a Detol (antiseptic, not in the US) based spray called "Stop Hop" kills the toad on contact. Detol antiseptic does the same thing too. I did ask local state pest control and of course, they knew nothing and were not too helpful in trying to get Detol or it's product imported

Of course, it was another State agency that brought them in.....
 
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IIRC the word "toady" comes from the fact that toads are not good eating.
 
YogiBear said:
Aloha,

... Many years agoo, Hawaii also imported a variation ot the bufo known as the "cane toad". Same problem in Austalia. .....
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When I was a mere youth in Queensland in the early 1970's, the word was that one could smoke the dried skin of a cane toad (easily obtained from the roadways) and experience quite a "high". Fortunatley, despite heroic efforts, I never was quite that drunk. ;)
 
toad_licker.gif
 
My friends Coker Spaniel used to hunt lizards by day and toads by night. One night she got one of those toads pretty good and started going in circles. Totally out of it. He just laughed and said she does it all the time. I had a huge problem posting this as the neighbors new Beagle is going off and she makes me laugh to hard. I love that sound.
 
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