Mr Toad Visits The Garden…sounds like a children’s story, doesn’t it? Normally, I would love to have a toad in my garden. They eat all kinds of pests and are a bonus for sure, but this bad boy is a 2 pound Colorado River Toad. Ick! Ick! Ick! They emit a poison from their backs that can kill a dog in just a few minutes. Coyotes leave them alone, but domestic dogs just love to lick and mouth ’em, and that, my friend is very bad news. If you see your dog with, or even near a frog that looks like this one, immediately, and I mean don’t wait for symptoms of disorientation, drooling, and foaming at the mouth to occur, but immediately rinse the dog’s mouth out with the garden hose (from the side please….we don’t want to drown the dog….). Then get rid of the frog. I can’t seem to kill them, so I released Mr Toad 12.3 miles away from my house beside a cotton crop in Gladden Farms area. I hope he doesn’t turn up in Jennifer’s back yard.
Wow!!!
I’ve read about the Cane Toad and its toxicity but certainly knew of nothing in our area like this. Now that spen a few minutes and have read about this I find that it is in fact indigenous and also illegal to transport, is a schedule 1 controlled substance (the secretion is an hallucinogen). (See Reference)
Well, reading about it being endangered in California, and close to that in New Mexico, I’m glad I didn’t kill it. That illegal to transport thing I’ve broken twice, transporting the first one down to the Santa Cruz River, and now this time releasing this guy way out in Marana. Hmmm, I’ll be sure to watch my “P’s & Q’s” on the roadways as I drive these guys away from my property. I’m also a little more informed about them now thanks to you Lamont.
Well, the transport issue really doesn’t apply for local handling in AZ as long as you are not attempting to extract the toxin, selling etc. You are alright!