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Toad ID

BuddhAmphibian

By BuddhAmphibian,
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BuddhAmphibian Newbie

BuddhAmphibian

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I’m in Tampa FL just saw this toad that’s much bigger than the ones i usually see around where i live. Is it a cane toad? It wasn’t enormous just like 5 inches maybe but pretty beefy and before have only seen pretty small baby frogs and toads around the building i’m in.

 

Can anyone help ID? 🐸 

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Edited by BuddhAmphibian
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Biotope Biologist Grand Master

Biotope Biologist

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It appears to be a cane toad yes. You can tell by the shape of the paratoid gland.

 

University of Florida has a helpful website for Identifying your local amphibs! I screengrabbed this from there:

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Southern toads can get quite large and are often misidentified as cane toads. They are native and while their secretions are a mild irritant it’s not quite as bad as the cane toads which has been known to kill small animals.

Edited by Biotope Biologist
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Odd Duck Grand Master

Odd Duck

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You laugh but they do!  They get huge, can be very personable, and some have great markings - they’re rather variable on colors. I’ve seen a couple as patients.  I always wear gloves anyway for all amphibian patients since our fingerprints can be rougher than ideal for their skin (for tiny frogs or salamanders especially, and our skin oils, lotions, etc, aren’t good for them.  So simple exam gloves are more than enough protection for them and us as long as you don’t stick your gloved finger in your mouth or eye after handling them, you’re good.

Edited by Odd Duck
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Biotope Biologist Grand Master

Biotope Biologist

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To add they only secrete toxins in response to stress or predators. I used to keep California Rough-skinned newts as a kid and they never actually released their toxins when handled. Even handling some wild specimens they never felt threatened enough to secrete. 
 

I probably should have been wearing gloves 😅

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BuddhAmphibian Newbie

BuddhAmphibian

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On 7/20/2023 at 4:28 PM, Odd Duck said:

You laugh but they do!  They get huge, can be very personable, and some have great markings - they’re rather variable on colors. I’ve seen a couple as patients.  I always wear gloves anyway for all amphibian patients since our fingerprints can be rougher than ideal for their skin (for tiny frogs or salamanders especially, and our skin oils, lotions, etc, aren’t good for them.  So simple exam gloves are more than enough protection for them and us as long as you don’t stick your gloved finger in your mouth or eye after handling them, you’re good.

Interesting! I currently have a cuban tree frog i’ve had for a couple years since it hopped out of a closet one day in my house dehydrated and slightly injured. they’re also considered invasive here so didn’t want to put it back outside also didn’t want to euth so it’s been a “pet” ever since. Hes been really fun to keep but also supposed to secrete toxins so i don’t really handle him. don’t think i’d be comfortable keeping something as big as a cane toad but there’s so many cool varieties of little frogs around here i hope they don’t all get picked off by these guys and the CTFs.

Edited by BuddhAmphibian
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OnlyGenusCaps Grand Master

OnlyGenusCaps

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On 7/20/2023 at 3:56 PM, Biotope Biologist said:

I used to keep California Rough-skinned newts as a kid

I am so jealous!  California newts are the species that made me fall in love with amphibians, and keeping any critters in a glass box.  I was not allowed to keep them though as they were native. 

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Biotope Biologist Grand Master

Biotope Biologist

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On 7/21/2023 at 6:57 PM, OnlyGenusCaps said:

I am so jealous!  California newts are the species that made me fall in love with amphibians, and keeping any critters in a glass box.  I was not allowed to keep them though as they were native. 

I’m pretty sure I wasn’t allowed to either 😬 I kept a lot of things as a kid I shouldn’t have. Hid them in the basement so no one would know.

 

My parents scolded me something fierce for trying to pass off salmon fry as tetra. Learning that that was indeed a federal crime. 

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OnlyGenusCaps Grand Master

OnlyGenusCaps

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On 7/21/2023 at 11:49 PM, Biotope Biologist said:

I’m pretty sure I wasn’t allowed to either 😬 I kept a lot of things as a kid I shouldn’t have. Hid them in the basement so no one would know.

 

My parents scolded me something fierce for trying to pass off salmon fry as tetra. Learning that that was indeed a federal crime.

Love it!  Tales of w wonderfully misspent youth.  That was my problem - I didn't have a basement!

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Odd Duck Grand Master

Odd Duck

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The things that were in the basement of our house growing up?  😆

My older brothers are probably a big part of why I turned out so animal crazy.  There were always snakes, spiders, ground squirrels, big wolf spiders, etc, etc, in the basement, on the bookshelf (black widow spider), or something somewhere in the house.  Mom put her foot down as soon as she discovered the baby rattlesnake.  Yes, rattlesnake.  Just a button, couldn’t even rattle yet.  My brother Rich was responsible for that one.  Actually I think he was responsible for the black widow in the bookshelf jar, too!  🤣 Mom tolerated that one for quite a while but I think she wanted it where she could supervise it better.  It was right in the eat-in kitchen upstairs where she could keep a close eye on it.  My mother was a saint and a paragon of patience!

We lived across the street from “the canyon” (a 3/4 bowl shaped “valley” with a flat bottom where the neighbors occasionally set up barrels to practice their barrel racing).  We pretty much ran wild, digging forts, having clod fights, flying kites, and catching critters.  The whole area was a bit less than a city block size but the open end led into a drainage slough where we caught tadpoles, frogs, toads, minnows, and crawdads to name a few.  You could get to almost half the town following that drainage slough for almost a mile.

Good times!

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Odd Duck Grand Master

Odd Duck

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On 7/23/2023 at 8:36 AM, OnlyGenusCaps said:

How fast can a barrel really go?!  Are they rolling them at least?  This sounds like a workout for Bavarian ale house workers in prep for Oktoberfest! 

Depends on how much of an incline you’re talking about.  There may have been an instance or 2 where barrels were pushed up hills, then encouraged to roll down them.  But only from side to side of the bowl as letting them roll down the longer way would have potentially let them roll into the property owner’s fence and nobody wanted to destroy property and thereby lose access to “The Canyon” since it was our favorite place to play.  It was the best sledding in the winter, especially on the south slope since we didn’t dig forts into that side so we could maintain the steepest sledding slope and then had the length of the canyon to ride into.  We were forward thinkers.  😆 

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