The tree huggin' touchy feely, warm and fuzzy greenies would never allow it Moose...but its a damn fine idea mate. I'm all for it.

Cheers, Vince

those toads look like the ones around here, we just told the hippies that if you lick their back it would make you hallucinate. For some reason there was fewer toads the next year.

note lick, not eat, a few sick hippies is all

I've heard that about lickin' the toads mate...not gonna try it myself though. No way...nah....not a chance.

Cheers, Vince

I licked a toad.....no he was more of a turd....hallucination could not have helped but was badly needed....anyway in Arizona there is the Colorado River Toad and it's just about the same animal I'd say. They stay underground for years waiting for the right amount of rain to come around and then they all come up and mate, lay eggs and go bury themselves again. We had a dog that licked one and got all foamy at the mouth. Put the water hose to him for a while and flushed out his mouth. Dog was ok after that.



toadlicker
NOT
Suz

Species: marinus
Genus: Bufo

The natural range of Cane Toads extends from the southern United States to tropical South America. They were deliberately introduced from Hawaii to Australia in 1935, to control scarab beetles that were pests of sugar cane.

Cane Toads eat almost anything they can swallow, including pet food, carrion and household scraps, but most of their food is living insects. Beetles, honey bees, ants, winged termites, crickets and bugs are eaten in abundance. Marine snails, smaller toads and native frogs, small snakes, and small mammals are occasionally eaten by Cane Toads.

Cane Toads are considered a pest in Australia because they:

* poison pets and injure humans with their toxins
* poison many native animals whose diet includes frogs, tadpoles and frogs' eggs
* eat large numbers of honey bees, creating a management problem for bee-keepers
* prey on native fauna
* compete for food with vertebrate insectivores such as small skinks
* may carry diseases that are can be transmitted to native frogs and fishes.

Danger to humans

All stages of the Cane Toad's life-cycle are poisonous. The venom produced by the parotoid glands acts principally on the heart. No humans have died in Australia from Cane Toad poison but overseas, people have died after eating toads and even soup made from boiled toad eggs. Cane Toads are also poisonous to pets and in Hawaii up to 50 dogs a year have died after mouthing Cane Toads. Signs of poisoning through ingestion include profuse salivation, twitching, vomiting, shallow breathing, and collapse of the hind limbs. Death may occur by cardiac arrest within 15 minutes.

Australian native fauna that have been killed by eating or mouthing Cane Toads include goannas, Freshwater Crocodile, Tiger Snake, Red-bellied Black Snake, Death Adder, Dingo and Western Quoll.

A Cane Toad responds to threat by turning side-on so its parotoid glands are directed towards the attacker. The venom usually oozes out of the glands, but toads can squirt a fine spray for a short distance if they are handled roughly. The venom is absorbed through mucous membranes such as eyes, mouth and nose, and in humans may cause intense pain, temporary blindness and inflammation.

I hate these critters...everyone I see I kill.

Cheers, Vince

Vince wrote:

The natural range of Cane Toads extends from the southern United States to tropical South America. They were deliberately introduced from Hawaii to Australia in 1935, to control scarab beetles that were pests of sugar cane.

Vince, years ago they must have used Australia as an experimental country........... lets see the animals that I know of that were brought there are Camels, Rabbits, and now Cane Toads, and all of the above have created problems. How many more animals that you have today aren't native to Australia?

1895ss wrote:

. lets see the animals that I know of that were brought there are Camels, Rabbits, and now Cane Toads, and all of the above have created problems.?

Australian native animals are being attacked left right and center
There are plenty more
big ones such as goat, buffaloes, pigs
insects such as fruit fly, aphid, head lice, crab (the short and curly type)
half intelligent ones such as human and dingoes (dogs)
underwater kind such as crowned starfish that eats corals

A lot of unique Australian native animals are going to extinction mostly due to the intervention of human animal...
We have rock star environmental minister that knows nothing about environment, so what are going to make the changes?

Australia has a very unique environment. We are an island continent and our native flora and fauna has developed differently from other parts of the word. Our native animals had, until the introduction of some animals, no predators. It is because of this that some feral animals have flourished so much (feral cats and foxes in particular), and our native animals have suffered to the point of extinction in some species.

gelandangan wrote:

1895ss wrote: . lets see the animals that I know of that were brought there are Camels, Rabbits, and now Cane Toads, and all of the above have created problems.? Australian native animals are being attacked left right and center There are plenty more big ones such as goat, buffaloes, pigs insects such as fruit fly, aphid, head lice, crab (the short and curly type) half intelligent ones such as human and dingoes (dogs) underwater kind such as crowned starfish that eats corals A lot of unique Australian native animals are going to extinction mostly due to the intervention of human animal... We have rock star environmental minister that knows nothing about environment, so what are going to make the changes?

Let's see now:

deer (all species)
camels
donkeys
pigs
goats
rabbits
fox
cane toad
cats
a few different insect species
untold marine species (in ships ballast water dumped in harbours)
European carp
a couple of fresh water fish species
Red-eared slider turtle (Trachemys scripta elegans) from the US
Indian Minor (bird)
and the list goes on.

Our Federal Environmental Minister is Peter Garrett who used to be the front man for Midnight Oil...he has his heart in the right place, but unfortunately, like all Politicians, he has to follow the Party Line.

Cheers, Vince