Bufo marinus

Bufo marinus also known as the cane toad ,giant toad, neotropical giant toad or the “mobile cow patty”. There are over 200 species of Bufo toads in the world. Bufo marinus arrived on the Caribbean island of Martinique over 150 years ago from Cayenne , French Guyana. It was than introduced to Australia, Hawaiian Islands, New Guinea, Taiwan Japan Fiji, Solomon Islands and the United states.

Why was this toad introduced all over the world? This is one of those classical examples of human introducing an exotic species  to fix a problem only to create a bigger one.

It all started at a 1932 meeting of sugar industry representatives in Puerto Rico.  Raquel Dexter, an entomologist,  proposed using the toads to control the cane beetle, Phyllophaga vandinei a major pest to the sugar cane industry.  The problem is the toads and the beetles do not interact. During the days the beetles rest on the plants in the sunlight and spend the night flying but the toads during the day rest in shady ground and spend the night hunting on the ground. However, the toads with their voracious appetite did start to predate on the endemic wildlife and became a major impact the ecosystem.

How did these toads become such great colonizers? Their skin is thick with a thick layer of mucopolysacchrides that decreases water loss and canals that transport moisture from ventral to dorsal. They can tolerate temperatures as warm as 105 degrees and as cool as 50degrees for short periods.  A female Bufo can lay up to 20,000 eggs in  one clutch. The tadpoles can tolerate water temperatures up to 107 degrees for short period of times. These toads are opportunistic feeders and eat about anything they can from small rodents to pet food. Bufo toads also are not highly predated on due to the toxin they produce.

Bufo toads produce a milky toxin that is squirted from their parotid glands when the toad is threatened. This toxic cocktail is readily absorbed through the mucus membranes causing pawing at the mouth, “brick red” gingival,  excessive salivation, inability to walk, rigidity, increase heart rates, seizures and possibly death.

What are the treatments for bufo poison toxicity? Unfortunately there is no antidote for this type of poisoning.  At home, an owner should try to flush out the pet’s  mouth with water with the head in a downward position so that it won’t aspirate the water into the lungs. Someone also suggested rubbing activated charcoal on the pets gum to absorb the toxin (antidotal). Treatment consists of minimizing the amount of toxin entering the blood stream and treating symptomatically by your veterinarian.

Can you believe that   some people boil these toads and than drink the “soup” or they’ll dry the skins and than smoke it for the hallucinogenic effects. People actually die every year from this type of drug high.

References on Bufo toxins see:

Reptile Magazine by Dante Fenolio

www.invasive species.gov

www.mnpoison.org

www.bbc.co.uk