Killing cane toads

[GeckPhotographer]

Is anyone else concerned with identification? I'm all for getting rid of cane toads, but how many people in the general public - and even on this forum - could identify a cane toad (at all stages of development) from a native toad or even some native frogs? I know I couldn't. Ok, some are very obvious due to size, but many many natives are probably killed in the zeal to kill toads...

This I absolutely agree on. While I am confident I could identify a toad I have seen many many times people mistaking many various species of frogs with toads at several stages of their life cycle (i.e. upes with baby toads.)

Personally I go with the heel of my boot or a rock to the head, trying to (and usually succeeding) in either severing the spinal chord completely in one blow or crushing the head in to a point brain function is instantly stopped. I don't usually have a freezer accessible to me otherwise I might use that. I then bury toads and place a rock on top to stop carrion eaters eating them and being poisoned. I actually really like Cane Toads in there proper place, I have seen some pictures of them from South America and the metallic purple patches they can develop over there are stunning.

 

[Asharee133]

katanas do a good job :lol:

 

[damian83]

arent cane toads the only one to sit upright and puff up at you? i make sure there dead with a tonne of commodore and tread marks on their backs

they are more than pests, the impact they are having is devastating
and I think we have to do all we can to help our native animals.
so I propose once a week everyone pitch in the night before rubbish pickup and fill a rubbish bag with as many toads as you can and in the bin they go. i think its that important it should become an Australian way of life.

but then they go to the tip and multiply......... you can poison them somehow 1st

 

[chiko64]

Killing toads

You can Buy a Product now called Hopstop to Kill toads its humane and safe

 

[richoman_3]

when i went to my uncles farm,
he took me outside at night with a torch and golf club,
tapped them a bit then they puffed up then SMACK, best fun ever , when we hit them on the road and they were dead, it was funny to see how much people still swerved to hit them just incase they were alive LOL

 

[slim6y]

they are more than pests, the impact they are having is devastating
and I think we have to do all we can to help our native animals.
so I propose once a week everyone pitch in the night before rubbish pickup and fill a rubbish bag with as many toads as you can and in the bin they go. i think its that important it should become an Australian way of life.

Give me a written paper with evidence that the impact toads is having is devastating.

Yes, they have an impact... but it's not devastating - and there are plenty of researchers who will back this comment up...

Yes, I might be playing the devil's advocate - but I lived only 3km from the original release site in Gordonvale. Our house was over run with white lipped gtf, common tree frogs, smaller litoria sp, rbbs, taipans, bts, gts.... the list could go on endlessly.. I never once saw a single animal that had been impacted by the toad other than insects (yes, christmas beetles were amongst them).

It is a fact that where the toad has been introduced and lived for some time, adaptations occur amongst the natives and eventually they thrive again.

Unfortunately some animals succumb initially to the toad invasion - but in almost all cases there's a bounce back in numbers.

Quolls got hit pretty hard... but again, they're bouncing back...

Toads a re a pest - but they're not devastating...

 

[SteveNT]

I've already commented on this too many times on earlier threads.

Use the search function cobber!

And where are the quolls "bouncing back"?

I havent seen a wild one in a decade but in the 90's (pre toad here) they were a standard on any bush trip.
They used to clean our plates!

 

[myusername]

I find the quickest way to kill toads is to slam them into the ground. Putting them in the freezer is impractical. I find that one slam is enough, and it is very quick. Only drawback is that if they splatter it's not very pleasant.

 

[camspeed]

Golf clubs work for me. Do you feel bad when you kill a mosquito? Same thing

 

[RedEyeGirl]

i agree that toads are treated quite bad. Its not there fault that they were introduced here, it was us. In Taren Point near Toyota (next to Shark Park) there are lots (not pointing fingers!) ive been out there on council walks and they tell us to put them in heshion (sp.?) bags an they put them in a fridge of temp 4degrees for a couple of hours, then freeze them.

i agree that toads are treated quite bad. Its not there fault that they were introduced here, it was us. In Taren Point near Toyota (next to Shark Park) there are lots (not pointing fingers!) ive been out there on council walks and they tell us to put them in heshion (sp.?) bags an they put them in a fridge of temp 4degrees for a couple of hours, then freeze them. They say it doesnt hurt the toads, but i dont know. Personally, i dont think that i could be able to kill them, if i did it would be the freezer.

 

[guzzo]

I have a .177 air rifle ......esp for cane toads and escapee rats......hit em and forget em!

 

[SteveNT]

isnt destroying the brain the quickest most humane way to go?

even tho theyre a pest, i think they should be killed as humanely as possible,....

if i were in cane toad territory it would be a sledge hammer to the head, then put in plastic bags in the bin so nothing eats the dead toad,...

cant imagine freezing would be painless,...it sounds like one of the worse ways to die,....

My missus grabs a shovel

first hit flat side (humanitarian stun process)
second hit chops it in half.
Both halves in the campfire.
Job done

 

[souldoubt]

I kill toads all the time. I hit them over the head with something big, very hard to try and destroy the brain as quickly as possible. Toads are a big pest and devastating to our wildlife but after all they were bought here by us so I think it's only fair that we kill them quickly and humanely

My missus grabs a shovel

first hit flat side (humanitarian stun process)
second hit chops it in half.
Both halves in the campfire.
Job done

I like the sophistacated, multi-step approach haha

 

[Jarrod_H]

Give me a written paper with evidence that the impact toads is having is devastating.

Yes, they have an impact... but it's not devastating - and there are plenty of researchers who will back this comment up...

Yes, I might be playing the devil's advocate - but I lived only 3km from the original release site in Gordonvale. Our house was over run with white lipped gtf, common tree frogs, smaller litoria sp, rbbs, taipans, bts, gts.... the list could go on endlessly.. I never once saw a single animal that had been impacted by the toad other than insects (yes, christmas beetles were amongst them).

It is a fact that where the toad has been introduced and lived for some time, adaptations occur amongst the natives and eventually they thrive again.

Unfortunately some animals succumb initially to the toad invasion - but in almost all cases there's a bounce back in numbers.

Quolls got hit pretty hard... but again, they're bouncing back...

Toads a re a pest - but they're not devastating...

what ever dude your opinion, any loss of our native animals all because of a introduced species is devastating to me.
there are heaps of Doco's about the cane toad's impact and once again seems pretty bad to me.
Kakadu National Park has even put up large scale wireless sensor
network to monitor the toads.
They have little if any predators
in Australia to control their population and have therefore
multiplied in densities ten times of those found in native
habitats. A study conducted in 1990 by the Commonwealth
Scientic and Industrial Research Organization
showed that these toads are highly toxic to many possible
potential predators, and also could have a negative impact
on other native frog species. Kakadu is rich habitat for the
cane toads with ample water resources and abundant food
supply.

but whatever dude your opinion

 

[SteveNT]

what ever dude your opinion, any loss of our native animals all because of a introduced species is devastating to me.
there are heaps of Doco's about the cane toad's impact and once again seems pretty bad to me.
Kakadu National Park has even put up large scale wireless sensor
network to monitor the toads.
They have little if any predators
in Australia to control their population and have therefore
multiplied in densities ten times of those found in native
habitats. A study conducted in 1990 by the Commonwealth
Scientic and Industrial Research Organization
showed that these toads are highly toxic to many possible
potential predators, and also could have a negative impact
on other native frog species. Kakadu is rich habitat for the
cane toads with ample water resources and abundant food
supply.

but whatever dude your opinion

........what?

 

[kawasakirider]

I know a guy that gased his rats, some of them, somehow survived, and were then found alive when taken out of the freezer after 3 weeks after freezing, and that's a mammal that is not built for hibernating or brumating.

Woah... I'm betting the rats were in bad shape and had to be put down? I'd let it live after it survived that ordeal, that is CRAZY.

Regarding the toads, I think putting a body part in a freezing cold ice bucket gets painful after a while, I sure wouldn't like to be whacked in a freezer to die. I wouldn't like being whacked in the head either, haha.

I used to kill them when I was younger, some of them survived after going through a lot. I regret it now, and wouldn't do it again.

I don't see the point in killing toads, it's not going to make a difference.

 

[guzzo]

One good soloution for Toads is Roads....I'd like a dollar for every one that gets run over each night!!!!!

 

[Wookie]

Good luck with your crusade... But I'd still like to see HARD evidence that local species are becoming endangered, rare, or highly threatened by the advancement of the toad....

The red bellied blacks have been hit pretty hard back home. Some say it is from mass die-off after eating cane-toads

 

[Bluetongue1]

Time to put the cat amongst the pigeons…

I understand that you think you are doing a good deed by killing cane toads. The unfortunate reality is, if you are doing so in an area where they are established and widespread, you are wasting your time. Removal is only effective for small infestations that can be controlled and the odd toad found outside its known range. For every toad you remove there will still be hundred or a thousand or whatever still surviving in that area. They are particularly mobile for an amphibian (which is why they have managed to spread so far) and others will move in to take their place.

To illustrate the point a little more clearly. When toads first invade an area, the average size of the adults is huge – up to 15 cm SVL. Once the population has been there for several years, the average size of adults reduces considerably 8 – 10 cm SVL. What happens is quite simply that the population reaches saturation point for the resources available to it. It is the reduced availability of resources due to increased competition between toads that results in the reduction in average adult size.

Those that do need (or just want) to dispatch toads to start life again as something green and leafy, there are a number of humane methods. Destruction of the brain box, behind eye on the head, can be accomplish by either a sharp, massive blow to that region with an object of substantial mass or momentum. This can also be accomplished by swinging the toad, dorsal surface first, such that there is a sharp, massive blow to the back of the neck and then head. This does require a certain amount of skill but is not difficult to master.

Do not put toads directly into the freezer as this is not humane. As was pointed out by RedEyeGirl they should go into the fridge first (i.e. about 4oC) for a couple of hours first. This is to ensure that their entire bodies are reduced to 4oC, which will dramatically slow their metabolism and reduce their abilities to process sensory information. All animal cells contain water. If there is zero water, they are dead. When placed in the freezer, ice crystals form within the cells, puncturing and rupturing cell membranes. If you put the toad straight into the freezer, what happens is the outside freezes while the inner core is still functional and able to receive and process the sensory information. The simple way to describe it is extremely painful.

There are still those who are concerned by the fridge first method. They advocate the use of benzocaine, which is the anaesthetic found in dental gels for toothache – available from a Chemist. Smear it along the backbone area of the toad and this will render it guaranteed pain free. So it can go to meet its maker with a smile on its dial.

Shooting, golf clubs, vehicles (boom squish), spades (bang slash) are all effective and pain free if properly directed.

The rat that crawled out of the freezer after 3 weeks either didn’t crawl out of the freezer. If it did, you would not be here. You’ld be a pile of rodent droppings by now!

Hibernation – internal control of the metabolism and body temperature where these are voluntarily reduced by internal mechanisms as a result of seasonal changes in temperature and / or photoperiod and / food availability. Hibernating animals do not respond to short term variations in these factors. By the way, nothing is actually “turned off” - it just ticks over more slowly.
Brumation – The slowing down in metabolism due to extended external reductions in temperature, usually in conjunction with altering photoperiods, with a corresponding change in behaviour to allow for this. Brumating animals can and will respond to short term variations in temperature, such coming out to bask on a particularly warm winter’s day.

Need to exclude cane toads from your yard. They cannot climb. A 30 cm vertical barrier will do the trick. Shadecloth, flywire, fibro, galvanised sheeting, overlapping wooden palings etc.

There are NO toads native to Australia. We call some of our warty little terrestrial frogs “toadlets” but that is just a hangover from our predominately European beginnings.

Whether or not native animal populations are showing increased resistance or behavioural changes that are allowing them to coexist with cane toads could take up a thread on its own. I don’t intend to comment this time around.

Not killing toads or encouraging others to not kill toads might actually have a positive effect in saving those native species that the inexperienced individuals mis-identify.

Sorry about the length. I think I covered all the errors and grey areas. Hope it helps clear up a few things.

Blue

 

[SteveNT]

Fair dinkum

I cant believe these mexican clowns telling me it's A not happening B they'll get over it, and C be gentle with this introduced toxin that has made such a negative impacy on landscapes I have been walking in since 75.

We need to kill them. They were never going to get to Brisbane (too cold) never going to cross the Gulf ( too dry) etc,etc,etc

They are an evolutionary powerhouse and the damage will just continue from the point zero of Gordonvale. People there think that things have returned to normal but it is a NEW normal and a thinner and emptier one.