Originally posted by JaneandJim
He caught it in a plastic bag and dropped a brick on it! Apparantly the standard method is to catch them and then shove them in the freezer to kill them. Don't think we'll be doing that.

Jane

Originally posted by Pollster
Poor things

Originally posted by JaneandJim
They're classed as pests because they kill the native wildlife (or at least the natives die when they eat them!).

Mrs Dagboy, doesn't the golf club get mucky? Who gets to clean it?

Jane

Originally posted by loose
Ok, this is something I dont know about. Whats so bad about cane toads?

The toad's weapons are scarcely subtle. It bears on its warty shoulders two glands, the parotids, which, when the animal is disturbed, exude an elaborate cocktail of toxins, among them marinobufalin, adrenaline and hydroxytryptamine. These combine to induce a state of severe toxic shock in any creature foolish enough to ingest a toad. The cascade of symptoms is well-known: salivation, prostration, cardiac arrhythmia, pulmonary oedema, hypertension, convulsions, death.

The toad's other trump card is its remarkably philoprogenitive nature. Toads couple constantly, with gusto; indeed, male toads are routinely encountered trying to mate with females that have been dead for several days: "Class," says Miles, "is certainly not one of their strong points."

Fertilisation achieved, a mother toad will lay up to 30,000 eggs in sticky, black-spotted strands, which develop into highly active tadpoles.

The cycle produces fresh toadlets each month, allowing for an almost limitless increase in numbers. Further, the toad is hard to kill: even when gutted, they still move about; they can survive being struck by four-wheel drives.

Their brain is encased, rather like a Volvo passenger, in a squarish reinforced box that can soak up a lot of punishment.

Well-defended as they are, the toads are unusually fearless: thus, they are easily found, and eaten, by Australian native animals. To make things worse, they resemble, of course, frogs, the tasty food source of choice for goannas, pythons, brown snakes, green tree snakes and many other tropical reptiles. These species are expected to suffer grievously from the toad's advance, while the survival chances of the "amazingly stupid" northern quoll are – let's be frank – minimal: pessimistic rangers have already moved special quoll populations to islands north of Arnhem Land.

Originally posted by DagBoy
It is easier to ask what is good about cane toads.
To which the answer is ....... nothing.

Originally posted by Innyjim
What happens if you lick one ? Mad trippy experiences ?

Originally posted by jezdavies
Last time I was in Queensland the locals told me they'd make a day out of finding canetoads and belting them with cricket bats.

Originally posted by jezdavies
Last time I was in Queensland the locals told me they'd make a day out of finding canetoads and belting them with cricket bats.

Originally posted by MrsDagboy
Pollster, poor things my arse, I would happily bludgeon every canetoad to death if I could, they kill hundreds of dogs, cats & native animals every year & can kill a small child. They have absolutely NO redeeming features. They are a noxious pest. Spawn of the devil .

Jane, they have exceptionally tough skin, so no muck & no splatter, you can hit them as hard as you like & they dont look any different. In fact they are so tough that if you dont absolutely wallop them (with whatever you kill them with), you can come back an hour later & they will have hopped away. Be warned! Its a bit like a horror movie where the dead body has moved from where it was left .