"BUFO" Toad barrier?

[ZEROPILOT]

I've been getting big BUFO toads in my tortoise pen. They scare the Hell out of my wife.
They are huge, bumpy and rubbery.
I don't want to harm them. Just keep them out. Apparently they can squeeze into cracks because by the time I get home from work they've vanished.
Any tips?

 

[Tom]

I put them on the other side of a 6' high block wall that encircles the whole property and they still find their way back into my cage style enclosures all summer long. I think they have teleportation powers.

 

[Yvonne G]

They keep the bug population down. Where I lived before we had two bug zapper lights, one on either end of the house. When it got dark and they came on, the little toads would come out of the wood work and congregate under those lights waiting for the electricity to zap the bugs, which would then fall to the ground to be snapped up by the toads.

 

[Turtlepete]

I've been getting big BUFO toads in my tortoise pen. They scare the Hell out of my wife.
They are huge, bumpy and rubbery.
I don't want to harm them. Just keep them out. Apparently they can squeeze into cracks because by the time I get home from work they've vanished.
Any tips?

Have no fear of harming the toads, since they are probably the same cane toads that have infested everywhere down here. They are much more invasive than the famed Burmese Python (just no media-driven hysteria). They will eat anything they can fit in their mouths, from baby snakes to baby chicks (I've had them burrow in and eat some of my young dwarf chicks before). They eat my box turtles food faster then the turtles can, and I've seen big ones straight up attack the box turtles over food aggression. They are very destructive. If a cat or dog is to come across it and put their mouth on a toad, it can lead to paralysis or death. I have no idea if they are similarly toxic to turtles and tortoises, but they soak in the wading pools meant for the turtles and may leak toxins (quite possible if the toad became stressed). My advice is buy a cheap refrigerator and a freezer off of craigslist and humanely euthanize all that you come across. You can also make a bucket trap in your yard by burying a five gallon bucket, greasing the sides and leaving some cat food in the bottom.

 

[bouaboua]

Toad?? I know Newt......

 

[newCH]

Ugly things. My husband caught this one in the yard last year. I havent seen any this year. Someone I know swears that putting used coffee grinds bordering their yard helps keep them away. I havent tried that. My beagle used to want to mess with them. Besides the poison they they exude, they also play dead. They can get really big and we occasionally find them sitting under bushes & scrubs. When a dog touches it & the release the poison your supposed to rinse the the dogs mouth facing downward. I was never sucessful at that.

 

[CharlieM]

They cannot get through 1/2 inch hardware cloth. I also despise them but haven't had any issue with the getting into the enclosures or my bird aviaries. Other people are plagued with them and most of us have spent time at the veterinarians after our dogs have messed with one. They don't belong here and are affecting the native species. In Australia they use dettol in a squirt gun to kill them.

 

[Tom]

Have no fear of harming the toads, since they are probably the same cane toads that have infested everywhere down here. They are much more invasive...

Whoa. Easy there. He didn't say what species he is dealing with there. It might not be Bufo marinus. It could be a native species. The ones we have here are a variety of western spade foot toads. I wouldn't want people going out and killing native species for no good reason. They are easy enough to relocate.

If it is the horrendous cane toad, then go ahead and exterminate them.

 

[CharlieM]

@Tom he said big BUFO...

 

[CharlieM]

I've never seen a native toad in south Florida but have seen thousands of Bufo/cane toads

 

[mike taylor]

To be honest short of killing them there's nothing you can do .

 

[Turtlepete]

Whoa. Easy there. He didn't say what species he is dealing with there. It might not be Bufo marinus. It could be a native species. The ones we have here are a variety of western spade foot toads. I wouldn't want people going out and killing native species for no good reason. They are easy enough to relocate.

If it is the horrendous cane toad, then go ahead and exterminate them.

Indeed, a good idea to make the positive identification that it is Bufo marinus and not our native Bufo terrestris, but I rarely see our native toads and have seen personally that a lot of south FL is infested with cane toads. The differentiation isn't difficult to make.

 

[Tom]

Indeed, a good idea to make the positive identification that it is Bufo marinus and not our native Bufo terrestris, but I rarely see our native toads and have seen personally that a lot of south FL is infested with cane toads. The differentiation isn't difficult to make.

This I did not know. I've heard all about how bad they are in Australia, but I've not heard one mention of them being a problem in FL. Thanks for educating me.

Funny how people can have two completely different things in mind after a given description.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Yes. Sorry. These are Cane Toads. At least I'm almost certain...I still haven't seen this particular one.
She says he is bigger than an orange and has been soaking in one of my pools.
Generally were you see these guys, you wont see anything else that can fit into their mouths...Including anything native.
I get them at my fish ponds during the summer months. Maybe once a week or so.
This time of year is unusual.
I have indeed heard stories about them chasing away cats and eating cat food out of the bowl.
Florida is a haven for many types of exotic animals, both wanted and unwanted.

 

[russian/sulcata/tortoise]

View attachment 120544
Ugly things. My husband caught this one in the yard last year. I havent seen any this year. Someone I know swears that putting used coffee grinds bordering their yard helps keep them away. I havent tried that. My beagle used to want to mess with them. Besides the poison they they exude, they also play dead. They can get really big and we occasionally find them sitting under bushes & scrubs. When a dog touches it & the release the poison your supposed to rinse the the dogs mouth facing downward. I was never sucessful at that.

hes hurting the poor toad

 

[HLogic]

My advice is buy a cheap refrigerator and a freezer off of craigslist and humanely euthanize all that you come across.

Freezing is anything but humane. B. marinus are ubiquitous along the east & west coasts of Florida to the extent there are no more E. Hognosed snakes in either area. I don't have B. marinus here (inland FL). B. terrestris and H. platyrhinos abound!

Barriers will keep them at bay but they have to be unclimbable barriers.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I think that I built my cat and hawk proof pen with him already inside.
I think he is living under the doghouse.
I don't want to lift it because I have it dug in level with the substrate and the area has nice established grass and plants.
Tonight I'm gonna bait an area with dog food and try to nab him when I take my dog out in the early hours.
Wish me luck.

 

[newCH]

View attachment 120544
Ugly things. My husband caught this one in the yard last year. I havent seen any this year. Someone I know swears that putting used coffee grinds bordering their yard helps keep them away. I havent tried that. My beagle used to want to mess with them. Besides the poison they they exude, they also play dead. They can get really big and we occasionally find them sitting under bushes & scrubs. When a dog touches it & the release the poison your supposed to rinse the the dogs mouth facing downward. I was never sucessful at that.

That toad lived to see another day. My husband threw him over the fence towards the canal. My back fence has 1/2 x 1/2 inch wire along the bottom foot, so they cannot return. I figure when they are in the yard they came from the neighbors yards since the sides are protected that way. I originally put the wire along the fence because I found a really big snake sunning himself in our yard & I had heard that they slither along side until there is an opening. Hoping they pass our yard.

 

[ascott]

I've been getting big BUFO toads in my tortoise pen. They scare the Hell out of my wife.
They are huge, bumpy and rubbery.
I don't want to harm them. Just keep them out. Apparently they can squeeze into cracks because by the time I get home from work they've vanished.
Any tips?

http://www.canetoadsinoz.com/biodiversity-impact-of-cane-toads.html

Worth reading the entire piece of information....I love toads and especially the big guys....love to hear their calls too...

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/pestsweeds/canetoad.mp3

 

[WithLisa]

She says he is bigger than an orange and has been soaking in one of my pools.

I don't know how big your oranges are, but females of bufo terrestris can also become quite big, so please be careful not to harm it before you even know what species it is.

My back fence has 1/2 x 1/2 inch wire along the bottom foot, so they cannot return.

Can't they climb over it? I have never seen a Cane toad, but I know it's hard to build amphibian protection fences for smaller bufo species since they can climb so well. Last year I even had to rescue a toad from my neighbours roof...