Cane toad.....

Hi guys does anyone here keep these?
I think I might have the toad bug now.... cant stop looking up care sheets, cage sizes etc., etc..
Could one live in a 24x12x12 fish tank?
One of the reasons I'm interested in this species is because they only need feeding three times a week, are large and hardy and I've heard they can be trained....
I don't have the tank yet but im getting a new room soon and there's built in alcoves that size so I was hoping the tank could fit into one of them..
Also I was in chat a good while ago and someone (you know who you are) said they almost rehomed done the other day..... could you Pm me details about that?

thanks
Dan

I've kept Cane Toads in the past. Most in the pet trade are wild caught and so are fully grown when you see them for sale. There is a risk that they carry parasites, will have been heavily stressed during transport and so do not feed well (if at all).....and most I've kept and seen would rather be 100 paces from their keeper. Despite being a very tough, hardy and robust toad in the wild (they are one of very few amphibians that can tolerate seawater, hence their scientific name Bufo marinus) - the chances are they will not live for long in captivity, none I kept ever lived very long. This is why getting wild caught animals is a seriously bad idea.

Cane toads are clever toads with exceptionally good eyesight, and studies have shown that they can come to identify their owner - i.e. the person who tends and feeds them most - by sight.

They will also quickly learn our routines and develop behavioural patterns around these.....but they cannot be 'trained' as such. If you always approach the viv and then offer food, in time they will soon learn that you approaching the viv means food and become active / excited before any food is offerred. Many other amphibians and reptiles develop these same responses e.g. Tiger salamanders.

A 24x12x12 glass viv would be OK for a Cane Toad,a 3ft wide viv would be better though as they can be quite active especially at dawn and dusk. Make sure the viv has a well-ventilated and securely-fitting lid (these guys can really leap when they need to), suitable temperature gradient and plenty of hiding places so it can settle into its new surroundings in peace. If you do get one, I'd leave it more or less alone for the first few weeks until it settles in and is feeding well. Otherwise, being clever animals, they will associate you with stress and everytime you go to feed / interact with it, it will try to get away from you.

Getting a wild caught Cane toad to accept and trust you is a little like getting a new puppy to do the same......time and patience, a gentle approach, and a little bit of luck, are required.

One last thing worth mentioning about toads in general is......hygiene is of utmost importance. Never handle a toad (or any amphibian, but especially toads) and then touch your eyes / mouth / lips......they secrete a toxin which at least can make your eyes / mouth go numb temporarily.....and at most could leave you temporarily blind. If you have any cuts or scratches on your hands, don't handle them at all. With cane toads, because they tend to be very flighty when handled, I wouldn't advise handling them at all.

Great post Karl...

Hi Karl how often did you feed yours? I know that froglets need daily feeding..
Also the main reason I was looking at these was because i had heard
that the adults need feeding about three times a week but they do seem a little bit specialist..... Did yours every spray the toxin?
Also this might be obvious but how do you clean out their viv if you cant handle them?

thanks
Dan

I fed mine 2-3 times per week, depending on what food was on offer. They'll eat pretty much anything but small prey such as crickets and mealworms are almost lost on them.

When a toad is annoyed it won't spray the toxin, they will secrete it in varying amounts from the skin / large glands behind the eyes. They can secrete a little without it being evident, hence why I mentioned it being best to not handle them if at all possible. Obviously there may be a few times when handling is necessary e.g. to give a good check-over but generally its best avoided. Mine did secrete on occasion and I learned first-hand to leave them be and only handle when really necessary.

There are NO hard and fast rules for feeding any animal....I use the rule that if food I provide is eaten, I provide the same amount again; if any is left after a short while then I reduce the amount offered next time. In other words, I watch and observe and let the animal tell me how it needs to be fed.
Each animal is different and so initially there will be some trial and error in learning how much to feed. I certainly wouldn't get an animal just because of how frequently it gets fed LOL.....if yours was a little stressed and underweight (as most are) but settled in well and had some growing to do, it might need fed everyday for a while until it got back up to a good body weight (and its very important to know what a 'healthy' amphibian looks like as obese amphibians have very short lives). If it arrived heavily stressed then it might not feed for a good while until is has settled in and has peace and quiet on a regular basis.

Most Cane toads I have kept arrived underweight and stressed, and took quite a while to settle into their new homes before starting to feed and become active during the daytime. It took several months for them to tolerate me putting food in, topping up their water basin etc.

When cleaning out the viv I would wait until my Cane toads were in there hide, which as it had a floor in it could be lifted out and put into a tub temporarily (with toad inside) so no handling or stress resulted.

Hi Karl I didn't mean to say I was only getting it because you didn't need to feed often its just that I've been thinking about frogs/toads for a good while now and I was thinking that a cane toad would be very easy to keep since it is an invasive species and very hardy..... I suppose that they are for slightly more experienced keepers especially since most are wild caught and as you mentioned wild caught specimens generally have very short life spans.
Could you advise any other species? I suppose that I shouldn't really get a cane toad as a first amphibian lol

Hi Dan
You could always consider a pacmans frog, they are great feeders but need to be restricted somewhat or they will just continuously eat. There has been quite abit of interest on this forum in them and there are quite a few postings so have a look at them. The other alternative are white's tree frogs which again are great feeders and relatively hardy.
Cheers
John

yeah I was thinking of them..... which got me thinking about breeding them (I don't mean that I want to breed them) ill make another post about that later...
They do seem like a great frog and sorta low maintenance.... sounds good!