About cane toads and their control

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Description

Cane toads originate from South America and were introduced to Queensland and northern NSW to control beetle pest in sugar cane. They have since spread across Queensland, the Northern Territory and parts of Western Australia and NSW.

Cane toads are very distinctive:

with dry warty skin and large heavily built bodies
with a bony head and bony ridges over the eyes that meet above the nose
they sit upright and move in short rapid hops
with have large swellings (parotoid glands) on each shoulder behind the eardrum
they can be grey, yellowish, olive-brown or reddish-brown in colour with bellies that are pale with dark mottling
with an average adult size of 10-15 cm long, male cane toads are smaller and wartier than females
during the mating season the males develop dark lumps (nuptial pads) on their first two fingers helping them clink to the female while mating.

Fun fact: In Australia the largest cane toad found was 12 January 2023, in Queensland. Nicknames 'Toadzilla', the animal weighted 2.7 Kg and was the size of an average football.

Cane toad tadpoles:

are shiny black on top and have a plain dark belly
have a short thin tail
are less than 3.5 cm long which is smaller than most native tadpoles
often gather inn huge numbers in shallow water.

Cane toad spawn (eggs) is unique in Australia:

in that no other Australian frog or toad eggs looks like theirs
they are laid in long strings of transparent jelly enclosing double rows of black eggs
the spawn tangles in dense dark masses around water plants and hangs in ropy strands (like spaghetti) if picked up.

By Jemma Gillard for NSW DPIRD

Behaviour

Adult cane toads are active at night during the warm months of the year. During the day and in cold or dry weather they shelter in moist crevices and hollows, sometimes excavating depressions beneath logs, rocks and debris. They can survive the loss of up to 50% of their body fluid and can survive temperatures ranging from 5ºC - 40ºC.

Diet

Adult cane toads eat almost anything they can swallow including:

pet food, carrion and household scraps
beetles, honey bees, ants winged termites, crickets and bugs which are eaten in abundance.

Tadpoles eat:

algae and other aquatic plants which they rasp off with five rows of tiny peg-like teeth
filter organic matter from water, and large tadpoles sometimes eat cane toad eggs.

Breeding

Only male cane toads call during the breeding season making a long loud purring trill. Males start calling during suitable weather conditions from about September, and peak in January/February, and may finish around March. They congregate and start calling after dark around shallow water. Only a small pool of water of almost any nature including still (puddles) or slow-moving water and salinity levels up to 15% is utilised. Tadpoles are the healthiest if the water temperature is generally between 25-30ºC.

Cane toads are prolific breeders:

the females can lay 8 -35,000 thousand eggs annually (althought not all survive to be adult toads)
eggs hatch within 24-72 hours
the tadpole stage may last 3-20 weeks, depending on food supply
after gradual metamorphosis toadlets are 1 – 1.5 cm in length leaving the water to congregate in large numbers.

Control

Control can occur at any time of the year and at all stages of their lifecycle from eggs to tadpoles, juveniles and adults.

Manual collection

Collection of juveniles and adults usually occurs at night when the weather is warmer, and the cane toads are active. Eggs and tadpoles are best caught during the day when they can be easily found and identified. Look for them:

around buildings where there is moisture from sprinklers, leaky taps and air conditioners
under lights including security, solar garden lights or floodlights which attract insects
water bodies of all sizes especially those with sloping banks and little vegetation and sometimes puddles on or near roads/tracks and trails
open corridors like roads, foot paths, bike tracks, wallaby or cattle tracks, fence lines and fire trails
in grazing areas, they can be found sitting on manure piles or feeding on dung beetles.

During the day look for them where they may hide under pots, in drainpipes, in leaf litter and other dense vegetation, under fallen trees/branches or other materials on the ground like cardboard on the ground. They will hide wherever they can find a protected cool space.

When collecting cane toads stay safe, possible hazards include:

poor visibility at night could leading to tripping or falling on uneven surfaces, bumping into vegetation, other obstacles and branches
becoming disoriented in the dark
when working near water bodies, slipping into the water or falling in the water and snagging on unseen obstacles in the water
bites from snakes, spiders, ticks and other insects
traffic if collecting near roads.

Recommended equipment includes:

head touch or spotlight
protective eye wear
container with secure lid (to put captured toads in)
gloves
long sleeve shirt and long pants
tongs, net, scoop for collecting the toad i.e., suitable for eggs, tadpoles, adults
phone or other device for recording taking photos for reporting

Always stay safe by:

working in pairs or groups
telling someone where you’re going
seeking permission from the landholder if collecting on someone else’s land.

More detailed information can be found in The Cane Toad Handbook

Remember all suspected animals should be correctly identified as cane toads prior to humane euthanasia.

Cane toad euthanasia

Before conducting cane toad control carefully consider the methods of euthanasia. The animal’s welfare should be managed at an early stage and suitable products and/or equipment is available at this time.

Methods of euthanasia

There are various methods available for the euthanasia of cane toads, using registered products. Another simple and effective method is to place a toad in a suitable container and hold it in a refrigerator (at 4°C) for 8-12 hours (i.e., usually overnight) and then transfer the container to a freezer (at -20°C) and hold for a further 24 hours as a minimum.

When using this method, it is important that there is sufficient cool air around each individual toad to allow for uniform cooling and freezing. It is not recommended that large numbers of toads are placed in a bag together as it will take much longer for those in the centre of the bag to be cooled. As such, it is recommended that toads are placed in containers and stacked to allow appropriate circulation of air and consistent cooling.

Where it is not possible to refrigerate toads before freezing, or where toads are likely to be captive for some time before they can be placed in a fridge/freezer, they should be placed into a bucket (or similar container with lid). These animals can then later be placed into a freezer to ensure death and/or if specimens need to be kept for further analysis.

Dead toads must not be left in the field, they need to be carefully disposed of to ensure they do not pose a risk to domestic animals or native fauna that are susceptible to cane toad toxin.