ORLANDO SENTINEL (Florida) 07 April 07 Toxic toads, our pet nibbler share history (Ramsey Campbell)

It all started with Toadzilla, the amazing two-pound cane toad caught in Australia recently.

Then I noticed a report showing poisonous cane toads were becoming an increasing threat to Australia's wildlife, spreading far faster across the continent than anticipated.

I remembered Florida harbored toxic cane toads as well. They have been around South Florida and the Tampa-St. Petersburg area since the 1950s.

So I did some research.

Cane toads were introduced to both Australia and Florida to battle insects attacking sugar cane.

They weren't successful in controlling the sugar cane pests, but the toads managed to thrive on their own.

In Australia, where they were introduced in 1935, they quickly became a serious threat to wildlife. The cane toad is the only kind in Australia, and other wildlife there have not learned to be wary of them.

Virtually all toads produce toxins to keep away predators, but the cane toad is particularly deadly. In Australia, the cane toad has killed dogs and cats, snakes, birds and even crocodiles that try to eat them.

A cane toad packs enough poison to kill a 150-pound animal in an hour or less.

The impact in Florida, however, has not been as dramatic.

Florida has several other kinds of native toads -- including the Southern toad, which is a smaller version of the cane toad and is often confused with its more toxic cousin.

A singular feature of the cane toad, however, normally makes it easy to recognize. While all other toads feed on live prey exclusively, the cane toad likes to nibble on pet food.

"It's absolutely unique in that," said David Skelly, a Yale University professor who was an author of the Australian toad study.

Skelly's finding freaked me out because my wife "adopted" a big toad that lives in our backyard and eats out of our cat's food dish.

It hops into our back porch and settles in the cat dish once or twice a week.

The cat ignores it and I hadn't given it any thought before.

It turns out no one has been really monitoring the spread of Florida's cane toads.

In the 1990s, they had spread as far north as Citrus and Highlands counties, but reports since then have pretty much stopped.

"We just haven't received any reports," said Kevin Enge, an invasive-species expert with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

But he said he wouldn't be surprised if they now ranged as far north as the Orlando area. Cold weather theoretically limits their range, but there hasn't been a significant freeze in Central Florida for years.

There was a suggestion I capture the toad and put it in the freezer -- the preferred way to euthanize cane toads -- for later scientific study.

My wife promptly nixed that idea.

I submitted digital photos of the creature instead and the verdict of the experts was unanimous.

To everyone's surprise, it turned out to be a common, although bigger than normal, Southern toad.

"I guess your toad does not talk to scientists much," said Steve Johnson, an assistant professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Florida's Plant City campus.

"So it does not realize it should not be eating the cat's food."

Now I'm going to have to double up on my cat food to keep our one-of-a-kind Southern toad happy.

But dog and cat owners might be wise to keep an eye out for big, hungry toads -- the next one sniffing around the pet food bowl might not be so harmless.
Toxic toads, our pet nibbler share history

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