Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My cane toad appears to be female, but occasionally she squeaks, and I keep reading that females are completely mute. Is that true, or do they just not do the mating call? I'm assuming the "mute" thing was just faulty oversimplified information, but figured I'd ask around a bit.
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0.1 Coastal Carpet (Boots)
0.1 Western Hognose (Bebe)
0.1 Cane Toad (Hengo)
0.1 Solomon Islands Ground Skink (Minerva)

when does she squeak? I've always considered female toads to genuinely be mute (no chirping or mating calls) but I'm fairly certain most frogs and toads, male or female, have a distress call that you might hear for example when they are being swallowed by a snake.

The squeaks you mention, do they occur when you are holding the toad? A lot of times frogs and toads are not very good at distinguishing male from female so when they are breeding there needs to be a way to prevent an understandable mistake. In most cases, the male has a release call that will be sounded if another male grabs onto him from behind. The call (a series of vibrations and chirps in American Toads) is to inform the other male that he's made a mistake. This can be simulated when you grab onto a toad applying pressure to the sides or behind the arms. If that's when you hear the squeaks then I'd say it's probably a male.

It's not necessarily in response to physical contact. I rarely handle him/her for cagecleaning and medication, but on the origial trip home I heard several minutes of agitated peeping, much like a baby bird, and ever since I gave the first dose of Panacur (nematode issues) I've often heard a few similar peeps when I'm in the same room as the cage at night, which I guess is suppposed to be "toads only" time. So I'd say it's a stress thing, but not a physical contact-based thing.
What's the deal with males sometimes becoming females? When that happens, I assume the vocal cords would remain functional, even if not actually used anynmore the same way. Are there are any telltale features that don't change to look for? The toes, size, build, and throat all indicate female.
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0.1 Coastal Carpet (Boots)
0.1 Western Hognose (Bebe)
0.1 Cane Toad (Hengo)
0.1 Solomon Islands Ground Skink (Minerva)