Hi, I'm Sarah and I work for North Coast Local Land Services in the Invasive Pest Team. My role is to assist landowners with managing feral animals on their properties and one particular animal that I always get reports about are cane toads.
Cane toads are incredibly adaptable and they've taken advantage of the conditions
that we experience here on the North Coast. Like with any pest animal species, it's incredibly important that as soon as you see the first signs of evidence of cane toads that you undertake control immediately before the problem becomes a much bigger problem. But to do that, you need to know what to look for.
So let me introduce you to the cane toad and the signs that you should be looking out for on your property. The cane toad invasion in Australia has been absolutely
catastrophic for our native wildlife, particularly for those that eat frogs and tadpoles, such as our goannas, our snakes, our turtles, other reptiles, some mammals and birds. When those animals ingest a cane toad, it can be fatal, which means that the populations of those native animals are decimated.
This can have devastating consequences for the entire native ecosystem because the native ecosystem is a delicate balance that involves all animals. And this is not the only way that cane toads can affect our native wildlife. They can also consume wildlife as well. Cane toads are voracious eaters and they will consume vast amounts of native and non-native beneficial insects. And that has flow-on effects for our horticultural and grazing industries. We've had reports from beekeepers who
have observed cane toads lining up at the front of their beehives waiting for their daily smorgasbord of bees. This reduces the function of the hive to be able to pollinate things such as our food crops.
Cane toad are prolific breeders. A female cane toad can lay up to 35,000 eggs at each breeding event and cane toads can have up to two breeding events a year if the conditions allow. So it's really important that we all work together and do our bit to stem the invasion of cane toads on the north coast. So here are some of the things that you should be looking out for on your property.
Often the first sign that cane toads have moved into the area is the absence of wildlife that you might have seen for decades or even generations. We often get reports from farmers who let us know that they no longer see particular animals in the landscape such as red-bellied black snakes or goannas. If you have dams
or wetlands on your property you might also notice dead turtles or turtle shells around the edges of the dams. Cane toads can also affect beloved members of our family including our cats and dogs and they can do this in two ways. Your cat and dog can bite the cane toad and ingest the toxin or cane toads need to hydrate
regularly and your pet's water bowl is a perfect place for a cane toad to hydrate. If the cane toad chooses a pet's water bowl to hydrate it can leave behind a toxin and when your pet drinks from that bowl it can become very sick. Though it's important that if you do notice cane toads on your property that you elevate your pet's water bowl out of reach of cane toads. You might also hear the call of the cane toad it sounds like a running motorbike.
If you're wandering around your property you might also see cane toads directly in their various life stages. Cane toad eggs are very different from our native frog eggs. Cane toad eggs are long jelly-like clear strings with black dots running down the middle. They typically sink in water bodies but sometimes they can get snagged on reeds and debris. Cane toad tadpoles are also very different from our native frog tadpoles. They are jet black and they often swim together in a behaviour known as shoaling. The juvenile stage of a cane toad is the hardest stage to identify because it can be easily confused with some of our native frogs. It is best that identification is undertaken by someone who is experienced in cane toad identification.
Adult cane toads have key features that you should be looking out for. On average they're about 15 centimetres in length and they have dry warty skin which appears dry even when they're sitting in a water source. They have a bony ridge above and between their eyes. Their front feet are unwebed and don't have the little round toe pads that you might see on many of our native frog species. They look like little hands. The back feet are half webbed but again no round toe pads. Cane toads have a large gland on each shoulder and this is where that toxic milky substance is released. To dispel an urban myth cane toads can't shoot or spray toxin. If you think that you found a juvenile or an adult cane toad the best thing that you can do is put on a pair of gloves, contain the animal in a well-ventilated container with a little bit of water, take photos and report.
There are a number of ways to report. You can go to the feral scan website, upload your photos and include the location details of where you found the animal or you can download the Feral Scan app and do exactly the same thing. Upload the photos and include the location details. Another option is to give us a call at North Coast Local Land Services. Remember we are here to help you and we have several control options available. The reports that you make are used to map the cane toad invasion across New South Wales.
The management of any pest animal species is best done over a large area in the landscape. So try and get your neighbours involved. The more properties that we
have under cane toad control the better chance we have of reducing cane toads in the area and the better the outcome for you, your property and our native wildlife.
