Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Hello, and thank you for listening. This is Ben with Ben’s pest control. It’s time for another one of our Ben’s pest control podcasts. And today we’re gonna do an episode on the Bufo toad. Now, if you’ve lived in Florida and you have dogs, you know, the Bufo Toad is bad little dude. They will mess your dog up, and possibly the dog can even die if they get this Toad into their mouth. So what I wanted to do is just kind of give you a little information. What you may not realize is the Bufo Toad is actually in the family of cane toads. And, in the cane toads, you’re you’re gonna get three species. Bufo giant and marine Toad are the main three species. So there’s actually cane toads that are native to Florida, and they are not dangerous to your pets. But the Bufo Toad is very dangerous. One of the things that I would say is that most of the cane toads are native to North parts of South America and Central America into Mexico. And they can be found now they’ve made their way all the way through Florida. And in case you’re wondering, there is a website out there that allows you to track where they’ve been reported the Bufo toads in Florida. And the map is kind of interesting, the website. It’s, it can be found through fwc.com. If you search cane toads and FWC there’s a link there to the map. I’m just glancing over the map right now. And I can tell you that the Miami area has had 309 reported incidents of the totes of the Port St. Lucie area, it looks like we’re at about 50 Boca Raton area 197 It kind of depends on how you zoom the map in and out. The north, the St. Petersburg, Tampa 140 over by Cape Coral and Naples 266. So they’re definitely here. They’re around. You can check out this map if you want to. It shows different functions of where they were just observed whether or not they were found dead or if they were captured. So there there’s a lot of information but it’s important. For those of you those of us who have pets, I know I have a dog and this is like one of those things where it can be life or death if the dogs get them in their mouth so they contain something called Bufo toxin that can harm or kill native animals that try to consume them. cane toads are also potentially compete with native frogs and toads for food and breeding areas. It talks about just so you know if you ever see one, well let’s go back here. The Bufo toad has a skin gland secretion, called buffo toxin that are highly toxic and can sneak in or even kill animals that bite or feed on them, including native animals domestic pets, the sin skin secretion may irritate the skin or burn the eyes of people who handle them. Cane Toad Eggs also contain the Bufo toxin and can harm or kill native animals that consume the eggs. Cane Toads can also potentially compete with native Oh, I already said that. Sorry. So one of the things you need to know is if you’re trying to handle the toad, it says to safely remove cane toads wear eye and skin protection. wear latex rubber nitrile gloves if handling. Captured cane toads may not be relocated and released. Homeowners that need assistance removing cane toads from their property can hire a wildlife trapper. It is also important to make sure that you have proper identification. The animal has a cane toad and not a native southern Toad, which is actually beneficial as part of the Florida ecosystem. So part of the reason I decided to do this podcast is we just found out that there are Bufo Toad, or I guess cane toad traps that people can get, we can put them on people’s properties. The cane toads are able to be captured, killed and removed. And that way hopefully it protects your your dogs from the potential hazard of the totes. So if you think that’s something you might be interested in, please ch give us a call at 772-878-1972
Thank you and have a great day
