Cane Toads

[Fatsofatsoman]

I have a real concern for my boy when we leave him out if we go out of a night - I have caught him on a couple of occasions trying to mouth/eat a toad - I usually escort him for all his night time toilet breaks but I'm worried that if I'm not there to stop him we're going to have a tragedy.

Do any of you guys have any solutions/tricks to minimise toads getting in to your dogs runs/areas. It's getting to the stage where we will probably leave him inside or on our back deck of a night if we aren't there.

Cheers,

Dan

[ShesaLikeableBiBear]

Unfortunately there does not appear to be a sure way to get rid of Cane toads, although we have had fewer in our house yard in the last two years than we had when we first moved here.

We do not leave our dogs outside after it gets dark, and I do a cane patrol every morning before letting our dogs out.

[Crazy Daisy]

I have put very fine chicken wire around the bottom of my dog run and make sure I check it before putting the dogs to bed. We had a few baby snakes recently and was told sulphur keeps them away. I am going to try this and see if it also keep the toads away.

Hopefully they won't be around for much longer as it's getting colder.

[mish13]

You can buy a spray that kills them at Bunnings, its not cheap around $18 a can. We go out every night and do a cane toad patrol and we now struggle to find any. I think OH has killed them all and disposed of the bodies. My dogs sleep inside but they can get outside to the toilet so it is a worry here in Qld.

[supercharged]

Unfortunately there does not appear to be a sure way to get rid of Cane toads, although we have had fewer in our house yard in the last two years than we had when we first moved here.

We do not leave our dogs outside after it gets dark, and I do a cane patrol every morning before letting our dogs out.

x 2

not worth the risk in my opinion

[Scarlett Dog]

I worry about the same thing. On the rare occurrence my girl has gone out at night to go to the toilet I have spotted a new toads at the bottom at the garden. We have section of a park of our yard that is a bit drier than other areas and use that as our dog run. She sleeps inside in her crate at night- it makes me feel better too! I do a check before I let her out and she isn't generally out in the yard unaccompanied.

[Monah]

My dogs are never outside anyway and if we are out there together they leave toads as I have taught them 'leave'. I catch, fridge and freeze any I find. on our 2 acres when we first moved here 9 years ago I could easily get 60 a night, now i'm lucky if it's 3. often none.

I would not ever risk a dog catching one , try and make other arrangements, ie. indoors somewhere.xxx

snakes would also be a worry, they do hunt at night as well as day and I've known dogs who are in runs to be unable to retreat from incoming snakes.

[Fatsofatsoman]

Cheers guys - I think we are going to have to find other arrangments inside of a night time (he is in at night when we are at home).

He is always supervised for toilet trips of a night time so will have to continue that.

The weather and my 'rehoming' has seemed to diminish the population for now - until the rain and heat again next year.

[GeckoTree]

The best thing to do imo is to 'stock proof' the dog from toads, same sort of training as with stock proofing for chickens etc.

The buggers can get into the most secure yards imaginable, it's like they can teleport themselves anywhere lol, I found one in the door well of my car the other week where the door hinge is, stuffed if I know how it got their .

[FranVT]

I supervise all Luuka's outside toily trips too, and when I've seen her notice/go over to/sniff a toad I make my usual "UH UH!" sound very very loudly and crankily and now when she notices them she looks away and at me instead. But I still don't let her out without me at night (or at all, considering we're unfenced).

[fuzzy82]

I have heard that if you remove cane toads, it will be a while before another takes its place, as they are territorial. Don't know if this is true though.

I catch any cane toad I see and put it in the fridge for 12-24 hours, then put it in the freezer for another 12 hours.

[Monah]

I supervise all Luuka's outside toily trips too, and when I've seen her notice/go over to/sniff a toad I make my usual "UH UH!" sound very very loudly and crankily and now when she notices them she looks away and at me instead. But I still don't let her out without me at night (or at all, considering we're unfenced).

Glad someone else is as neurotic as me.. xxxxxxx

Toads a very very social, so I dont think territorial at all. If you are removing them though, you will notice a decline in numbers.

Edited April 6, 2011 by Monah