FAQ’S

Have you found a toad? Click here to find out if it is a WLT…… 

Male Western Leopard Toads are smaller than females and have darker throats. They also have a deeper, more gravelly call than the females, which are typically silent. Furthermore, males have a larger gland (known as the parotoid gland) behind their eyes than females. These glands secrete a milky white fluid containing bufotoxins, which are defensive chemicals. Click here to see the illustration 

Only the toads know!!  Maybe they sense the definite end of winter, so warmer temperatures will help the eggs to mature, and there’ll be more insects to eat?   If only humans knew in advance, traffic slowing measures could be arranged, and coordinators could make volunteer rosters in advance. 🙂 

• Like all toads, when scared WLTs produce a substance from the parotoid gland called a bufotoxin (bufo is the genus of toads). It tastes so horrid that most of their predators (such as herons, egrets, ducks, shrews, rats, lizards and snakes) drop the toad and learn quickly to avoid them. When vehicles are close or run over them on roads, the stress also produces the toxin.
• Humans are not in danger as we don’t eat toads! Volunteers who pick up injured toads with released toxin, simply rinse their hands (often on wet grass nearby) to avoid touching and irritating their own eyes and mouth.
• Touching the parotoid gland does not give humans warts if touched. This myth probably arose from ‘catching’ the lumpy skin of most toads as the raised glands and pores are often described as ‘warty’.  No virus, which gives human warts, is present.
• The majority of breeds of dogs and cats avoid toads, as toad skin is exceedingly unpleasant to the taste and most animals that once mouth, lick or even smell a toad, will avoid toads after that.
• If your dog has had a toad in its mouth, rinse it with water before visiting a vet.

• Identification – every toad’s unique colouring and pattern makes them individual to each other (and observers).
• Camouflage – toads are very difficult to see in their habitat.
• 3 types of Protection: – stops natural pathogens passing through; mucus gives lubrication when swimming and stops the skin from drying up when on land; and bufotoxin secreted from parotoid gland deters most predators.
• Helps in breathing – the upper layer of skin allows oxygen and carbon dioxide gases to pass through into and out of the blood vessels.
• Takes in water – especially through a small ‘drinking patch’ on their underside, which is why toads are can be seen in puddles (or dogs’ water bowls) during hot summer evenings.
• Breeding signals – small lumpy glands on their back secrete hormones during the breeding season. They are more noticeable in males, seen as black dots called ‘asperities’.
• Toad skin does not give humans warts if touched. This myth probably arose from ‘catching’ the lumpy skin of most toads as the raised glands and pores are often described as ‘warty’.  No virus, which gives human warts, is present.

Wash out your dog/cat’s mouth with water, ideally flush with a hosepipe, and contact your vet immediately. Take note of your dog/cat’s symptoms to relay to the vet.

The majority of breeds of dogs and cats avoid toads, as toad skin is exceedingly unpleasant to the taste and most animals that once mouth, lick or even smell a toad, will avoid toads after that.

https://www.friendsofthedog.co.za/toads-and-your-pets.html    

In a very wide variety of ‘water bodies’:

• permanent coastal lakes, vleis, man-made dams and garden ponds
• places that only occur after the winter rains, called ‘seasonal’ ponds and wetlands, such as in Tokai Park
• sluggish, meandering rivers that have stretches of relatively deep and still water.

In clean water that is not too acidic.

Preferably in deeper water that will not dry up before November (when the tadpoles leave as toadlets).  The ponds are usually about 0.5-1.0 m deep in places.

Ideally where there are patches of reeds or bulrushes (eg. Typha capensis) where the females can wind their strings of eggs.

Young females lay 1,500 tiny eggs, and the number increases every year.  One mature pair reportedly produced 24,476 eggs!  Not surprisingly, females going to the ponds carrying so many tiny eggs (called a gravid female) are large and round. Interestingly males are also ‘round and soft’ – because they need enough sperm to cover thousands of eggs. 

It looks like a straight, dead caterpillar but is a very large poo – about 3-5 cm long!!  After being dormant (aestivating) for weeks at a time, WLTs emerge and then …….   It’s hard to believe it can come from a toad – but it does. You can find a photo in page 2 of the Gallery.