Cane toad

• Large, heavily built toad with body up to 20cm long.
• Visor or awning extends over each eye; high, angular, bony ridge extends from eyes to nose.
• Upper skin is brown, olive-brown or reddish-brown, with warts (males have more warts than females).
• Skin underneath varies from white to yellow, usually mottled.

• Survives in many habitats, but commonly found in tropical and subtropical lowlands close to freshwater breeding areas.
• Also found in urban and urban fringe areas, tropical savannas, grasslands, disturbed forests, forest edges, forests with limited understorey and agricultural areas.

• Established throughout Queensland.

• Lives at least 5 years in wild, up to 15 years in captivity.
• Mates at any time of year depending on available food and permanent water.
• Lays eggs in long, gelatinous 'strings', with developing tadpoles a row of small black dots.
• Single clutch can contain up to 35,000 eggs.
• Under ideal conditions, toadlets may reach adult size within a year.

Environmental

• Consumes wide variety of insects, frogs, small reptiles, mammals and even birds.
• Produces toxic venom from skin glands. Native predators that die after eating, or attempting to eat, cane toads include goannas, freshwater crocodiles, tiger snakes, red-bellied black snakes, death adders and quolls. A total of 75 species of Australian lizards, crocodiles and freshwater turtles are threatened by cane toads, with 16 classed as 'threatened species' at federal or state levels.
• Research in South East Queensland on rainbow bee-eater birds found that cane toad predation caused 33% of nests to fail.
• Native frog tadpoles can die if they consume cane toad eggs. Cane toad tadpoles can also reduce growth rates of native tadpoles under certain conditions.
• When an area is first invaded by cane toads, naturally high levels of invertebrates appear to support large toad numbers. As food items are exhausted, toad levels appear to decline. Decline in invertebrate prey that follows toad invasion probably affects other insectivorous predators and may interrupt ecological processes, at least temporarily.

Social

• Can harm domestic animals if eaten.
• Can transmit diseases such as salmonella to humans.

• Wolf spiders, freshwater crayfish, estuarine crocodiles, crows, white-faced herons, kites, bush stone-curlews, tawny frogmouths, water rats, giant white-tailed rats, keelback snakes.

• Remove eggs from frog ponds.
• Kill individual toads using commercial spray from hardware store.
• Experienced operators may stun and decapitate toads.
• Construct fences (at least 50cm high) to protect native fish and frog ponds.
• In semi-arid areas, block access to waterholes.
• Researchers have successfully mitigated impacts in recently colonised areas by 'training' predators; however, applying this technique at a large scale is difficult.

Read the cane toad fact sheet (PDF, 3.6MB) for more information.

• The cane toad is not a prohibited or restricted invasive animal under the Biosecurity Act 2014. However, by law, everyone has a general biosecurity obligation (GBO) to take reasonable and practical steps to minimise the risks associated with invasive animals under their control.
• Local governments must have a biosecurity plan that covers invasive animals in their area. This plan may include actions to be taken on cane toads. Some of these actions may be required under local laws. Contact your local government agency for more information.