Marine Toad Temperment

[n321]

I used to have a Marine Toad that would hiss, secrete poison, squirm, and pee on me every time I tried to hold it. Are they all like this? I'm asking because I am thinking about getting another one.

[Poly]

Most toads do not like to be handled. This one sounds like it was extremely stressed.

[LazyEyedFroggie]

It was probably very scared and stressed as Poly said, also, Marine toads are not very easy to tame. If you really want one, I'd suggest to get one early in life, as either a tadpole or "toadlet". It will slowly adjust to infrequent handling, but it is not recommended to make any contact with it, anyways. If you must hold it for veterinary or feeding purposes etc, then wash your hands with mild soap and rinse them thoroughly before you touch it, as our skin oils can harm them, though unlikely. They aren't a pet for cuddling though

[n321]

Yeah, I know. But I had to take it out of it's cage for cleaning, etc. It wasn't just upset when I was handling it either. It would constantly ram into the walls of the tank and bruise its nose. And the cage was definitely large enough.

I think it was definitely stressed out. It was just a very wild toad. That probably led to its somewhat untimely demise (I had it for about 3 years). I want to know if this is common with Bufo marinus.

[LazyEyedFroggie]

I'd think it would be worse in wild caught adults, how old was it when you first got it? and yes it is fairly common in marine toads

[n321]

It was about 6 inches long, so it was fairly old.

[LazyEyedFroggie]

That could've been the main source of the problem. It had several months to even years roaming around freely. If you want one to be of a better temperament, it's best to start 'em out captive as very young toads, so they can get used to the closed in space as well as not miss anything major from wild living.

[Poly]

It was definatly old, a 6" toad would be pushing about 5-8 years old I'd imagine.

[n321]

Are any of them ever captive bred?

[Wormwood]

I don't think so, because they are so easy to aquire in the wild. Cane toads or Marine toads are generally more twitchy and flightly. I've never had a "tame" one before. Mine hardly can put up with me introducing bugs into their tank, they get freaked out and refuse to eat until I leave the room.

I've also never had them not pee on me once picked up. It's just a natural reaction to being handled.

[Squirp]

This news is a little disappointing to me, I had recently become interested in the idea of having a marine toad, partially because of their size, but mostly because I like the diesel engine sound the males will make. However, if they are that temperamental, I wouldn't like the idea of them being stressed out even if you aren't handling them or attending to their environment.

[Wormwood]

To be honest I was also a little dissapointed with the toads myself. All animals come with their own quirks though, as with dog breeds.. each one has it's own temperment and knowing them is half the battle.

[spencerburgo]

the normal cane toads are very timid and take a long time to tame down, but the larger surinam cane toads are of a calmer disposition, i have 6 surinams 2 wc adult females and four juveniles cb wich were brought back from ham in germany on the 15th of march this year, when they arived they were about 10mm they are now the size of normal canes, our wc adults fed instantly and within one week one of my adults took an earth worm from my hand they now feed from my hands and wait for my arival at feed times, my normal cane would just go back to her hide when ever i walked in the room and in nearly a year i never seen her feed once just her empty bowl in the morning,
if you can get them get the surinam cane toad they are far more tame than the normal ones,

cheers spencer...............

[Squirp]

If the opportunity ever presents itself, I'd still like to think I could give them a good home.
There has been chatter on here about acquiring Surinam cane's, maybe I'll lurk into that.

[Deku]

All toads are twitchy and flighty... but some do calm down. Though yours may have been in bad care... Mine was when I found her in a petstore that had her amongst with 10 other toads in a 10gallon tank, a strong uvb bulb overhead, a small water dish(with no water in it... it was bone dry), the substrate was bark chips and to top it off it was with along three fire skinks. It was in serious horrible conditions. I took her in and she started puking up white gunk. Then I took her to the vet turns out she had parasites out of the wazoo. After being treated she still didn't settle down.

My friend wanted to take her in for a couple of months to study her. She's interested in reptiles and amphibians and knows their care very well. Plus she lived right next door to me. So I agreed. Now I have her back in my care and she's still fine. She's calmer than she used to be. So they do calm down after a while. I would say though adult toads are supposed to be more tame and less flighty than juvi. Cane toads in general are all flighty and paranoid. Ever seen the cane toads in aussie? How they treat em? In the south of usa there are people w ho treat em like th at too. So who knows what it could have been gone through...

Btw. Cane toads grow super fast so a 5-6inch one could possibly be within the first 1-3years. They're known to get up to 8inches I believe and there are some that get even bigger. The ones from florida ussually just go up to 5-8inch. 8inch for a really really old adult. Cane toads can live a very long time mind you so don't worry.


But I would just if you get the toad--- leave the lights off for a couple of months. It's what worked on mine. Then after a while re-introduce light by one or three hours a day. This will get it used to it(feed during light hours if possible-- something they love would be roaches).

After a couple of weeks change the light to 5hours a day. Then keep going to the full 12hour cycle. After you get back to that 12hour cycle keep near the terrarium and do whatever near it. Like I keep mine right next to the computer screen. So it'll get used to you. Don't handle it yet. Then after a couple of months start trying to pick it up for a few seconds to a few minutes inside the tank. After you pick it up make sure to feed it so it catches on.

This may work or may not. It worked on mine... So really just speaking from experience and would say there's no science facts behind it. Guess it's un-orthodox but yeah give it a try. May work. May not. Toads vary from specimen to specimen. some may stop being shy some will just be super defensive to the point there is nothing you can do.