They are legal to keep in most states. It becomes a big problem when a person extracts the toad venom and engage in an activity known as "toad licking" (in reality, you dry out the venom and smoke it). A Kansas City man was arrested for using the illegal venom.The common venom found in Colorado river toads is Bufotenin, also found in most species of toad, is a controlled substance by the federal government and illegal to possess, buy or sell. The Colorado river toads also has 5-MEO-DMT, a powerful hallucinogen that is also illegal to possess in some states. Although, you can legally keep the toads, just make sure your intentions cannot be questioned Yes, I do have a Colorado river toad myself.