The first is the cane toad. These toads secrete a toxin through their skin that can kill dogs. Luckily, neither Gypsy, nor Tucker, find any fascination in investigating any toads or frogs they happen upon. Many times, after rain storms, we come upon a variety of toads and frogs on the road. They are totally ignored by my dogs. Unlike this snail, who gets a thorough going-over by the guys!
The other invader is the Cuban tree frog. We recently became aware of their existence from an article in the newspaper. This guy is a bad dude! He eats indigenous tree frogs and lizards.
We have lived with tree frogs for years. First, in SC (34 years) and now here. I kinda like the guys, except when they jump on me. Their icky-sticky feet, and the cold, clammy feel, are kinda creepy! I have discovered one who lives in the doggie poop bag dispenser down the road from us. Twice, I stood in front of the dispenser to get a bag, only to have him/her jump on me! Yikes! Yeech! I now stand to one side, wiggle the bag a bit to give him a chance to move to the side, before extracting a bag san frog!!
We moved a free-standing umbrella from our lot at the RV resort to the "cage" around our pool. When we opened the umbrella, three tree frogs jumped out. I caught two, and threw them outside where they would have more luck catching bugs. Number three eluded capture. We didn't see him/her for quite some time. Then, one day, I noticed the frog hunkered down in a channel in the frame of our sliding door. Ah hah! Now the smudges on our sliding door made sense! Those were his footprints where he foraged on bugs attracted to the lights inside our home! He became my pal. I began to watch for him, and enjoyed it when he stopped by every few days.
However, after reading a newspaper article about the invasive Cuban tree frogs we became suspicious. Our pal seemed to fit the description they provided. In part because he was the largest tree frog we had ever seen; he was easily 2 1/2" in length, and because of his coloration; he was almost white! Of course, after reading the article he disappeared from his hiding spot in the channel of the sliding door frame. He heard us talking about his fate. But, I had become used to his comings and goings, and was confident he would return.
This is a picture of the Cuban tree frog from the University of Florida. Yup. This was our pal. They are large; usually over 2" in length. Check. They have small bumps on their back. Check. They have large toe pads. Check.
The University requests that Cuban tree frogs be humanely euthanized and disposed of. I really don't care to see animals die, especially a healthy animal. However, the information made it clear that these cute little guys, if left to their own devices, will destroy the native species and expand their territory. Our little guy was dispatched. He was sprayed with benzocaine spray and within moments he succumbed. His information, size, sex (undetermined), picture and location of capture will be sent to the citizen frog project at the University.
My comment disappeared! I said he was cute little frog and too bad he ended up in the wrong place. So many critters invade FL, I guess word has spread it is a good place to live. The picture of your dogs is priceless!
ReplyDeleteBlogger can be so annoying! I have had terrible problems leaving comments. The frog was darling... so sad.
DeleteSad but for the sake of other frogs it must be dealt with. Cute photo of the chief inspectors:)
ReplyDeleteYes. I so hated to doing it, but he really went quickly. Since then, I have had the occasion to teach a few others about the frogs. One of my FB friends put a picture of a frog he found in the midst of dining on a lizard. That's exactly what the problem with these little fellows is! I could tell, from his picture, it was a Cuban tree frog, and shared the Univ of FL fact sheet with him and his readers. I hope it helps.
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