Kermit the cane toad
Posted by Sean Ryan September 08, 2004

This is a cane toad, also known as a marine toad. The cane toad is infamous in Australia because it is one of the many species in Australia that was introduced to solve a problem, and ended up becoming a larger problem. In Australia the cane toad population grew out of control, so they tried to kill it by shooting it, but it would later expel the bullet from it's body. They tried to freeze it, and found that they had to freeze them for more than four hours. They even tried to run them over with cars, but found that it if they missed it's mouth it would spit out its internal organs, and slowly suck them back in. Fortunatly the cane toad is not a problem in Costa Rica. The only problem it creates is the death of a local dog every now and then. This is because the cane toad secretes a poison through it's skin that is very toxic (and the dog tries to eat them). So don't pick one up unless you can wash your hands, or better yet, you probably shouldn't pick them up at all. We found this guy in one of our bathrooms at Cabo Blanco. The toad like many other species takes refuge from the heat in the cool bathroom. Not to mention the ever so precious water that they also find.