Emmett has this fun book called Who pooped in the Sonoran desert?. It details many common forms of wildlife (and their scat) commonly found in the Sonoran desert. The authors omitted the wildlife we see the most often, the Colorado River Toad. We live close to the Santa Cruz River and at night the toads like to sit under our porch light and eat the bugs.
Unfortunately, it makes opening the garage door hazardous at night. This morning, Emmett and I caught this guy in the garage after what must have been a hungry night for him. We didn't know if he would survive the heat of the day so we built him a little burrow to spend the day in.
For those who love to learn random facts:
The Colorado River Toad is venomous (the orange spots on his back are poison glands). Full-grown dogs have been killed by attacking Colorado River Toads. When smoked, not ingested, the venom is a powerful hallucinogen. There is even a "church" dedicated to the recreational smoking of the venom called The Church of the Toad of Light. Someone else will have catch this toad to milk because we let him go after sundown.
4 comments:
I am so glad that the toad is gone!
Yikes! That most have been fun, do you guys keep track of how many toads you see?
Very fun, thanks for sharing.
Toads?! A church that worships toads?! I am glad that you let it go and were not poisoned. Maybe you should stick to eating "Natasha"'s cooking(most of the time) if you want poison.
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