The average weight of the cane toad is one pound. Female cane toads are significantly longer than the males and can grow up to 4-9 inches. 

Their skin is dry and warty, and comes in colors of gray, brown, yellow, and reddish with different patterns.

A characteristic of the cane toad is the distinct ridges that start above their eyes and goes down to the nose.

It is hard to estimate the population of cane toads in their native range, but in countries where they have been introduced, the global population is likely in the millions. It is estimated in Australia that there are 200 million cane toads!

Cane toad’s natural range extends from South America through Central America into Southern Texas.

They have been introduced to southern Florida, Puerto Rico, New Guinea, Jamaica, Cuba, Fiji, Australia, and Hawaii, among several other Pacific Islands.

Cane toads prefer open tropical grasslands and some woodlands for cover. They are also found in and around human settlements.

Cane toads will eat anything they can overpower and fit into their mouth including each other! When they are young, small insects and spiders are the normal fair. But when they grow into adulthood, they regularly eat rodents, snakes, frogs, lizards, and have even been seen eating bats.

Perhaps their most peculiar habit is the fact they will also scavenge. This is rarely seen among any other species of frog or toad. They will use their sense of smell to locate and feed on roadkill or even cat or dog food left outside.

In their native range, cane toads will mate throughout the year. In other areas where it is drier, they will mate in synchronization with the wet season.

Male cane toads are smaller than females and are usually a more yellow coloration. They will hang around ponds and bodies of water calling for females. Once they find one, the two engage in amplexus where the male will ride on top of the female and he will fertilize her eggs as she lays them.

She can lay anywhere from 8,000 to 30,000 eggs. In hotter climates, they will hatch within 48 hours and the tadpoles will form schools together. Even at this stage, the tadpoles are toxic, so they have little fear of predators.

In about a month, the tadpoles become toadlets, and the cane toads will emerge from the water. They will grow rapidly until they reach sexual maturity.

Because of their voracious appetite, they have been used as a biological control agent for the sugarcane industry. Many major growers of sugarcane had problems with native insects eating their crops. As early as the 1840’s, cane toads were introduced to a number of Caribbean islands to reduce rat populations. They did not succeed.

However, in the 1930’s, they were introduced to Puerto Rico to control a beetle infestation. On the surface it seemed to work. At that time, the cane toads became popular as a viable biological control method for insects ravaging sugarcane crops. It was then they were introduced to Florida, Australia, Fiji, the Philippines, and more.

They were unsuccessful at controlling insect infestations, but were very good at reproducing, especially in Australia where there are few predators that will consume cane toads. This, combined with a small human population, made conditions perfect for a toad invasion. There are many plans to control them since they have caused considerable damage to native predators that try to eat them, including freshwater crocodiles, a small carnivorous marsupial related to the tasmanian devil called the spotted quoll, and many large lizard species.

The cane toads at the leading edge of the invasion have developed longer legs and can hop over large distances. Scientists discovered these toads move so much, that they develop osteoarthritis as seen in some marathon runners!