cadwallader
Very Well-Known Member
wow thats amazing i guess their population has increased since they have been introduced has gone up with the food source??? thats so cool i would like to keep some colubrids soon
I know a keeper here in QLD who has been feeding their captive Keelbacks solely on Cane Toads for a couple of years now. I was surprised too.
I know a keeper here in QLD who has been feeding their captive Keelbacks solely on Cane Toads for a couple of years now. I was surprised too.
I know a keeper here in QLD who has been feeding their captive Keelbacks solely on Cane Toads for a couple of years now. I was surprised too.
I guess that keelbacks must be slowly adapting to be able cope with Toad toxins. Given that the toads are such a plentiful food source up north it would be an advantage to be able to eat them. I woukld imagine that the tolerance must be increasing with each new generation.
The toad's poison is deadly to all Australian predators
But some native frog-eating species are perfectly capable of eating toads. For example, keelback snakes can eat all the toads they like without dying.
This paper is an interesting read for anyone interested:
Phillips, B. and Shine, R. (2004) Adapting to invasive species: toxic cane toads induce morphological change in Australian snakes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 101(49): 17150-17155.
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