Cane Toad Mystery???

[BROWNS]

A guy i know reckons he keeps finding dead cane toads that have had their insides eaten through the stomach.He says he finds them belly up with only the poison glands and skin left.He thinks it's what he calls bush rats which are actually bandicoots.I've never heard of anything like this before and have asked him to make sure he brings one around so i can get a pic.I told him we have no native animal that would do this but he swears it's the bush rats(bandicoots) :roll:

If this is the case what would be smart enough to flip a toad over, eat the innards through the stomach yet leave the poison glands :?:

 

[Greebo]

Feral cats perhaps?

 

[FrOnToSa_FrEaK]

Crows.
They have been known to eat them the way you described.

 

[Springherp]

magpies and currawongs as well i beleive. i was told that one bird figured it out and since then others have learned and followed. smart birds.

 

[Fuscus]

I've seen crows take live cane toads, but it would be far more exciting if rats or bandicoots are killing and eating CTs without ill effect. By and large CTs are safe from crows as CTs are nocturnal but if an animal that hunts at night .....

 

[Robert]

Most probably a bird smart little fella's.

 

[adullthud]

Saw Dingos on Frazer Is flip toads and eat thier legs and guts. Lots of Bird. Doubt bandicoots. Quolls would be absolutely fantastic as they were alsmost wiped out by cane toads.

 

[cwarren72]

What area is this we are talking about???

 

[BROWNS]

About 20 mins from Proserpine.My neighbour caught a quol not long ago so they are around.We get dingos here too.

 

[Tommo]

i heard a spieces of turtle has learnt to attack cane toads in the mouth. they shove their head in the toads mouth and pull out the insides.

 

[marc]

I agree with everyone that answered crows

 

[Fuscus]

Are the hollowed toads on the road side ie. Are they just scavaged road kill? I think that is the main way that crows feed on toads.

 

[BROWNS]

Hi Fuscus, the toads aren't road kill.He finds em just round the house outside.I'll posta pic as soon as i can

 

[africancichlidau]

White tailed Rats.

 

[BROWNS]

Apart from being a rat with a white tail, what are they?Are they a feral rat and have you heard od them eating toad guts africa :?:

 

[ad]

White tail rats are a native and protected. I havent heard of them eating cane toads but they are intelligent/cunning as are most rats.

 

[marc]

Are the hollowed toads on the road side ie. Are they just scavaged road kill? I think that is the main way that crows feed on toads.

down at Jimboomba Qld, I also found them on my parents property upside down with the guts eaten, could posibly came from off the road, the property is 65 acres and I use to find them all over the land, but come to think of it I remember finding alot around the dams which may surgest that is where they cam from..dont know really never saw a crow activilly looking for and killing the toads...but I have seen them eating them and also flying away with them.

 

[africancichlidau]

White tails are a protected species and very fond of all sorts of aquatic life. Took me ages to discover that they were stealing the barramundi out of my resort ponds up North and the smell in the bar was what they had dragged up under the floor and not eaten all of. Had to remove the bar floor to clean out underneath and get rid of the smell! The little buggas were always doing it!!

 

[wattso]

"Ewwww!"

 

[Fuscus]

Hey BROWNS, Im glad they aren't roadkill that means a predator is taking them.
Afi, is the white tail rat you refering to aslso known as the water rat Hydromys chrysogaster (there was an easly seen colony at St. Kilda pier, they are proberly still there) or is it Uromys caudimaculatus, the white tip? H. chrysogaster has a fur covered tail with a white tip and it would be really exciting if that has learnt to eat toads, Hydromys chrysogaster is both wild spread and common, just the kind of predator required to put a major dent in the cane toad populatation. Uromys caudimaculatus is confined to the cape york.
BROWNS, what we need here is a camera trap - it would be great to document a predatation of the cane toad by a native mammal