Cane toads in Sebastian, Florida

Yes, Sebastian lies inside the cane toad's established Florida range, at its northern edge on the Atlantic coast in Indian River County.

Sebastian sits inside the cane toad's established Florida range, close to its northern edge on the Atlantic coast. A March 28, 2019 report from UF/IFAS states that the toads live in Florida south of Interstate 4 and, on the east coast, from Indian River south to Miami-Dade counties. Indian River County is the northernmost east-coast county on that list, and Sebastian is the northernmost city in Indian River County, bordered by Micco and Brevard County to the north.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission classifies the cane toad, also called the bufo, giant or marine toad, as a nonnative invasive species and describes its range as central and south Florida, generally south of the I-4 corridor. The species is native to the Amazon basin and north to the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. In Florida the agency says it lives in urban, suburban and agricultural areas, commonly in yards, around buildings or near canals and ponds, which describes much of Sebastian from the Sebastian Highlands to the commercial strip along U.S. 1.

Cane toads were first confirmed in Indian River County in 2014, on the Vero Beach barrier island south of Sebastian.

The first documented report came in 2014. Vero News reported on July 12, 2014 that cane toads had not been reported in Indian River County until then, though they had already been found in Martin and St. Lucie counties to the south. A barrier-island resident in Vero Beach sent a photograph to the FWC Northeast Regional Office in Ocala, and the FWC replied that the animal was positively identified as a cane toad, adding that there had been no other reports in Vero Beach but positive reports north and south of the area. WQCS described the case on July 28, 2014 as the first confirmed encounter with a cane toad in Indian River County.

That arrival followed a long northward spread. According to the UF/IFAS publication The Cane or Bufo Toad in Florida, toads introduced in the 1930s to eat sugar cane beetles did not survive, but in the 1950s a pet importer released about 100 cane toads at the Miami airport, and the species has since spread through much of south and central Florida. UF/IFAS says the toads were introduced several times between the 1930s and 1950s, at least partly as a form of biological pest control. By 2019 the university listed Indian River County as part of the established range, five years after the first confirmed record near Vero Beach.

Around Sebastian, cane toads live in yards, school grounds, golf courses and farmland and breed in the canals, ditches and swales of the city stormwater system.

Cane toads favor places people have changed. UF/IFAS states they are particularly common in yards, golf courses, school campuses, agricultural areas and other human-modified habitats, and that there are few records of them in Florida's native habitats. Around Sebastian that points to lawns in the Sebastian Highlands, the grounds of public schools such as Sebastian River High School, the municipal golf course and the groves and farmland west toward Fellsmere, rather than the interior of the St. Sebastian River Preserve.

Breeding depends on still water. The FWC says cane toads breed year-round in standing water, streams, canals and ditches, and UF/IFAS adds that males call females to temporary pools, ponds and canals but avoid swift currents. Sebastian's stormwater network fits the description closely. The City of Sebastian reports that its drainage system, built from the late 1950s for about 15,000 home sites, delivers most runoff through a system of canals, ditches and swales to the St. Sebastian River, leaving shallow standing water in roadside swales after summer storms.

The numbers explain how fast a population grows. According to UF/IFAS, females deposit 8,000 to 30,000 eggs in long, gelatinous strings once or twice a year, breeding usually follows heavy rain, and tadpoles hatch in about 48 hours. Calling may occur all year in southern Florida but is limited to January through September further north, a seasonal pattern that matters at the northern edge of the range where Sebastian sits.

Cane toads in Sebastian yards are told from native toads by their larger size, big triangular shoulder glands and lack of head crests.

Size and shoulder glands are the main signs. The FWC gives the adult cane toad size as 6 to 9 inches, while the native southern toad grows to only about 3 to 4 inches. UF/IFAS describes adult cane toads as three to six inches with some reaching eight or nine, with enlarged, somewhat triangular poison glands on the shoulders and no knobs or crests on top of the head. The southern toad, common in Indian River County, has small oval glands and two obvious crests between the eyes.

Two other native species share Sebastian yards. UF/IFAS lists the oak toad, Florida's smallest toad at no more than 1.5 inches, with an orange-footed underside and a light stripe down the back, and the eastern spadefoot, rarely over 2 inches, with yellow markings and a digging spade on the hind feet. Newly transformed cane toads are the size of raisins and easily confused with native toads, which is why both the FWC and UF/IFAS ask residents to confirm identification before removing any toad. The southern toad, the FWC notes, is a beneficial part of the Florida ecosystem.

Sebastian property owners may remove and humanely kill cane toads year-round, but the FWC bars relocating and releasing them.

Removal is left to property owners. The FWC states that cane toads are not protected in Florida except by anti-cruelty law and can be removed and humanely killed on private property year-round with landowner permission. Captured cane toads may not be relocated and released, so a toad caught in a Sebastian yard cannot be dropped at a canal or the edge of a conservation area. Homeowners who want help can hire a wildlife trapper, and FWC advises gloves and eye protection when handling the toads, because the skin secretions can irritate skin and burn the eyes. Releasing any nonnative animal is illegal, and FWC's Exotic Pet Amnesty Program takes unwanted pet cane toads.

Pets are the main concern. The FWC says the toxin, called bufotoxin, can sicken or even kill animals that bite or feed on the toads, and that a pet that bites or swallows one can die in as little as 15 minutes; it directs owners to a veterinarian. That risk is why the agencies stress prevention in places like the Sebastian Highlands, where many lawns back onto drainage swales.

Prevention focuses on shelter and food. FWC lists keeping grass short, filling holes around structures, trimming the underside of shrubs, clearing brush piles and clutter, feeding pets indoors and bringing outdoor pet bowls in at night. UF/IFAS adds walking dogs on a short leash at dusk and after dark and turning off outdoor lights, which attract the insects the toads eat. Since cane toads roam mostly at night, those evening steps cover the hours of highest risk in Sebastian neighborhoods.