Pretty much all of our frogs and toads in South Africa are technically poisonous to one degree or another.

They have glands in the skin that secrete poisonous substances, but this is the one you are most likely to meet because its really common and is most likely to be picked up by children.

Its good to wash the hands after handling these. Not only because of the sticky residue that's left on the hands but mainly because its poisonous.

In toads like this one its called bufotoxin, a milky white psychoactive poison, secreted from their parotid glands (on the back).

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With psychoactive effects one might be tempted to take a psychedelic trip....

It's not advised.

So, is licking a toad a good idea? Definitely not. Not only would it taste disgusting, it would be illegal and extremely bad for your health. The chemical which causes these trips is called 5-methoxy-N, N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT), and is a derivative of bufotenine. In its pure form it is extremely potent and causes vivid hallucinations. These vivid hallucinations are known as a 'psychedelic trips' and you're certainly not guaranteed to have a good one. Indeed, many users find them frightening and end up hurting themselves. One user described taking the drug as 'being shot out of a rifle barrel lined with baroque paintings and landing on a sea of electricity' (reference 1). Trips like this can be very, very dangerous, and can have serious long-term consequences on the user's mental health.

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These are the ones that usually come hopping into the house or gather around outside lights eating insects. I have handled plenty of these as a kid and also when feeding snakes...

The poisonous residue does taste terrible, I found out very young from poorly washed hands.

Its enough to discourage any form of tripping and dogs only froth once or twice at the mouth to know not to mess with these.

Other posts in this series:

The Africa Bull Frog
The Bubbling Kassina
African clawed frog
"Jabba" Frogs