# Toad licking **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 31, 2000, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toad-licking/9630 "2000-03-31T21:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toad-licking/9630/1 "2000-03-31T21:05:00Z")
What’s the deal with toad licking? I remember there was a lot of talk about this bizarre way to get a buzz a few years back, but I haven’t heard much about it in awhile. Anyone know about this? What’s the active drug. Are there any other ways to obtain it besides licking a toad. What are the effects? * * * “I feel just as reduced being called a system as I do a clock.” - Thomas Harryman, Mindwalk. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toad-licking/9630/2 "2000-03-31T21:11:00Z")
To my surprise, I couldn’t find anything on [snopes.com](http://snopes.com) about it, but I’m pretty sure this is an urban legend. There was a whole hullaballo about ten years ago that kids in Australia were licking the backs of cane toads in order to get high. Cane toads exude a poison through their skin strong enough to kill dogs and cats. However, none of the symptoms of cane toad poisoning (foaming at the mouth, muscle spasms) sound fun enough to do it on purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Trion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toad-licking/9630/3 "2000-03-31T21:24:00Z")
You’re looking on the wrong Urban Legend site phouka. Try [www.urbanlegends.com/animals/toad\_licking.html](http://www.urbanlegends.com/animals/toad_licking.html) According to this it looks legit. Gross and dangerous though. * * * “My mind reels with sarcastic replies!” - Snoopy ---
**Author:** ![mrblue92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toad-licking/9630/4 "2000-03-31T21:40:00Z")
I say you should just go out the yard with a few friends and give it a shot. Don’t forget the video camera. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toad-licking/9630/5 "2000-03-31T21:59:00Z")
Most definetly legit. A powerfull halucinagen is extruded through the skin. I think I saw it in a great documentury called “Cane Toads”. There was also an article about it in the SF Chron a few years back. Seems people were drying the skins, rolling them and toking up. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toad-licking/9630/6 "2000-03-31T22:04:00Z")
So you don’t actually lick the toad, you scrape the poison off its skin, dry it, and smoke it. You know, something tells me that these people need better hobbies. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2000, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toad-licking/9630/7 "2000-03-31T23:30:00Z")
Little Aussie chihuahuas say, “Yo quiero toka toad.” ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2000, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toad-licking/9630/8 "2000-04-01T00:38:00Z")
My neice told me a story about her teacher. He said that he bet his friend $100 he couldn’t lick the back of a salamander. His friend decided to show off & ate. He went into a coma. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2000, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toad-licking/9630/9 "2000-04-01T00:40:00Z")
That should be ‘ate the salamander.’ Also, the docs gave up on him be cause they thought his body could not take the poison anymore. So they disconnected him. But later learned that he might have been okay if they wwaited longer as the body could have indeed processed all the poison. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2000, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toad-licking/9630/10 "2000-04-01T14:15:00Z")
I’ve been under the impression that the active substance in the cane toads skin is mescaline. I wonder if anyone could clarify that? ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2000, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toad-licking/9630/11 "2000-04-01T14:31:00Z")
I don’t think those toads exude mescaline. There isn’t any mention of an animal, as opposed to a plant, source of mescaline anywhere in the pages I searched. For more mescaline info: [http://www.plokm.com/drugs/mesgen1.htm](http://www.plokm.com/drugs/mesgen1.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Oblio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c4cdca/32.png) [@Oblio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oblio)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2000, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toad-licking/9630/12 "2000-04-01T15:47:00Z")
casdave, Check trions link above or [Bufotenin](http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/bufotenin/bufotenin.shtml) for more info. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2000, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toad-licking/9630/13 "2000-04-01T16:48:00Z")
Thank you for the links Rhydad and Oblio ---
**Author:** ![Fyodor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/958977/32.png) [@Fyodor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fyodor)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2000, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toad-licking/9630/14 "2000-04-01T17:17:00Z")
From the book “Good Guy Bad Guy Drugs and the Changing Face of Organized Crime” by Yves Lavigne: (paraphrased rather than quoted) July 1990 in Toronto Garry Murphy (legally blind) and Paul Cherry saw/heard a TV documentary that mentioned the brown South American Cane Toad (bufus marinus) producing a milky white liquid from its warts that can cause hallucinations. Cherry collected reptiles and amphibians in his home. Cherry brought his 8 year old 2 pound toad into the living room, gently squeezed thewarts, smeared the fluid on a cookie, tasted it, and gave the cookie to Murphy. Nothing happened for an hour then “WHAM!!!” “Next thing I know I’m in the hospital.” “Bufotenine may give great hallucination, but it is also toxic and causes seizures and vomiting. Murphy was treated with anti-convulsive and anti-inflammatory drugs to control seizures, blood pressure, and respiratory problems. Cherrie fared better. He was treated and released. Murphy’s seizures continued.” After several days Murphy checked out of the hospital, still no medication, against doctor’s orders, after suffering fifteen convulsions. Murphy said “If a kid tried this, he’d be a goner. Take it from a guy who tried it-it’ll kill you. Don’t lick toads.” A few days later Murphy admitted himself to a psychiatric ward because “the toxin was still working him over”. He hanged himself August 10 with the belt from his hospital gown. ---
**Author:** ![Fyodor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/958977/32.png) [@Fyodor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fyodor)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2000, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toad-licking/9630/15 "2000-04-01T17:21:00Z")
Ooopsy, that should be “still on medication” in the sixth line from the bottom of my last post. ---
**Author:** ![Silo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@Silo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silo)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2000, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toad-licking/9630/16 "2000-04-01T22:05:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve been under the impression that the active substance in the cane toads skin is mescaline. I wonder if anyone could clarify that? NO, it’s not Mescaline (that comes from Peyote, a nasty tastiing little cacti from the southwest US and northern Mexico). It’s DMT (Dimethyltryptamine) and a variation (5MeODMT). Strong shit, but very short trip (been there done that!) And you don’t ingest the toad venom (really stupid!). You dry it and smoke it, or you isolate the alkaloid(s) and inject them. * * * If at first you don’t succeed you’re about average. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2000, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toad-licking/9630/17 "2000-04-02T23:20:00Z")
A great essay, excerpted in Trion’s link, is “Smoking Toad” by Harvard ethnobotanist Wade Davis. It’s in the book “Shadows In The Sun”, a wonderful collection of Davis’ essays. He also wrote “The Serpent And The Rainbow”(great book- cartoon movie), which details the use of bufotoxin as used by the Haitian Voodoo culture. Any work by Terence McKenna tells of the ritual use of DMT-containing plants by South American shamans. A personal toad tale: My parents are biologists, and did field work in South America in the seventies. After one collection, they brought home -then Long Island- a dozen Bufo Marinus toads. They weren’t in to any “high” from them. My Dad always brought home _really_ weird critters. We had em in a plastic kid’s pool covered with chicken wire, and loved to feed em bugs & hamburger. They were really BIG toads! Well, one day they got out, and disappeared into the woods. I’ve always assumed they couldn’t make it through a NY winter, but if anyone knows of a colony of giant toads on Long Island, let me know!