I learned the hard way not to play with Guyanese Cane Toads. I caught one when I was 3 or 4 years old by the dysfunctional kidney-shaped fishpond at our first house down the hill, and it sprayed me with this foul slimey poison. This stuff can kill dogs if ingested, so it is not surprising (in hind sight) that I had a bad reaction to it – big red welts and a fever. These toads can weigh more than 3 pounds and sometimes go on mini-migrations. During migration, many toads get smucked on the roads. It doesn’t take long for vehicle tires to steamroll the dead toads into dinner plate sized pancakes and the sun rapidly bakes them to a crisp. The paved roads certainly got hot enough to cook on – so hot the tar on the roads would get soft. The repaired potholes had a high percentage of tar which would get particularly soft and it would melt onto your feet if you stood on it for a second – very tough to scrape off. The nasty smell of toad pizza was instantly recognizable. Later, when I could ride a bike, I always avoided running over “toad pizzas”, but it meant I was constantly weaving down the road during toad season.
