Bufo Alvarius-Sonoran Desert Toad

[Crotalus13]

I have been having extreme difficulty locating any of these for my collection and possible breeding in the future ,if i were able to locate any, does anyone know of any dealers or private collectors i could purchase a few from?? thanks. Jeff

[Crotalus13]

well i'm gonna answer my own thread i guess, i found some info that you guys might find intresting :

according to this you can legaly collect 10 Bufo Alvarius per year in AZ and NM with a fishing lisense, what do you think????? thoughts??? maybe i can get someone to collect me a few?, heres the link:

http://members.cox.net/bufoalvarius/general.htm

and here is PDF from the AZ fish and Game:

http://members.cox.net/bufoalvarius/herp.pdf

i'd really appreciate some imput, thanks.Jeff

btw, i talked to a friend in AZ and he told me during the monsoon season their are so many of them around its literaly hard to drive without running them over small ones to soft ball sized.so what gives?

[brandi]

crotalus... I live in AZ, and yes, there are some places alvarius are quite abundant. It is legal to collect them with a licence, but you cannot export them. Nor, do i believe, can you carry them accross state lines. the full text of the AZ regs can be found here http://www.azgfd.com/eservices/downloads.html Hope that helps you.

[naja]

i don't know if you will get back to this, but i am pretty sure that the 10 toad limit is actually regarding food collecting, as it is a fishing lisence you are required to have, so i don't think it is legal to actually KEEP these toads as 'pets'. this would be likely due to the combination of two facts: they ARE a threatened species, and they do manufacture in their paratoid glands an 'illicit' substance. anyhoo, if it was me, i would say 'screw the law!!!', but its your call, right? ciao

[C.m.pyrrhus]

Actually, the licence is restricted to limiting animals as "take" or a "harvest", not nessarily as a food item. Any animal is placed within the regs as so it can be regulated for take. Some animals are under protected status (as some of the rattlers and the heloderma in AZ are) and some have a reasonably large take number as they are commonly found throughout there habitats. The licence is just a way to regulate the specimens, basically.

Any herp collected legally as per AZ Game and Fish regulations are allowed as "pets." I legally have one captive B. alvarius myself that was gifted to me by a friend.

As for the "illicit" nature of the toad, Bufotenine (toad toxin) is illegal to have under ones possesion, although pretty much all toads have it within their toxin load and does not have any illicit or hallucinogenic effect to it, meaning it cannot get you "high." The Sonoaran Desert Toad is the only known toad (or animal to my knowing) to have 5-MeO-DMT (whish IS the hallucinogen)within their toxins, and is NOT regulated by any leval of the law. That is what is the backwordsness of it all.