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Colorado River Toad - Bufo alvarius
Peterson's Field Guide to Western Reptiles & Amphibians
COLORADO RIVER TOAD Bufo alvarius: IDENTIFICATION: 3-6 inches. Our largest western toad. Dark brown or olive above, with smooth skin, long kidney-shaped parotoids, and prominent cranial crests. Several large warts on the hind legs stand out conspicuously against the smooth skin. An enlarged whitish wart near angle of the jaw. Below cream. YOUNG: Warts, light-colored, set in dark spots. Male: Throat pale like female's. Ranges from arid mesquite-creosote bush lowlands into the oak-sycamore-walnut association in mountain springs, reservoirs, and streams, but occasionally frequents temporary pools and has been reported miles from water. Nocturnal; activity stimulated by rainfall. When molested, assumes a butting pose with its parotoid glands directed toward the intruder. A dog may be temporarily paralysed (rarely, killed) if it mouths one of these toads. VOICE: Weak, low-pitched, resembling a ferryboat whistle. Hoots last 1/2 to 1 second. Vocal sac absent or inconspicuous. Most active May to July. RANGE: Lower Colorado and Gila Rivers of Arizona and extreme sw. New Mexico, south to nw. Sinaloa; extreme se. California. Sea level to above 4000 ft. CAPTION: Skin relatively smooth; large warts on hind legs; adult 6 inches. (Dark Phase, Santa Cruz County, Arizona)

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Colorado River Toad - Bufo alvarius
Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia Vol 5
Bufo alvarius = COLORADO RIVER TOAD / COLORADO TOAD. Grows up to 17.8cm (females larger than males). 'Poison can kill a dog.'

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Colorado River Toad - Bufo alvarius
The Audubon Nature Guides: DESERTS
Colorado River Toad - Bufo alvarius: 3-7 inches (7.7-17.9 cm) Largest native toad in the United States. Olive to dark brown, with a relatively smooth, shiny skin. Elongate parotoid glands touch prominent bony ridges on head. 1 or 2 white warts at corner of mouth. Other large warty glands on hind legs. Belly is cream-colored. VOICE: A weak low-pitched toot, lasting less than a second. BREEDING: May-July. HABITAT: Desert. Prefers damp areas near permanent springs or man-made watering holes but may be found in arid grasslands and woodlands. From sea level to 5300' (1600m). RANGE: Extreme SE. of California to extreme SW. New Mexico, south into Mexico. COMMENTS: Nocturnal. The Colorado River Toad sometimes appears before seasonal rains fill breeding pools. When the rains finally arrive, breeding commences. It eats insects, spiders, and lizards.

BOSFELD, JANE
Toad Tripping
OMNI; Dec 1989
It's not exactly a craze, but licking toads is the latest - and certainly the wierdest - way to get high. ''It is not a big problem, but when people hear about it they try it,'' explains Robert Sager, chief of the US Drug Enforcement Administrations's Western Regional Laboratory in San Francisco. The toad of choice is the Cane Toad, a tropical green and red toad that's a favorite among aquarium habitues. It secretes a toxin, called bufotenine to ward off predators. Ingesting bufotenine - by licking the toad, or killing it and boiling it's skin for a foul-tasting tea - will give you a high similar to that of psilocybin (a hallucinogen found in certain mushrooms). But, Sager warns, bufotenine will ''make you ill, and it is not terribly hallucinogenic. It's just not that great a high.'' Of course for those who don't mind licking a tailless amphibian, it might be possible to buy several and keep them on hand: Once a toad has been licked it secretes more bufotenine, so replenishing the supply would not be a problem. Although four Australians croaked last summer after drinking an especially strong batch of Cane-skin tea, no fatalities have been reported in this country. But, says Sager, a number of people have been hospitalized. Nevertheless, possessing a Cane Toad is not illegal if you do it for reasons other than getting high.

BUCHERL
Colorado River Toad - Bufo alvarius
Venemous Animals & Their Venoms, vol.I p.499
Toad Venom: Bufo alvarius excretes 5-Methoxy-N,N-Dimethyltryptamine from Parotoid Glands/Crests (toad neck glands)

Bufo Alvarius Toad Venum. large packet of assorted articles.

Bufo Alvarius: The Psychedelic Toad of the Sonoran Desert. Albert Most. Venum Press. Denton TX. 1984. $3.

COCHRAN, DORIS M
Colorado River Toad - Bufo alvarius
Living Amphibians of the World, p 12, p 96, p 103
In the southwest of the US, the Colorado River Toad, Bufo alvarius, is attracted to cattle troughs, and its numbers may actually be in the increase since man began to make these reservoirs. ... One of the large species with an especially potent poison, the Colorado River Toad, Bufo alvarius, has been known to exude enough poison to cause the death of a police dog that was unlucky enough to seize the animal in it's mouth. ... In addition to a pair of large bean-shaped parotoid glands behind his eyes, he had another long gland running the full length of the calf of each leg. Only one other kind of toad, Bufo alvarius, from the southwestern United States and adjoining Mexico. The lethal qualities of its secreted poison has already been mentioned.

FRIEND, TAD
The New Seekers (Inside the psychedelic underground)
'Details' Magazine, November, 1990.
In Los Angeles 'toad licking' is increasingly popular: the venom of the Sonoran Desert toad is smoked (not, usually, licked), producing an intense, fifteen-minute, presumptively illegal high. But the active psychedelic, 5-MEO DMT, is easily obtainable from chemical-supply firms. Includes items about designer drugs and an interview with an 'underground chemist'.

GROF S.
The Adventure of Self Discovery
pg 278
"I would like to close the discussion of the most famous psychedelic materials by a brief reference to mind-altering substances of animal origin. The "dream fish" (Kyphosus fuscus) found off Norfolk Island in the South Pacific has a reputation among the natives for causing powerful nightmarish visions. Joe Roberts, a photographer for the National Geographic Magazine, broiled and ate some in 1960 annd confirmed these claims. He experienced a powerful hallucinatory state with many elements of science fiction. (Roberts 1960)"
pg 280
"In the animal kingdom, as I have already mentioned earlier, they [psychedelic tryptamines] are the active principles in the toad skin and its secretions and in the meat of the Pacific "dream fish" (Kyphosus fuscus)."
pg 279
"Of particular interest is the fact that harmaline bears close resemblance to substances that can be obtained from the pineal gland, such as 10-methoxy-harmaline. This provided the basis for some fascinating speculations, since the mystical traditions attribute great significance to the pineal gland in relation to the "opening of the third eye," visionary states, and psychic abilities."

Kennedy, Alison Bailey.
Ecce Bufo: The Toad in Nature and in Olmec Iconography.
Current Anthropology 23(3):273-290. (1982)

Morgan, Adrian
Father Christmas flies on toadstools
New Scientist, 25-Dec-1986/1-JAN-1987 Vol 112 pg 45
The first travellers in Siberia were shocked by a custom of many of the tribes. The urine of those intoxicated by fly agaric toadstools was collected in bowls or skin bags, to be drunk later. The poorer classes, who could not devote time to gathering the mushroom, drank the urine of the better-off for a little light relief. Reindeer, which live off lichens in winter, also have a taste for the fly agaric. When Georg Steller, and explorer, visited Kamchatka in 1739 he noted that reindeer were sometimes intoxicated. And the Koryak people, not wanting to miss out on the fun, tie up the animals until their condition subsides. Then they kill them. All who eat the flesh become intoxicated. Johnathan Ott, an American author, suggested in 1976 that use of the fly agaric in the midwinter festivals of deepest Siberia may have inspired some of the imagery of Santa Claus. The winter dwelling, or yurt, had a smokehole in the roof, supported by a birch pole. At the midwinter festivals, the shaman would enter the yurt through the smokehole, perform his ceremonies and ascend the birch pole and leave. Santa Claus is roben in red and white, the colours of the fly agaric. He enters through the chimney, and he has reindeer. Santa Claus also flies, an accomplishment that he shares with a shaman. In central Europe fly agaric is linked with chimney sweeps, who have adopted it as their emblem, perhaps echoing the Siberian ritual. The fly agaric has appeared on Christmas cards in central Europe for a long time. In Kocevje, in southern Yugoslavia, people believe that on Christmas night, Wotan, the king of the gods, rides through the woods on a white horse, pursued by devils. The red-and-white flecks of foam from the horse's mouth fall to the ground and grow into next year's crop of fly agaric.

Morgan, Adrian
Who put the toad in toadstool?
New Scientist, 25-Dec-1986/1-JAN-1987 Vol 112 pg 44
Discusses the historical and legendary links between toads and toadstools, and their use in witches brews, the pharmacology and effects of toad venoms and the use of these in ethnomedical practices in many cultures on several continents. The history and mythography of hallucinogenic mushrooms, and the use of bufotenine from toads as an intoxicant are recounted.

Mushrooms, Russia, and History. R. Gordon and Valentina Pavlovna Wasson. Pantheon Books, Inc. 333 - Sixth Ave. New York 14, NY. copyright by author 1957. copy number 37 of volume 1. photocopy. excerpts only on the subject of psychoactive mushrooms. (velobound in anthology "Sacred Mushrooms". Unfortunately does not contain the chapter on toads). [box v1]

Peyote Toad. Charles Foster. Litmus Press. Salt Lake City,UT. 1975. 64 pages. $2. (could the title refer to Bufo alvarius? contains one poem titled "To the Peyote Gods" which briefly refers to peyote). [box 1m]

SCHULTES; HOFMANN
The Chemistry of Yopo
Plants of the Gods; pg 118
THE CHEMISTRY OF YOPO: The active principals of Anadenanthera belong to both open-chained and ring tryptamine derivatives and, therefore, to the important class of indole alkaloids. Tryptamine is also the basic compound of the amino acid tryptophane, widely distributed in the Animal Kingdom. Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and 5-hydroxydimethyltryptamine (bufotenine) are representatives of the open-chained Anadenanthera tryptamines. Bufotenine has also been found in the skin secretion of a toad (Bufo sp.) - hence its name. Ringed tryptamine derivatives found in Anadenanthera are 2-methyl- and 1,2-dimethyl-6-methoxytetrahydro-beta-carboline.

STEBBINS
Colorado River Toad - Bufo alvarius
Amphibians and Reptiles of California
Colorado River Toad (Bufo alvarius): IDENTIFICATION: 3-6 inches. Our largest toad; dark brown or olive above, with smooth skin, long kidney-shaped parotoids, and prominent cranial crests; several large warts on hind legs stand out conspicuously against smooth skin a whitish knob at angle of mouth. HABITAT: Brushy desert with creosote bush and mesquite; farmland. Frequents washes, springs, river bottoms, temporary rain pools, canals, and irrigation ditches. RANGE: Lower Colorado River and irrigated lowlands of Imperial County. HABITS: Nocturnal. More aquatic than most toads. Seeks refuge in burrows of other animals. Most active from May to July. Eggs, to around 8,000, in long strings; jelly envelope single. Voice resembles ferryboat whistle but weak, hoots lasting 1/2 to 1 second. Throat pale in male; vocal sac weak. When molested assumes butting pose and may squirt poison over 10 feet from parotoid glands; poison, if swallowed in quantity, capable of paralysing and occasionally killing dogs. Coons disembowel these toads and eat internal organs only. FOOD: Insects (grasshoppers, bugs, beetles, termites, ants, wasps, moths, and caterpillars), spiders, scorpions, centipedes, snails, small lizards, other amphibians (toads, spadefoots), and mice. Comes to outdoor lights to catch insects.

The Boo Hoo Bible: The Neo-American Church Catechism. Art Kleps. Toad Books, San Cristobal, NM. 1971. paperback. 218 pages. $5. [box 12m]

The Entheogen Law Reporter Issue No. Three - Summer 1994 pp.16-27: Magic Mushroom case-law Spore seller raided. First religious freedom restoration act drug case. Update on Bufo alvarius (toad) cases. Supreme Court construes mail order paraphernalia act. Mail search update.

The Entheogen Law Reporter Issue No. Two - Spring 1994 pp.7-15: Agents arrest man and woman for smoking toad venom. State-by-State survey of exemptions for religious Peyote use. Federal mushroom conviction upheld. 2-CB and AET Updates. The law of consensualsearches.