Dorinda Fox

Dorinda Fox
Location
Orlando, Florida, United States
Birthday
May 20
Bio
I teach writing at several universities. My two daughters are five and 16. I adore my children, have trouble raising them, and you will read more about them than you care to. I am a cancer survivor. I was born and raised in Arkansas. I am addicted to Starbucks black iced tea. "What if it's boring... or if it's not boring, it might be too revealing, or worse, it might be too revealing and still be boring." Lily Tomlin referring to her teenage diary, in an interview in Movie magazine (July 1983) "The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt." -- Bertrand Russell "I'm teaching myself to live without sleeping because I don't trust my dreams." -- Jon Stewart on the Daily Show

Dorinda Fox's Links

Salon.com
OCTOBER 23, 2009 8:08AM

I Am Naming the Cane Toad Jason

Rate: 16 Flag

Previously I wrote about the cane toad getting in the house and settling into the master bedroom and bathroom.  I did try to catch him several times but could not.

So when I went home for my dad's birthday and was going to be gone for a few days I set off the most powerful bug bomb I could find it was called Def-Con something in the master bathroom.  My assumption was that he would wither up and die.

The night I got back from my trip I was getting ready for bed and I saw the toad all curled up in a fetal position by the shower.  He was deathly pale and not moving. I put a paper towel over my hand and was going to pick him up to dispose of him

and he puffed up to three times his size and started secreting that nasty stuff again . . . .

 So I threw him in the toilet hoping to flush him out to sea Nemo style to terrorize other woodland or river creatures.

Got up this morning to go to the restroom and there he was and still is ... sitting in the toilet water staring at me with his bulging eyes and ridges on his head secreting poison in his fury.  I slammed down the toilet lid trapping him in the bowl.

Tyler got up and I told her to use the guest bathroom on the other side of the house. She asked why and I said the toad is in the toilet still.

She ran out of the room screaming.

I am naming the cane toad Jason and getting him a hockey mask for Halloween.

I have to get rid of him or I can't get my dog back.  My ex- is keeping the dog at his home and calling it the safe house.

 

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Oh god! There's something overwhelmingly creepy about a small, dangerous creature that won't be done in. Ummmm... what eats cane toads? Call the exterminator! Your toilet will never be the same...

Rated for keeping your sense of humor in a situation where I would lose my shit!
Funny stuff, Dorinda! I feel for you, and I'd wish you success in dumping the monster. But on the other hand, if you did, what would we have to laugh about. I say film it, and give us the resulting flic. ~R~ for upRoareous
I fear frogs and toads. ~R~
I think filming would be a great idea -- adding the shark theme music and some close-ups, you could have a viral on youtube.
A former student of mine who lives and works in Guyana in the jungles/forests knows critters and suggests a large snake which would then entail getting rid of the snake or opening the toilet lid and pouring salt on the toad's head. They don't like salt. I am grading now so my toad hunt fun is curtailed but I will go after him with the Morton's later today.
Make sure you put on a good pair of Playtex gloves. Have you tried jarring him?

That is, putting a mason jar over him and them tilting it so that he winds up inside it, then just slapping a lid on? If you catch him and plan to release, make sure you do that far, far away from your house. 'Cause I think that toad is in love, Dorinda. :-D
Eye-catching headline.

Name him if you will, but remember, many South American aborigines get high licking sweat off toads.
This is truly a Halloween horror. I second the jar and gloves solution.
@ Con Chapman ... remind me never to get high with you. Uh, Dorinda, maybe you should remind me.
Can you not reach into your toilet with a large plastic garbage bag over your hands and grab him? Or how about Animal Control?

Of course dressing him up for Halloween is a great idea...
I was under the impression that these guys are too big to fit in a jar...is that right?
Oh dear god - you're a braver soul than me....I would have called animal control, 911, the sheriff, the highway patrol, the National Guard....hell - I probably would have called the Canadian Mounties before trying to pick that thing up and remove it myself.

Keep us updated - I'm dying to know how this all turns out...
Good God, this is every womans nightmare, something in the toilet that will leap up and get us the moment we sit down.

Again, I urge you to move.
Do give us an update when you figure out what to do about him. And don't hold my avatar against me.
In Australia, it's a Friday night party game to try and run as many cane toads as possible over with your car. My to my dismay, my brother-in-law sent my husband (who's Australian) a stuffed cane toad, standing on his back legs, dressed with a top hat and cane. It's repulsive, though thankfully dead.

Can't wait to hear how this story ends!
Ick...well, you could always collect the poison and try selling it on the black market...oh, wait, that's probably illegal. Bummer.
Ick...well, you could always collect the poison and try selling it on the black market...oh, wait, that's probably illegal. Bummer.
Oops. Don't know why that showed up twice.
Dorinda, my husband suggested that you either get a very small fishing net, or I am thinking perhaps a colander if you don't want to buy anything. Cover the colander with a baking sheet? You need to get that toad out of the house. It is probably loving being in the toilet!
Latest on the toad. I wanted to catch him but Molly said I don't wanna see or touch him or see you touch him. So I poured a half bottle or lavender scented bleach in the toilet. He was by the upper edge of the toilet bowl. He is gone now. If he survives all that English lavender it is in ADDITION to surviving Defcon level poisons that destroyed cockroaches or sent them fleeing to the garage which Molly says was a cockroach horror movie waiting to happen Wednesday when she babysat her sister and went to the big trash can to ditch some old lobster bisque that needed to be separated from the refrigerator. Oh GAWD. I am an elitist with lobster bisque in the refrigerator. I have cheese dip ingredients in there as well. I promise.