A 10-year-old and his dad. An app. And a mission to eradicate invasive cane toads

A different kind of superhero stalks the streets at night in North Naples.

Armed with a large white bucket, an industrial-style flashlight and black latex gloves, 10-year-old Landen Grey is the Toad Trapper.

Accompanied by his father, Landen has been hired by North Naples residents to rid yards and condo complexes of cane toads, a poisonous invasive species that puts pet cats and dogs and other animals in danger. The toads are especially prevalent during the summer.

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Landen, who will be a fifth-grader at Mason Classical Academy in Naples in the fall, has been catching toads all summer. He has 56 clients and he is consistently booked out two weeks in advance. Landen and his dad, Tim, try to group the appointments and clients together so Landen can do one hunt at 8:45 p.m. and another at 9:45 p.m.

They’re usually done within an hour at a property. The toads usually are about the size of a small grapefruit but can grow even bigger. Their lumpy gray and brown skin gives them the appearance of rocks until you see their beady eyes and fat frowns. 

How it started

And the father-son duo said the whole idea started in their backyard.

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And:Naturalist aims to help protect environment from invasive cane toads

“We’ve got a sidewalk through our neighborhood, and we just started catching toads, and we’d go out and spend an hour," the father said.

"We knew the peril of the toads, and it just kind of organically evolved into talking about business and saying, you know, ‘Landen, the amount of money that people spend on their dogs and their pets, these things are deadly, and you could probably make a business out of it,’ and it just kind of morphed from there.”

Building a business

They began by using NextDoor, a social media app and website for communities to help keep neighbors in touch with each other. They traversed the sidewalks of Victoria Park  — which is along Airport-Pulling Road between Immokalee and Vanderbilt Beach roads — and would catch 20 toads in a span of six to nine houses.  

"And obviously, you don’t want to just go traipsing through people’s yards, especially at night, so we stuck to the sidewalk, and then we opened up the app to the region and that’s when a couple in Pelican Marsh, Pelican Bay, Wilshire. He’s gotten some (clients) that have been word of mouth.”

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“Some clients, you offer to show them the bucket of what you caught, and they’re like, ‘Nope, I’m good; I trust you,'" Tim said.

Landen’s mother, Heather, helps him organize his schedule and keep track of emails and phone calls. She even has taken Landen out on at least one hunt while Tim was away, and Landen’s 5-year-old sister got to come along, much to her dismay.

“I’d say she was more scared than interested,” Landen said with a laugh. “After we were done hunting, she came up to the porch and saw a frog, and she started screaming.”

Tim said that to both him and Heather, the value of being able to teach their son  how to run a business is immeasurable.

“We both own our own business and that’s part of how this just organically grew,” Tim said. “He’s had fun with it, and it’s a chance for us to teach him about how to run a business and deal with people he doesn’t know, phone calls, scheduling, that type of stuff.”

The invasive cane toad

They also find value in helping the community reduce the invasive cane toad species, which has increased in population rapidly and made its way up the state from Miami. The toads can eat anything from lizards and other toads to small mice and rodents.

More:Are cane toads harmful to humans? Your questions answered

Tim said his backyard used to be filled with a different kind of invasive species, the Cuban tree frog. He said he could count 20 to 30 that would show up in his pool cage every time it rained.

About four years ago, he started seeing big toads in his yard and recalled hearing about cane toads in the mid-1980s, when they lived in sugar cane fields in Miami.

“I thought, ‘That looks like a cane toad.’ And sure enough, they’ve somehow made their way over,” Tim said. “As soon as I started seeing cane toads, now the Cubans, I haven’t seen a fraction of what I used to.”

The cane toads also have been quickly killing off native Florida toads, so much so that Tim and Landen say they have seen only four or five native toads compared with the 400 invasive cane toads they have identified.

The toads are prolific breeders and lay 8,000 to 25,000 eggs at a time.

“I’ve seen pictures from Australia where you can’t walk without walking on cane toads,” Tim said. “So, I think that’s where we’re headed.”

Landen and Tim can both spot the toads in the dark with lightning speed and precision.

“I’d say he’s probably better at spotting them from a distance far away and I’m probably better at identifying them,” Landen said.

The toads usually like to hang out near condensation lines, especially near air conditioners, or in gutters and bushes. The easiest way to spot them in the dark is by their reflective eyes, or white bellies, or to listen for any rustling as they move around.

The difference between native and non-native toads lies in their poison pouches. A non-native cane toad will have an oblong, triangular poison pouch that puffs out, while a Southern native toad will have a smaller, round poison pouch.

Tim said it’s important to identify which toad you’re looking at if you’re trying to catch them.

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“If you’re just going out and killing toads and not knowing what you’re killing, it’s not a good thing, because the canes will eat natives. So it’s important that we’re identifying the toads to make sure, and again, out of 500, that’s only the fifth (native) that we’ve caught, but it’s good to see that there’s still some around.”

The poison is white and sticky. If a dog or cat grabs the toad, the poison will stick to its mouth. The team says that’s why it’s important to grab a wet rag and wipe the poison out of a pet’s mouth rather than just trying to flush it out.

When they catch the toads, Landen and Tim stick them in a bucket in a garage fridge for two or three days and then freeze them before disposing of them.

Recently, they have worked with state agencies to develop a way to use the toad poison for tadpole traps. The poison attracts the tadpoles, which then can be trapped and eradicated before they become toads.  

For now, Landen charges $5 a house. Tim said larger companies in the area charge $50.

“People, when he tells them it’s $5, they say, ‘Per toad?’ And he says, ‘No, for the whole house.’ And they say, 'Here’s $20.’ We had a client hand him a $100 bill one time, and for a 10-year-old to have a $100 bill, in the truck he turned to me and was like, ‘Dad, is this real?’ ”

Landen has what he calls a master plan for what he wants to do with his toad-catching money.

He’s learning to fly through the Experimental Aircraft Association’s air academy called Young Eagles. His goal is to get his pilot’s license when he is 16, buy a plane with his toad money and fly his classmates to their senior class trip in Italy.

Landen said it’s a just a dream for now.

Tim patted his son on the back and said, “Hey, it’s good to dream.”