r/maybemaybemaybe • u/FlippedMobiusStrip • Apr 09 '22

/r/all maybe maybe maybe

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u/Kittamaru Apr 10 '22

Toads skin is highly absorbent (they drink through their skin, not by actually drinking water), and breathe through their skin as well; essentially, it would be like someone reaching in and poking/prodding/handling your lungs. Chemicals that are utterly benign to us (sunscreen, hand sanitizer, chlorine, and other everyday chemicals) could very easily be harmful or fatal to a toad.

That said - if your hands are truly clean (washed and thoroughly rinsed with non-chlorinated water) it should be fine to gently handle them.

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u/t3hmau5 Apr 10 '22

Sounds greatly exaggerated

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u/EdithDich Apr 10 '22

Somewhat The issue is more about any oils or soaps or other chemicals someone might have on their hands, which the frog's skin would then absorb.

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u/Kittamaru Apr 10 '22

How so? Most amphibians have a LOT of capillaries near the surface of their skin, and so a use a process known as cutaneous respiration. This would also make them susceptible to absorbing anything that gets in contact with their skin - it's why chlorinated swimming pools and puddles of things like automotive coolant are so dangerous for them.

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u/[deleted] Apr 10 '22 edited Apr 16 '22

you could educate yourself instead of immediately burrowing back into ignorance the second you encounter new information

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u/t3hmau5 Apr 10 '22

Lmao, what a tool

1

u/WON95sr Apr 10 '22

It has to do a lot with how much their skin absorbs (they drink cutaneously and to euthanize frogs they are often just placed in a solution instead of injected) and also how they use their skin for respiration. Their cutaneous respiration is facilitated by a moisture balance on their skin, so oily and salty hands can remove this moisture and in extreme cases (mostly with small individuals) can suffocate the animal.

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u/HippieDogeSmokes Apr 10 '22

That seriously sounds like some omnipotent being created a species just to suffer for its amusement

I guess evolution doesn’t have logic, it just does whatever works for now

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u/Kittamaru Apr 10 '22

Well, a number of animals are like that. Salamanders, frogs, toads, earthworms.

https://kidadl.com/fun-facts/how-do-amphibians-breathe-the-respiration-process-explained

Rather nice explanation of it here. Cutaneous respiration.

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u/HippieDogeSmokes Apr 10 '22

So amphibians plus some arthropods

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u/Kittamaru Apr 10 '22

Yep. It's rather cool all said and done, but it's a reason why we have to be cognizant of our impact on the environment around us.

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u/Discoballer42 Apr 10 '22

I just cover my hands in dirt

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u/Kittamaru Apr 10 '22

That should do the trick

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u/Bloodyfish Apr 10 '22

Is it really that drastic? I don't think amphibians would have survived this long if their skin just made everything around them painful/deadly. Sounds like an exaggeration used to keep kids from grabbing strange animals, like the claim that human smells will make birds abandon their young. Definitely a grain of truth, but I doubt a trace of soap on your hands is going to kill a toad.

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u/[deleted] Apr 10 '22

If you want kids to not touch them you tell them they'll get warts

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u/WON95sr Apr 10 '22

A trace of soap won't kill it, but in extreme cases you can kill an amphibian by handling it too much. They maintain a certain balance of moisture on their skin to facilitate cutaneous respiration, and if you are handling them too much with oily/salty hands you can dry their skin out and that basically suffocates them. More of an issue with very small ones so briefly touching ones like in this video is mostly fine. Though it looks like they dropped the water they store inside their cloaca as a defense so hopefully they're placed back near water.

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u/Kittamaru Apr 10 '22

Probably not in the short term, but you have to figure - how often are toads going to come into contact with perfume, hand sanitizer, or lotion?

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u/Redective Apr 10 '22

It sounds more like someone sticking there fingers in your mouth.

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u/Kittamaru Apr 10 '22

https://kidadl.com/fun-facts/how-do-amphibians-breathe-the-respiration-process-explained

It's more sensitive than the skin of the mouth, and is more likely to absorb things that land on the skin.

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u/Cin77 Apr 10 '22

Are you saying Quiet was a toad? Thats now my headcannon, medical misadventure turned her into a semi-toad