Detailed Explanation of Efficient Toad Farming Technology in Rice Fields

Toads are amphibians and reptiles of high value for both food and medicine. The shed skin (toad slough) that toads naturally cast off and the milky secretion (toad venom) collected and processed from their post-orbital glands are precious traditional Chinese medicinal materials. With the depletion of wild resources, artificial breeding is imperative. Using rice fields to raise toads creates complementary advantages and can form a well-functioning natural food chain cycle. The relevant technical points are briefly described below.

Field and Pond Setup: Select a relatively quiet field with convenient drainage and irrigation. Surround the rice field with 0.8 m high dense nylon netting. The inner width of the embankment should be 1.5 m to allow the toads to come ashore and move about, and install mesh screens at the water inlet and outlet to prevent the toads from escaping. On the side of the rice field adjacent to the embankment, dig an additional small pond for raising tadpoles, with a pond area of no less than 1/6 of the total area. If the rice field used for farming is too large, it can be divided into several small ponds. The pond water depth should be 40 cm, and a water injection pipe with a diameter of 1 cm should be installed above the pond. Set a water outlet on any side of the embankment, enclosed with polypropylene mesh. A mesh size of 60 openings per square centimeter is suitable.

Tadpole Stocking: First, use 15 kg of quicklime for dry pond clearing of the small pond. After 7 days, add water, and add 100 kg of fermented organic fertilizer to the pond. After 5 days, the tadpoles are put into the pond. When stocking, select uninjured, robust tadpoles of uniform size. After disinfecting with 1.5% saline solution, stock at 6,000 to 8,000 tails per mu of rice field. The air temperature during stocking should not be lower than 20%.

Toad Pond Management: While ensuring a slight water flow in the small pond, simply maintain the water quality so that it does not deteriorate under the effect of leftover bait. When feeding, it is best to feed small amounts multiple times, using a self-formulated floating powdered feed until metamorphosis. After the young toads complete metamorphosis and their tails are absorbed, set up a circular feeding platform with a steel wire mesh bottom in the center of the small pond, and feed live bait (earthworms, fly maggots, etc.) as well as floating pellet feed every day. At the same time, during feeding, add water through the injection pipe to set the floating pellet feed in motion, so as to train the young toads to feed. At the beginning, live bait should account for a relatively large proportion, then gradually decrease. After the young toads have developed the habit of feeding at a fixed location, the net enclosure of the small pond can be opened to release the young toads into the rice field to forage freely.

Field Management: After the young toads enter the rice field, initially keep the field water relatively clear. In hot summer, the field should be frequently irrigated with “running horse water” to regulate water temperature and water quality. In addition, if rice diseases occur, pesticide spraying should be done on sunny days, with the nozzle pointing upward and the spray mist fine, so as to prevent the pesticide from sinking as much as possible. Once the pesticide deposits in the field become too concentrated, immediately add water to regulate it. Under normal circumstances, no pesticide needs to be applied, because toads have the ability to catch insect pests. In the field, young toads must be protected from natural enemies such as snakes and hawks. Toads generally do not become ill under natural conditions, but care should be taken to avoid mechanical bruising that causes wound infection. Therefore, special care must be taken when catching them; they can only be caught with a cloth net. Two months after the young toads are released into the rice field, screen them once a month thereafter, catching the large ones and leaving the small ones. After being caught, place them in a dedicated breeding pond for collecting toad slough and toad venom, or for sale.