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huachuma

Amazing...What some folks view as pests

huachuma
17 years ago

Hopefully, somebody will be able to assist this poster at the GW Garden Clinic before any more tree frogs are harmed...

A Florida member is looking for a way to discourage treefrogs from hanging around his/her porch. I got a little bent out of shape and I'm afraid my response wasn't very helpful, (thankfully I didn't post my first draft). If you've got any ideas I'm sure the frogs will be grateful.

The link is below...

Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: frog poop

Comments (5)

  • rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
    17 years ago

    Let's move this down. Enough trouble has been caused, and the extremely negative and non productive comments have been yanked from the original post.

  • kate_rose
    17 years ago

    I didn't catch the first part of all this but I am a frog biologist by training.

    There are some species of tree frogs in florida that are well documented to hang out at lights that are invasive. I am thinking specifically of the Cuban Treefrog. They can be really hard on local populations of frogs because they eat just about anything. It would be worth knowing what species this person has so that they would know if they should discourage the frogs from hanging out or actually get rid of them.

    The best thing to do to discourage frogs is to turn out the light. If the light really needs to be on (its a safety issue) then I would suggest putting it on a post in a nearby flower bed so that the frog poop would just fertilize the flowers. We having motion sensitive lights so that our lights won't negatively impact wildlife who need darkness at night (not that we get any treefrogs up here but that could be the best bet).

    HTH

    Kate

  • loris
    17 years ago

    Kate,

    I'm hoping you'll repost over at the original thread. I normally would just link them to this, but don't want to throw any additional fuel to the fire. It would be great to share the info in case it helps people and protects animals, in the future.

    Here is the URL to the original thread

    http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pests/msg0522134528958.html?4

    Thanks. -- Lori

  • dirtgirl
    17 years ago

    My initial reaction was the typical head-shaking, fou-mouthed muttering about idiotic city people who have no clue when it comes to living with a certain amount of peace alongside the natural environment. I mean, everybody should love their amphibians, right? I mean, I go out of my way to avoid harming my resident toads, tree frogs, and others. THe thought of spraying them with bleach....I can't express the horror of such a thing.

    BUT.....
    Then I also stopped to consider such issues as cane toads and coqui frogs and I took my own advice for once-- that not hurrying to any one conclusion is often a wise approach. What kind of frog are these? Are they natives? If so, and if the poster simply can't tolerate the situation (and can't move) there surely has to be a safer deterrent than bleach for pete's sake. Maybe Tanglefoot along the ground where they begin their climb up the house sides? Make sure there are no plantings anywhere close to the house to encourage daytime shelter/alternative routes to the house sides.
    But what if they aren't native? I read about the pythons turned loose from pet owners displacing the everglades cougar as top predator, and from the example of the cuban coqui frogs in Hawai'i we know to take small changes in a system seriously.

    I may need to go back and re-read the posts on the other forum, but until I have more info I hate to make a judgement call concerning this thread.

  • vonyon
    17 years ago

    DG, Good thinking. I think he said they were native tree frogs though.

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