How can I keep my little frogs (or toads) happy?

Little frogs took up residence in a rock path in my dog free zone garden this spring. I'm told they are the reason slugs are not eating my hosta, though the frogs themselves seem smaller than some of the slugs. I love having them. They're fun to watch when I'm poking around in the dirt, plus they sing at night outside my bedroom window.

How can I keep them here?
Thank you.

You may already have more of 'em than what you're actually 'seeing' .. for they like nice lil dark & cool areas.

Frogs and toads also take a serious interest to the piles of stuff that most folks (generally) try to get rid of .. such as piles of (limb & twig trimmings, logs, etc.). Hear that a compost heap will harbor them also.

A pipe dug into or stuck into the ground soil for them to either get into easily, or beside ...

Do you already have a small pond? (ideal for attracting and keepin' 'em)

There's toad pots/shelters (purchased or created, with pottery and/or rocks) set up @ nor near a pond, or tucked near or behind a shed or other outbuilding. Tis said to be the item to help ensure they hang around a bit ...

There's also some no-no's associated: such as refraining from using any types of chemicals (store bought or otherwise) .. for you can end up running them off or killin' them off.

Along with attracting other predators of which frogs & toads are their major food source; such as snakes.

- Magpye

Thanks, Magpye.
The snakes were a concern. I haven't seen any in that part of the yard yet. I'd prefer not to. :-) I imagine they stay pretty busy in other areas catching baby mice.

I put water for them in a plant saucer. They seem to really like the rock path I made. It's got lots of hiding places (not one of those even, landscaper type paths, for sure). Here's a photo of it in progress (everything is always in progress around here! lol)

What do you think about Messenger and Mighty Plant? Will that hurt if I make sure it stays just on the foliage? These will be the first types of chemical fertilizers I've used, and will likely only use them on the roses and clematis (when those get put in).

'Fraid I'm totally unfamiliar with the two products you've mentioned .. (other than, I jes wouldn't think anybody oughta risk the Messenger stuff being absorbed by any critter, let alone a frogs skin, at this particular juncture) .. heehee .. Ref: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/606218/ ..

In all seriousness ... one may should do a bit more in depth reading of the pamphlet that should've accompanied the stuff.

I do believe, that the frogs and/or toads - absorb any/everything thru their skin .. so, it seems that most anything that we generally use to aid or serves to protect the flora .. could possibly harm the surrounding fauna .. over time, or inadvertently. * Maybe more consideration given to the nature of absorption thru the skin, with the frogs & toads ...

Also (from what I've read elsewhere) - most folks usually want to entice the frogs and toads to their yard/gardens .. as a form of 'organic' pest control. So, the use of other 'stuff' .. would seem somewhat contradictory ..

May want to opt for further research, about all of it: the Messenger, Mighty Plant and the frogs/toads.

Here's, what looks to be a mitey dandy piece of info about the ingredient in Messenger: Harpin protein 'Fact Sheet' .. @ this website > http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopesticides/ingredients/factsheets/factsheet_006477.htm
.. also, here ..
http://www.edenbio.com/usa/agriproducts/documents/mess_sts/techbul_US-english.pdf

Attracting Toads & Frogs > http://www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat/attractfrogs.cfm .. and ..
http://www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat/toadabode.cfm .. and ..
* Identification aid > http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/view_default.asp?curGroupID=7&shapeID=1056

At any rate .. I wish you a plenty of amphibians to find their way to you. Just keep your spyballs peeled for the not so welcomed 'boogers' ...

- Magpye

What kind of frogs do you have 4paws?

I don't know what kind they are, Equilibrium. They are brown with a white stripe down their backs. I'll see if I can get a photo one of these days.
Thank you.

OK

Paws Love your rock path. Thanks Magpye for info on ID, Still could not locate our frogs/ toad. Mine have a green stripe on jaw. Dixie

Next time you break a terra cotta pot (notice I know you're going to break one eventually...) make a little cave out of it. The frogs or toads will take up residence. There are a ton at my new house, which makes me very happy. My granddaughter and I were watching one last night, and it crawled down UNDER the sidewalk! So they're amazingly limber. I love them dearly, and so, consequently, does my granddaughter. YAY! I used to call her my little tree frog because of the way she'd cling to me or her mother. Anyway... I'm putting in a fish pond and hopefully they'll congregate and eat all these crickets and things.

My toads overwinter in my compost pile, so when spring arrives, I have to scoop dirt with my hands till I know they've dug out. I speared one once and felt so bad. Luckily? it was a skin wound and not thru it. Poor toad.

I put the top of a birdbath on the ground for them, but haven't caught one in it yet. Did catch the neighbor's Grandson stashing a toad under it. The toad stayed and he came back and got it the next day.

I find most of my toads under shruby plants. As Magpye said, they like it dark,cool AND full of mosquitos.

The tree frog sits in the spout of my watering can.

I discovered that they have tunnels under some of the bigger leaved plants. Yesterday I was watering and several came out rather indignantly. It's getting hotter, so I'm not seeing as much of them as I had been.

Suprisingly, I haven't seen any. We didn't have mosquitos this year. We had a lot of rain, but it all soaked in. We don't have a lot of flies either. Only the gnats are rehatching. Vanilla keeps them away. It's been a good year.

Vanilla? How do you apply it?
Amazingly, mosquitoes aren't awful yet, but ticks are horrific.

All bugs are really bad here, especially ticks. Have had two dig in on me and have had a few that we caught early. We haven't had a lot of rain here either. Our grass is turning brown and this is our rainy season. We do have frogs though I don't know how many. I hear them every once in awhile over the birds.

Poor pepper23 - I've never had one really get into me, but I take plenty off the dogs. Perhaps you're especially sweet for them (or hot?).

I have sweet blood. All insects love me. It don't matter if i have 20 ibs of bug spray on me, they still bite me and drive me nuts with the itching.

What's life like with no mosquitos? I think I could fatten up every frog and toad in the country right in my back yard.

What's life like without mosquitoes? I wouldn't know but it must be good.

It was in Western CO - no mosquitos or fleas, just three weeks of no-see-ums in June, but they were put off by the horrific smell of Avon's Skin So Soft...

I had been considering spraying around the house with garlic oil to keep mosquitos away. Anyone try it?

The garlic oil migth keep the bugs away...and you, unless you LOVE garlic!!! I have never tried it but I say go for it. Might learn something new.

Vanilla, buy cheap CLEAR vanilla or you will look like a messy indian in warpaint, as I have found the embarassing way, LOL! I just dab it on like Granny. Put it on and behind your ears, under your eyes and around your throat and neck. I also use skin so soft if the vanilla doesn't work. We have 2 kinds of gnats, buffalo, with a hump, and the buggy kind that just buzz your face. The buffalos will make the area swell.

We usually only have mosquitos if it rains a lot. It had rained alot, but it's all soaked in. No mosquitos is wonderful. No see ums are a late summer problem. I hate then the most! We really don't have a lot of flies either. We used to.

Vanilla for mosquitoes, too?

The garlic oil is supposed to lose it's strong scent after about 30 minutes.

Mosquitos zoom in on carbon dioxide and heat. That's what you have to disguise.

Don't bother with bug zappers either. They draw them to your yard. I feel about zappers the way I feel about security lights shining up my yard. HATE THEM!!!

I myself have never had garlic oil. I love eating it tho.

Someday I'll have to tell you my bugzapper story.....at Halloween time. I hate them, too.

I think my little toads are keeping mosquitoes in my DFZ under control. I hope.

Did your little frogs stick around?

About a month ago, before daylight, it was pouring rain. I looked out and on the front porch sat a toad, watching it rain. I haven't seen a toad since.

(The no seeums are starting to bite now.)

I don't see them as often, billyporter, usually at night, and they aren't so little. Slugs haven't been eating anything that I'd notice, but they're there, too. Mosquitoes seem to have the most fun just at dusk, otherwise I don't seem to have so much of a problem with them this year, and I sleep outside every night without netting or spray.

I put a really thick layer of old sawdust down around everywhere that's planted and the stone path (can't see the stones right now. I'm hoping all the little grasses that want to poke up will give up the ghost under it). Perhaps slugs don't like crawling over it to get to the "fancy" stuff.

Laugh! I never had slugs or snails till the last few years. I've been smashing everyone that I find. We had a slime trail all the way across the sidewalk, but I never found the ''source.''

Do you have a hammock? I'll bet the dogs run off any wildlife that might otherwise crawl in your outdoor bed!

I have a twin futon that I built a frame for (hasn't fallen down yet!) and I'm up on the deck. I've usually 1-4 dogs on it with me. :-) This part of the property - 2/3 acre, is finally very well fenced (6' high) to keep the dogs in, which keeps everything else out, but this year's bear has come near it and I hear him crashing around sometimes in the night, which doesn't make the dogs happy.

I have a hammock, but so far haven't trusted my knot tying ability to put it up!

There are always snail (slug) trails across the dog food dishes...but the dogs don't seem to mind.

Eeek, a bear. I don't know if I could handle one so close!

Two cats in bed with me is enough! I haven't slept the whole night thru since I got them. How do you turn over with all those dogs? Laughing!

I'm not sure if I turn over, billyporter. I seem to sleep through the night outside, except when I get cold, which I don't do in the house with my husband and only one dog! Lady knows how to share peacefully. Others are learning. :-)

There are lots of bears here. I don't worry about them much, though last week when I went to pick pears I got the feeling I should wait a while. DH ended up guarding me with his rifle....the great Elmer Fudd.

Wow! Nice to have a sense about things! Good thing he's a hunter!

We picked 7 buckets of pears from a friend's tree the other night and I got them sorted according to color. I cooked the drops this morn and have two large bowls of almost ripe waiting. The rest are in two clothes baskets and two buckets. We ''pick'' them by shaking the tree and picking off the ground. They don't seem to bruise when they're green and it goes so fast.

I planted a Bartlett pear this spring, but it will be many years before I get any.

What do you make from the pears? I was going to can some, but I'd bet my husband won't eat them.

It's not at all cleared around the pear tree, so I picked all I could reach. Once they fall, they're lost in the blackberries....

I can as many as possible because we both love them. Charlie is in charge of the pear butter. It's made like apple butter, but with a little orange juice. I run it thru the tomato sieve and we usually freeze it. I make pear crisp occasionally, or we eat them raw.

Your husband doesn't know what he's missing. You're lucky to have a tree! We also took an apple picker but it's kind of hard to use. It worked best on the outer edge of the tree.

That's too bad about the brambles. I like to eat blackberries too, or I'd say rip em out. Do you make jelly from them?

I'll be ripping them out eventually. The valley is covered in them. I've been picking (at a rate of at least a gallon an hour!) and freezing them for now, and plan to make jam, jelly, and syrup later in the year. I also make cobbler with them.

We've got at least 2 Bartlett trees. One nearer the house, which is producing nicely since I cut down wild plums and an old apple that was blocking all the light. There may be more on the second two acres, but that's the one I could see through the overgrowth and trash. I used a picker basket thing to get them.

Two years ago I planted a four-in-one Asian pear. I really like those! One of the varieties has given me two pears this year and last.

I'm wondering about pear juice or puree to add to other things for sweetness.
(way off topic, but hey, it's my thread...lol...and I never stay on topic)

Laugh, off topic takes you places!

I've heard the asian is really good too.

I don't see why you couldn't add pear juice to stuff. I never tried to make juice, like pear nectar. I think a juicer would be in order.

Most of the pear trees around here are really old, or just gone. No one ever replaces a fruit tree when it dies. I'd die without a fruit tree. I grew up next to the Catholic church and they sold apples. The churchyard was full of all kinds. I think there was even a Wolf River. It was so big and tart it couldn't be eaten raw. Not too far from here is a pick your own orchard and you're free to sample any tree you want. Never saw such a skinny girl eat so many apples. I try to eat almost all of it if it's a good one. Waste not want not! We always has a Grimes and Snow apple. I planted a Snow last year. Makes good apple juice!

I have an apple cake recipe that I make with pears instead of apples. UMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...

I've never tried switching! I cooked, but didn't sieve a batch this morn and I'm hungry! Thanks for the idea!

Yes, that's a good one - I have an excellent apple cake recipe from my Grandma.

I try not to waste, either, but there are so many apples here! Not all are so tasty, and one I want to take out this year because it dumps apples on the cars and last year I slipped in rotten apples and hurt myself (oh so coordinated).

I think I need to explore the possibility of a cider press.

I have one, but we haven't had apples anywhere for the last couple of years. It was my great uncle's. My Dad used it for years, but he lost all his apple trees due to age or flooding. I have it now. I love to make apple juice! It can be canned or frozen and is delicious!

Grimes Golden, Famouse the snow apple, Johnathons, Macintosh,Yellow Delicious and Criterion make exellent juice. Not the old time red delicious tho!

A frog has now taken up residence in my gardening shoe on our porch! I'll try to get a pic tomorrow. And no comments on the size of my big shoes!