Warning: Cuban Tree Frogs ....

Warning about the Cuban Tree Frogs .....

They are invasive non-native frogs that are eliminating the native critters in Florida. I don't like them, but they have taken over much of the area here in Sebastian. I haven't seen a toad frog or any other frog for that matter in a number of years. I am NOT trying to "raise" them in my water containers/ponds. I have been checking around for fish that will eat them. I was given the name of a few fish, but they are hard to come by at the pet stores and very expensive ($30 for one small fish)! Yikes! So now I am gonna try some cheap Oscar fish in the hopes that they can eradicate my population explosion of CTF tads. I have been feeding the tads spinach to keep them from further damaging my water lilies. They can devour a large leaf in 2 days! Scary!!!! Today I check the pet store to see if I can't locate some Oscars. Wish me luck!

If you go outside my house at night, especially last night after all the rain we had, it is sooooo LOUD out there. There must be thousands of these frogs everywhere! No joke! Perhaps that is why I have such a shortage of butterflies and caterpillars? Maybe?

I hope that isn't the reason. I live next to swamp land and when we have lots of rain and standing water, we get an amazing number of tads and young CTFs! Ackkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!! I have had them (perched) suctioned to my home windows (10-30 at a time) looking in at us! At my school, they park it during the day in every crevice around the exterior of the school. The sun dries them out, so they find every shady spot they can. It's amazing how many there are. I've not seen a toad frog in years. These CTF eat anything and everything they can. And they get quite large. I wonder if they can eat small mice and baby birds and baby rabbits? I wouldn't be surprised.

Be afraid ..... be VERY afraid!!!!

Here's a photo taken last Fall of one in my water pond/container.

I mention about the CTFs because they are very invasive and are being found in many southern states. I have heard that Texas is starting to see them now, too. They do eliminate native frogs and other small creatures .... possibly butterflies and caterpillars. You don't want these frogs in your area! Nadda!!!!

Here is a link to more information about them:
http://www.wec.ufl.edu/extension/wildlife_info/frogstoads/osteopilus_septentrionalis.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Tree_Frog

Oooohhh Becky, those sound horrible! I love my little native toads and frogs. It would be hard for me to do away with those CTFs. I hope they don't come this way.
Thanks for the warning.

Exactly! Which is why I am hoping that Oscar fishies will do the dirty work for me. I need a hit fish to eradicate that tad population!!!

I am seriously thinking of video taping the noise and the pond tads tonight. If it turns out good, maybe I'll post it on YouTube. ;-) I'll let y'all know if I do. (Big grin!)

This was written on the first website listed above:
"If you are bothered by the calling of frogs during breeding season, first buy ear plugs. Then turn out all outdoor lights around your house. Lights attract insects, and insects attract frogs. If the frogs don't move elsewhere after several nights, then try erecting a light as far as possible from your house -- hopefully the frogs will go over to that light to feed on insects, etc. There is no frog repellant or chemical to use to keep them away from your house. If the above methods don't work, buy better ear plugs and run a fan in your bedroom to create "white noise" to help drown out the calling of frogs."

ROTFLMBO!

And here is the sound they make. Now imagine about a 100 or so of them calling at one time. That's my backyard!!! LOL
http://www.wec.ufl.edu/extension/wildlife_info/frogstoads/wav/cuban_treefrog.wav

That's how our backyard sounds! It's wooded and no light, but they are busy...I think they are doing other things beside bug hunting LOL

Sometimes it is hard to sleep and our bedroom is upstairs!

When I walk my dog at night, I will start hearing them from my yard way down the block!

Well .... I went to a pet store in the next town and the fella there told me that the tadpoles would probably eat the fish. Apparently the Oscars only eat about a dozen or so. And then the tadpoles start eating them! Now isn't that crazy!!!!

They don't know of any fish that will eradicate them. He suggested I scoop them out with a net. Looks like that's exactly what I may have to do. Perhaps I will put them in a plastic bin and raise them that way. Or maybe I will just dump them on the ground. They are so invasive. I am not one to kill anything without good cause, but these guys are horrible.

What to do, what to do????? This is a bummer!!! :-( :-( :-(

It's hard to believe a tadpole can eat a good sized Oscar or any fish that's bigger than them. What about a Koi, they have pretty hearty appetites. Just leave him in the pond until he gets too big and give him away. The goldfish in my pond keep the tadpoles in check, daily you can see them scouting the sides where the tads hide.

What will you do after you raise them?

maybe teach them to be nicer lol, they sound terrible; you should just dump them and think about all the good critters you are saving!... really, I'm not a killer, either but they sound really bad.

Here is a photo of all the tadpoles I was able to scoop out of my little pond. I have no idea how many there are .... probably 2000.

This is what the fella at the pet store said..... He said when you have that many in a confined area, the fish will eat what they can, but it won't amount to much. Then the tadpoles start following them around and attacking them by sucking their scales off until they eventually get weak, sickly, and then die ..... after which the tads will finish them off in short order. Yuck!

Here's a close-up photo of some of them. I don't yet know what I am going to do with all of them. Dump them or raise them. I should probably do the first choice. (Which is hard for me to intentionally kill them.)

Here's my little pond container. You can see some of the leaves that are eaten.

Oh my!!! I thought you just had a few, like 20 or so. That's a lot of tadpoles! Okay, scratch the fish idea.

It would be hard for me too to dispose of them. Maybe there's a company like Ghost Busters....CTF Tadpole Busters.....oh great, now I'm singing that song......who you gonna call.....

I have them but can't kill them

LOL, Rox!

I know, Donna, it's not something I take lightly. They are in the plastic bin overnight. We shall see how I feel about them and what happens tomorrow. Tonight they are safe and alive. :-)

I empty my little pond comtainer with 1 waterlily in it, once a week, just because of that and mosquitos. I use all my open containers and other buckets with water in them to water my plants so they don't sit around to long.

I had the same thing happen as you, last year. I had a 5 gallon bucket of hundreds of tadpoles. I couldn't tell what kind they were, but I knew there were Cuban frogs in the yard.

I gave the bucket to my DH and told him to take them to our pasture, but not to tell me what else he did with them.
I couldn't pour them out,....but I bet he did.
~Lucy

oh becky, man that is alot - I can't believe those ALL came from such a little pond, wow. Will your DH "take care of it" for you? I mean, seriously, you cannot raise that many frogs!

Lucy - I can't lift my pond to empty every week. Way too heavy! I wish I could. I do notice that if the leaves completely cover the surface, the frogs aren't as determined to lay eggs in it. I also think that dragonfly larvae and nymphs eat the eggs and tadpoles. I have another exact pond just a few beds away from this one and not a single tadpole in it. Very few snails that I can see as well. So something is definitely eating them. Not that I want to stick my hand in there to find out. Those nymphs can really bite!

Well, I've been thinking about my dilemma. The tadpoles aren't the problem so much as the frogs. I have a ton of CTFs all around my yard and the neighboring properties. Those frogs eat everything! So I do NOT want more. They are probably eating critters I don't want them to. And I have only so many snakes to eat the frogs, so the tads have to go!!! It rained here really good for a couple days and there is water standing in the swale. I think I will dump them all in there. The water is quickly evaporating, so they probably won't make it to frog stage. And I can just say Mother Nature took care of the problem for me! :-)

Whadda ya think? Sounds like a good plan?

yes, I do think that is a good plan - let nature take its course.

The CTF's eat the Anole lizards we have here in Florida too.....there have been far less of them this year. I have thousands and thousands of CTF tadpoles in my little fish ponds, I scoop and scoop, but every morning the water is covered with more eggs.
The noise at night is horrible. Definitely NOT a happy singing frog noise or the deep barrum barrum of bull frogs...this is a noise you DON'T want to hear while trying to sleep!
They say to put them in a ziploc bag and freeze them to euthanize them in a humane way. If I attempted that, I'd have no room left for food....

I didn't get around to releasing those tads yet! I gotta do it tomorrow. They are getting BIG!!!

Twice today I noticed the black racer snake over by the bin. I have a sneaky suspicion that he sees the movement in the bin since it is clear and he is trying to figure out how to get at and eat what is moving! LOL! Snakes have poor eyesight. They smell with their tongues. But in this case, who knows what he is smelling? lol

how about turtles i know they do eat tadpoles

Hmmmm ..... maybe I should turn them loose where there is a snapping turtle in a pond! Sounds like a plan! Thanks Pam!

Becky,

I read the link you provided and it seems as though they are strongly recommending that people destroy these. I hope you don't release them as that would just add to the population and make matters worse. Maybe you could contact your county extension agent and they could advise you. We haven't seen them here yet, but you can bet if I do find them here I would have no moral dilemma about destroying them. I love my lizards and native frogs and don't want to lose them.

Yes Becky........ Feed the turtle:-) He might be hungry..

I don't think he's THAT hungry ! How many could he eat?