Who let the frogs out?

This is only our second year having frogs, so I'm not used to the timetable. I thought they were supposed to hibernate? We've had one living near/in the fountain outside our bedroom since last summer. He croaks every night, but recently the volume, tone, and variety of calls has increased dramatically. We've even wondered if we have something other than our regular tree frogs. Do you think he's been fooled by the recent hot spell we had? We don't mind him much, though I hope all his buddies stay down in the pond!! Some of the calls are very funny to our ears. :-)

I have a seasonal wetland behind my house and there are little frogs that live there and every year about this time is mating season and they "sing" to each other all night long. My wetland is still bone dry this year so they haven't showed up yet and I don't remember exactly when they showed up last year, but this seems like about the right time. I don't know if your guy is the same kind of frog that I have here, but if he is then he's probably just looking for a girlfriend (or maybe a boyfriend if he's a she)! The ones here are only heard from during the wintertime, except for the occasional one that wanders up the hill and tries to take up residence in my hot tub during the spring/summer. I'm not sure if they hibernate during the summer or if they go somewhere else, but they're definitely active during the winter.

Interesting, Liz! I had it totally turned around. There's at least one down at the pond, as they talk to each other in the evening.

I don't know if you have it turned around--I'm sure there are lots of different kinds of frogs and they probably all have different habits. The markings on yours are different than my "hot tub frogs" which may or may not be the same kind that hang out in the wetlands during the winter (I'm assuming they're the same because I usually start finding them in my hot tub about the time the wetland dries up, but I don't know for sure).

He's a California tree frog. This is a good site for IDing them. http://www.californiaherps.com/frogs/frogspics.html

Maybe yours is the same as mine--when I look at the site, the California Tree Frog is the one that most resembles mine, although it's been a while since I've seen them so my memory may not be that great! For some reason in your pic it looked like the markings were different than what I remembered, but from the website I'm pretty sure that's what mine are too. I also find the Pacific Tree Frogs every once in a while--I usually find them on plants though rather than in the hot tub, guess they don't like swimming in chlorine!

This is the biggest one we've seen. I have some pictures of a baby one on a rock and he looks like a speck. Amazing the noise that comes out of the little critters - I wish I could see one with his throat swelled up once.

You know, looking at more pics on that web site, I'm wondering if ours is the Pacific Tree Frog, as it has the stripe through the eye.

No, no, no...you guys can't have frogs, 'cause every frog in the world is here at our place tonight. I think they're having an orgy out there..lol...

Send some my way...I actually like the sound of them singing at night and I'm afraid I'm going to miss out this year unless we get a lot of rain in a hurry to make my wetland a wetland instead of a dry ditch!

I was asked once by a "bud" on GW to transplant some of my frogs to her pond. We tried, but they didn't stay (apparently the accommodations didn't suit). I've read they will travel miles to return to their favorite spots if displaced.

I'm so excited--I was outside just now with my dog and heard a few froggies singing! I guess they must have found some water somewhere to hang out in. I still hope the wetland fills up because it's so nice to look out the window and see the ducks and geese swimming around in it, but at least I know my froggies are OK!

We have frogs and toads. They both start singing when it starts raining. Time to weed the pond so we don't interfere with their egg laying. When my boys were younger, they used to love going out in the warm spring nights with their flashlights and 5 gallon buckets and collecting toads. I always made them release them, but had no idea we had so many toads living here. The frogs like it best in the green house, the toads seem to like the outdoor pond best. Maybe because I keep evicting them from the green house and the pool! : P
I hope our pond farm fills up and we get our migrating ducks back. They've been nesting out there for the past three years. I sure hope they come back this year. They are so much fun to watch. The egrets I could live without, because they eat my goldfish. The herons come around and we see them in the sky or perched on the outbuildings. They tend to go down to the farm pond, because it is bigger, and not covered with a bird net.
Something special about the wetlands! : )
WIB,
SW

My DH got me a plastic blue heron to put in my very small front pond because an egret had decided to turn it into a sushi bar. The fake one's been there for 3 years, and the egrets now just fly by.

imapigeon,
I hadn't thought about a plastic blue Heron in the pond. We were thinking about getting a heron scare. That uses a motion detector to squirt the birds when they come in for a landing. I'm afraid it would also squirt me. Do you know where you DH got the Heron? I'm sure it would be less expensive, and wresting with that bird netting putting it up and taking it down requires the help of disgruntled teens, UggggH!
You always have great ideas!
Thanks!
WIB,
SW

Aww, shucks.....~~

He got it from some sporting-goods outfit---something to do with duck-hunting as I recall. Let me see if I can find one & post a link. It's very realistic. New neighbors have been known to try to sneak up on it and take pictures (snort!!!)

I netted my ponds one year, too, and HATED it---no teens involved, but I was disgruntled enough for several of them between the ugliness of it and the way it trapped leaves and getting it on and off....what a nightmare!

Found a few!

http://www.pondsonline.com/decoys.htm
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_35028____SearchResults
http://www.aquaticponds.com/Laguna-Blue-Heron-Decoy_p_19-191.html
http://www.aquaticponds.com/Blue-Heron-Decoy-with-Legs_p_989.html

SW and Ima,

I have had a fake heron next to my pond for several years now and I hate to say it, but they don't work around here. I have to replenish my pond with feeder fish every few months. I used to have Koi, but they were eaten also, thus just feeder fish now. We just figured that it is Mother Nature doing her thing and we just call it feeding the "birds"!! lol

Donna

Our parrots would freak if we had a permanent heron where they could see it! The big one scares them off when she screams, but those darn egrets don't move. We do have a water scarecrow and it works, but we turn it off when there's not much activity. You get used to the 'zone' - but yes, we've been sprayed lots of times.

I've seen mixed results on some of the pond forums, so maybe we just have a particularly gullible strain of egrets....
I had to move it around a few times, but they haven't been back for about 3 years.

My DH woke me up one morning with coffee and a big smile and said "You've got to get up and come see this big beautiful white bird that's in the back pond!" I, of course, being the pondmeister in the family, knew this was fraught with danger for my baby koi. Threw the covers off, raced into the yard flailing my arms and screaming (scared the poo out of DH and the egret.) After the bird flew off, I realized that I was totally starkers in the back yard (and it was before we had the nice screen of perimeter trees we have now). Hopefully no neighborhood children were psychologically harmed.....good thing the egret wasn't in the FRONT pond that morning!

imapigeon, I was really impressed especially with the crocodile decoy! LOL! Oh and the wording on one of the Heron ads cracked me up too! I couldn't believe it and had to read it a couple of times before it made sense to me. 'Comes with life like legs and post.' I read it as "Comes with life, like legs and post." I know that they meant "Comes with life-like legs and post." Punctuation marks make a big difference sometimes! LOL! I didn't know they called what I know as a heron scare a scarecrow, but now I know, and by golly, the price has been reduced by half of what it used to be.
I'll show DH. I'm sure he'd rather get the one with the built in scarecrow which will discourage the new puppy from getting in there. Bonus, I won't have to deal with disgruntled teens. : )
SoCal, I don't feed the birds anything but feeder fish either, but some of them have been with me a long time, and I'm fond of them. Feeder fish and mosquito fish are the only fish in my pond since the stupid egret speared and didn't eat the picostimus (phoenetic spelling). My turtles aren't affected but they are bigger now. I did loose a couple of babies to what I think was a waterbird. Their shells weren't as hard then.
imapigeon, you got me chuckling when your neighbors were sneaking up to take photos, but I ROTFLOL at
your description of chasing off the poor Heron. I too, hope that no one psychologically damaged, but I bet that particular Heron didn't return. : )
Thanks for sharing I really needed a good laugh today! : )
KaperC, now you make me wonder what my peacock and geese will do when they see the decoy. Hmmm.
WIB,
SW
WIB,
SW

SoCal, we keep our fake heron IN the pond....I wonder if it makes a difference over having it "next to" the pond?

SW, I love that you noticed the punctuation...THAT definitely makes a difference! I also wonder what the "life like post" is imitating... And, no, we never saw another water bird in that particular pond. We did put one of those silly concrete "Nessie" things in it shortly thereafter, though. She's very UN "life-like"! I have realistic plastic snakes all over the garden left over from my former chickens---those freak out enough of my visitors. An alligator? No....that would just be TOO much!~~

LOL! : )
WIB

Ima,
Our pond isn't very big at all so the Heron has to be outside the pond. It is right on the edge though. There have been times when I see the real Heron standing right next to the fake one and have to take a double take on which one is which...lol

Kathleen I want you to know everytime I read this thread I get that darn "who let the dog's out song in my head!!

So do I Marie!!!!

LOl !!

ME TOO!!

I no sooner posted the above when my FIRST FROG OF THE SEASON started to sing...LOL!!!

Did he go "wooof, woooof, woooof?"

More like "wrrp wrrp wrrp"......

Maybe he can't spell....

This message was edited Jan 29, 2009 4:37 PM

LOL! Maybe I can't!

The toads make a squeal of distress when they are unhappy (like when there are 100 in a five gallon bucket). Got to get the pond cleaned out! It might rain again, and it is crucial to get that chore done before it rains and the frogs and toads start laying their eggs. Too much fun to watch! Love them tadpoles.
WIB,
SW

My little frogs have started croaking...I'm super excited! I "imported" them into my backyard (6 foot fence) last spring, and raised many from tadpoles as well. I was getting worried they didn't make it or had moved on.

I've heard a couple of the classic "ribbits," but mostly there is one frog making a sound like a hoarse squeaky toy (no barking frogs here either LOL). They crack me up with all the different types of croaks they make. I think I have Pacific Tree Frogs, as they have the stripes through their eyes.

When my son used to mow our lawn/weeds, he'd catch the wee frogs and make me admire and hold every single one before he moved it to a safe place. I remember thinking "OK, I can take the time to look at ONE more %*(@_+ frog; someday it will be the last one, and I'll miss this...." And I was right, of course!

Whats a little toad/frog pee? It washes off. I will have to admit while I'm not squeamish about snakes and toads, I did learn not to automatically hold out my hand the day my youngest placed a stink bug in it. Ugggg!
I don't miss that at all.
Sunnyg, that is an awfully cute little frog. Toads burrow, or use old burrows from other critters to shelter in. Frogs are sneaky, and well camo'ed (sp). We have some that live in the banana and other plants. I seldom see them except during the rainy season.
I remember as a kid, finding bull frogs as big as dinner plates down in the San Luis Rey River. That was a long time ago, and I'm pretty sure they are gone now.
WIB,
SW

LOL. I had that song in my head when I posted the first message.

Our frog seems to have moved down to the pond - we don't hear him near the house anymore. I miss him. :-(

When I was a kid, we had a 'pond' that was a big hole in the back yard with canvas or something lining it for the frogs. No water features in those days and we lived in suburbia. We were adopted by a desert tortoise, and we had king snakes and lizards and white rats and pigeons and cats and dogs and birds and... what's left? I think I posted a picture once of my mom as a young girl playing with a family of skunk kittens, so I come by my critter love from her, I'm sure. :-) Never could cozy up to tarantulas, though.

I hear an owl outside - must check the nest box and see if we have a resident!

KC;
Sounds like where we lived, critter haven. If it walked, flew, crawled, hopped or slithered, it eventually came to stay with us for a time. Although we never had skunks, we did have raccoons and opossums. Then there are the critters my kids collected, my brothers were tame in comparison.
I kind of like tarantula's myself. I just don't like my kids capturing them and then forgetting about them and letting die.
Your frog is not talking because they only "talk" to attract a mate, since they only mate when they have rain water to mate in, they aren't talking. Really, my pond frogs and toads aren't talking either, but if it rains for a day or more you can hear them every night. Until it gets dry again. : (
Hope your nest is occupied by a mouse eater!
WIB,
SW

Don't know about rainwater but my frog nursery was a paint bucket with rooting brugs. I have a creek behind me and the frogs are making a racket. They also live in my hanging plants and sing to me when I water. They are there pretty much all of the time.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/520989/

Our noisy one is still outside the house, just quieter. One day I found two inside a bag of potting soil I had not closed correctly.