This past summer I saved a few Fowlers Toad tadpoles because the water the eggs were laid in dried up to the drought we had. Once they became toadlets I fed them a few weeks and released them in fall so they could eat then hibernate.

Toads actually learn to beg for food if they are captive they are little gluttons

Green Treefrogs are up and about. This one is about 5 inches long. They croak when the rain is coming.

Glen, that's a fine looking frog!

It sure is! I love the tree frogs.

They are lovely frogs and very much loved - the female is nearly twice the size of the male. They are long-lived - about twenty years I think.

I had no idea! 20 years you say????!!!! I'm stunned. Thank you for that information.

Hello, I'm curious why frogs are beneficial?
I have frogs everywhere in our backyard and the surrounding neighbors as well.
Honestly I think there very annoying as they make very loud frog noises starting right at dusk.
They are actually quite small. Their body is the size of a big thumb nail.
I've actually been researching how to get rid of these loud and annoying frogs.
So before I go into action to get rid of them, I'm curious to see why I should let them stay?

They eat tons of bugs in and around the garden, and they provide food for birds and other animals, I would love to have some in my garden.

@Gleni

I agree with what Margaret said. But I have called upon the best person to explain that to you as Glen is an expert on frogs. He's even named more than a few species of frogs. He is the former Curator of Amphibians and Birds at the Queensland Museum in Australia.

Loud frog noise at dusk? That is music to my ears. Car horns, radios, alarms, traffic...those are noise pollution. Nature is not noise. It is a sign that our environment is healthy. Frogs are super important as they not only eat tons of The provide food for other critters and it is all part of the circle of life.
I agree , Gleni is the go-to person to answer this question.

While we wait for @Gleni to give us the information here is a link you can read:
http://www.savethefrogs.com/wh...

I think I've missed this thread here to now; that's just been corrected!

Hi!!!!

Hi J! Glad you found it.

Lucky, as others have already said, frogs eat lots of bugs. If you have a large population of frogs around your home, you must also have lots of bugs or they wouldn't stay around. Once they reduce the bug population around where you live, they will move on to the next good food source. Nature balances itself.

If you do something to get rid of the frogs, I'll bet you will suddenly discover, and not in a good way, what it is they are eating. I'd recommend you keep the frogs and appreciate what they're doing for you. The alternative might be worse.

dyzzypyxxy said:Lucky, as others have already said, frogs eat lots of bugs. If you have a large population of frogs around your home, you must also have lots of bugs or they wouldn't stay around. Once they reduce the bug population around where you live, they will move on to the next good food source. Nature balances itself.

If you do something to get rid of the frogs, I'll bet you will suddenly discover, and not in a good way, what it is they are eating. I'd recommend you keep the frogs and appreciate what they're doing for you. The alternative might be worse.

No pollution and clean water also are essential to healthy frog populations!

Well, it took me some time to find some frog pics, anyway, here's a few -
Most of them were of a small green treefrog that seemed particularly populous in 2013 -





One year there was a small white tree frog, but I haven't found it yet.

Lucky, sounds like you are in a good area. But, most people don't have a choice to want to get rid of frogs in their yards. The use of pesticides, acidification, nutrient pollution, and draining of wetlands has made sure they have been long gone. As well, because of human-introduced diseases, there has been a massive extinction of species in the last 30 years.

I remember many instances of people being adverse to frogs when I was a curator. It was always to do with their calls. One man rang me at his wits' end because his wife was so fixated on a Striped Marshfrog call that she had locked herself in the toilet and stuffed clothes in any space. He couldn't get her out. Another, where a man sneaked over and poisoned his neighbours ponds (and several of their pets). Another where a lady used to boil pots of water and throw it where she thought the frogs were - or on them if she actually saw one. She said they turned bright red when she got one.

In many countries, however, there have been popular movements championing the return of frogs. Gardening societies have been in forefront of this. It came with the acknowledgement that frogs in a garden meant less pests. Amphibians are big eaters of insects.

Frogs are also good indicators: like how canaries were used in coal mines in olden times. If the canary died, you had to go for your life because what you were breathing was going to kill you soon. Frogs are very sensitive to adverse environmental changes. If you got frogs, something is okay in your microcosm.

Okay, I will definitely tell the wife that we are going to let the frogs stay. Her biggest complaint was that when we watch a movie in the living room she had to turn the volume up really loud to drown out the frogs. My neighbor has turned his whole backyard into a huge garden about 3 years ago and that's where most of them are. I think? I lost hearing in my left ear from Afghanistan 4 years ago so it's hard to tell sometimes where they actually are. Though I do know that if I walk around my back yard the noises stop so that was my clue that there somewhere near me but impossible to find sometimes. I know they love the puddles around our yard which is where I 1st started to see them in our yard. My neighbor whose backyard touches our backyard asked me how I drain my pool with out wasting the water. She told me she has 100s of frogs in her pool.

I know I can research this, but does anyone know what time of bugs they eat? Mosquitoes, flies, etc etc

Thanks for all the great information

luckyzl230 said:
I know I can research this, but does anyone know what time of bugs they eat? Mosquitoes, flies, etc etc

Thanks for all the great information

I would say anything they can catch. They come out at night to eat so anything that is out at that time including june bugs, crickets, and mosquitoes. It really depends on the size of the frogs. Some large frogs like Bullfrogs can eat mice, crawfish, and snakes.

Good on you Lucky. You are the best!!