We had a ton of rain last week and a lot of frogs were croaking in the evenings. I knew that I was hearing Cuban Tree Frogs! My husband asked me how I could be sure it was the cuban tree frogs ... well, we had them at our house in Daytona about 10 years ago and they are quite loud. Anyway, he went to walk the dog a few minutes ago and when he came back up the driveway he asked me if I saw the big cuban tree frog on the recycle bin when I took it out. I asked him how he knew it was a cuban tree frog. I grabbed my camera and took some pictures ... now I need to get a zip lok bag for Mr. Froggy and put him in the freezer!

You go get 'im, Lin!

I was just telling the folks on the Orchids forum a few days ago that since I've been eliminating the Cubans, I have many more native frogs returning around my house now. A big Leopard frog in the pond (he's got a deep, loud croak, too) and the lovely little peeping tree frogs are back.

Dang! He was gone when we went back out there. But, I will surely be on the lookout in the evenings and early mornings. Those baddies need to go!

I had one sitting on top of my rain barrel the other day. I had my pruners in my hand and things got...messy. Apparently, Dad was watching me through the sliding glass doors and narrating for Mom. Of course, Mom is still mad she saw one inside the entryway when she walked in the door a couple of weeks ago. Dad took care of that one.

It's true that since I've been on a Cuban Frog eradication plan, I have seen more of the Green Tree Frogs. Also, I noticed my population of the native Anoles has gone way up. Invasive species are so out of hand. I thought the Tegu Lizards were bad, then pythons, and now we've got Nile Crocodiles?

I'm afraid we may have quite a few of the cuban tree frogs around here ... at least it sure sounded like it in the evenings last week with all the rain we had! Hopefully I will be able to eradicate them by catching and freezing them as I did with the ones I caught at our house in Daytona a few years ago I don't think I have the nerve to use pruners. I used to find them on occasion in my hanging baskets and this photo is from 2007 when one took up residence in a birdhouse:

Darned if that thing doesn't look like it is grinning at you.

Lin, the UF site recommended trapping them in these:


Just lengths of PVC pipe, cut at an angle at one end so you can stick them in the ground. They really don't need to be this long, and I'm going to cut mine in half so I'll have twice as many. You can paint them a darker color, but I forget about them even in their whiteness because I hide them amongst the foliage in damp spots. The frogs love them! They get in there, and you just need to check them once in a while in the daytime, and put your ziploc bag over the end(s)of the pipe to catch them. When I put them in the freezer and Marsh finds them he always says "Hmm, frogsicles!"

I still spray them with a shot of Solarcaine or Benadryl to slow them down, though. It puts them to sleep in about 20 seconds.

How long do they have to stay in the freezer to make sure they're "dispatched"? I'm afraid I'd forget about it and have a heart attack when I ran across it later! Hate those things!

A couple of hours should do it, I think. I've usually left mine over night. Maybe put a sticky note on the freezer to remind yourself?

They love my birdhouses.


I have no idea how but one year we found a huge one in my shower stall, the thing was a big as my hand. Yikes

They are really big tree frogs! I've been hearing them off and on in the evening and I know after we get the rains predicted this coming week, I'll probably be hearing the loud chorus ... wish I could trap a few for euthanization!

I caught these two last night, mating near my fish pond. The female was really large, and I sprayed them both with Benadryl before I picked them up. The pond has a nice population (family?) of Leopard frogs now, and I don't want the Cubans to start invading there again.

I wondered what type of tree frog they were...Those babies have great leaping abilities...They have huge eyes and are very vocal...We heard one in our Lanai and thought we had some sort of animal in there..After turning everything upside down in the Lanai I found him in the gutter outside...Understand we are new to Florida from Michigan...Tree frogs there get no larger than a half dollar...

Jeff, these aren't native frogs here in Florida and shouldn't be here, hence all the comments about doing away with them. BTW, Cuban tree frogs secrete something in their skin that is very irritating, especially around the eyes. Once, when my son was around 10 and didn't know any better, he caught one then happened to rub his eye without washing his hands. It was awful - I think he screamed for at least 10 minutes!

Here's the link from the University folks about them, Jeff. They're one of the worst invasive species we have here in Florida because they eat the competing species of native frogs, as well as fish, birds, lizards and other wildlife.
http://www.wec.ufl.edu/extensi...

The humane method for euthanizing them is down the page under "What you can do for Florida" heading.

I guess we get too cold here in Mississippi. To my knowledge, have never seen one or heard of any being around, even on the Gulf Coast.

I sprayed a big female the other night with benydryl. Im still not over it. Not sure whats humane about that. I knew it had to go, but I wont do that again anytime soon. Im going to get some cream, and put just a line down the back, if I every get the nerve to do it again. Ive put them in the fridge, them move to freezer, I guess they suffered just as bad, but I didnt have to see it.

The Benadryl doesn't make them suffer, Pam. It puts them to sleep.

Then into the freezer, they just don't wake up.

Euthanasia, huh?

drdawg said:Euthanasia, huh?

Yeah ... some folks have no qualms about just smashing them but I've always tried to do it as humanely as possible. I read about the Benadryl and freezer method on a University of Florida website about twelve years ago when I first came across one of those big tree frogs and had it identified as the invasive cuban type.