Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
shaun_gw

Frogs making me uncomfortable

shaun
19 years ago

Any suggestions on how to get rid of the frogs who visit my front porch and poop all over it? They also get on the windows and urinate leaving streaks on my used to be clean windows.

The poop stains the concrete, they are up on the tables, the window ledges, the lights, it's just awful and we can't even go out at night because their hanging around. A few times a frog has been squished on the driveway. That makes me feel bad....but there are so many of them!

There are two kinds, those tree frog things that have suction cup feet on the windows and the ones that are bigger and hope all around the ground.

HELP?? Any advice? I asked on the Reptile / Amphibian forum but they LOVE frogs. No help there. Other forums have insinuated that I should love my frogs. ew no.

Comments (36)

  • trilobite
    19 years ago

    I love frogs too. When an animal is interested in a human dwelling, it's because it's getting something out of that human dwelling, usually food or habitat.

    Do you have any local wildlife/naturalist people you could talk to? Ask them what you can do to minimize the attractiveness of your house to the frogs.

  • Ina Plassa_travis
    19 years ago

    remove any standing water on the property since frogs need not just damp, but water to survive.

    turn off the lights- Tiger lily's definately right about you making a real 'all you can eat buffet' for them...

    and is this the whole neighborhood? or just your property? if the latter- what's different about your place?

  • shaun
    Original Author
    19 years ago

    Hi everyone and thanks for your input.

    This is a neighborhood problem...not just my house. There is no standing water and we do keep the porch light off.

    I guess I'm just doomed to have frogs. I was hoping there was some type of repellant out there that would make my porch undesirable. Maybe a big pan of garlic butter and white wine sizzling on the porch? hehehehehe

    Thanks so much for all the suggestions.

  • talley_sue_nyc
    19 years ago

    It would be a PITN and expensive, and maybe wouldn't work w/ your house style--but could you screen the porch? Then they'd be outside it!

    Once while visiting an aunt in Mora, Minnesota, there were "peepers"--little frogs--EVERYWHERE! I stepped on them as I crossed the yard; the roads were nearly covered with them. And it was LOUD.

    I like frogs--a few at a time. Not when there's enough for a plague!

  • earthworm
    19 years ago

    Why not set up a habituate for the frogs, if you have the room.
    I am thinking of solar lights and a little pond.
    Maybe hire a monitor lizard to control them.

  • shaun
    Original Author
    19 years ago

    Talley Sue, screening in the front porch wouldn't work with our house style, I'm just doomed.

    Earthworm, umm, nah.

    Thanks again for your suggestions/input!

  • talley_sue_nyc
    19 years ago

    too bad you can't put a mild electrical charge in the exterior of your house, or a static field around the outside of your house.

  • Ina Plassa_travis
    19 years ago

    well- earthworm does have an option- invite a predator to come live with you.

    it's either that- or move north.

    look at it this way- at least you know that your neighborhood isn't toxic- it's got to be pretty clean and safe for the frogs to survive.

  • just_di
    19 years ago

    Last June, we had the 17 year Brood X Cicada invasion in the mid atlantic. Besides it being the single most largest emergance of insects in one place known in history to date, the males, when ready to mate, make more noise than a jet engine. They actually measure the decibels! During that time, I visited Port Charlotte, FL and couldn't believe how noisy the frogs were that covered the condo I stayed at! Although the cicadas were noisier, the frogs got a close second!
    ~di

  • shaun
    Original Author
    19 years ago

    Yeppo they are loud as loud can be! And messy. ha! remember I said we had no standing water?

    well, after Hurricanes Frances AND Jeanne, we now have standing water jam packed with thousands of tadpoles, which are growing up quickly and we have thousands of baby frogs hip hopping all over the place.

    I thought I had a frog problem before? OMG.

  • rosieo
    19 years ago

    Hop on over (sorry!) to the cooking forum and get a recipe for frog legs! Think of it as having a garden that you don't have to tend. As an added bonus, once you harvest their legs they won't be able to climb the screens anymore!

    I love frogs, they taste like chicken!

  • Jonesy
    19 years ago

    Go to the wildlife forum, they are always teasing about "ship your surplus to me". They are very beneficial to the garden. I agree with, turn off your light.

  • DrynDusty
    19 years ago

    I surely wouldn't use anything toxic on the frogs! They are declining in numbers, world wide, and quite a few are being found with deformities: two heads, extra legs, etc. Apparently, they are very sensitive to pollutants.
    Frogs gather in huge numbers like that to find mates, so it is a self-limiting phenomena. If they're not gone in a few days, to be replaced by a later crop, it will be surprising.
    Norm

  • shaun
    Original Author
    19 years ago

    Rosieo! hahaha!
    ps to others who suggested lights be off, the lights ARE off. Still froggie. Oh well, thanks anyway!

  • maduce
    19 years ago

    Get used to frogs in Florida - they eat mosquitos and other unwelcome bugs. We have some of the same issues, loud chirping, frogs and their leavings on our windows, a few squashed in driveway and they get into the pool despite a screened lanai. I assume that the ones on your windows are tree frogs (the little green or brown type). They are attraced to the light from your windows as are the insects they eat. I guess you could encourage some snakes that will eat the frogs, but most people would rather have the frogs. On occasion a snake has gotten into our pool - probably lured by frogs! Snakes are good guys too, but you'll never convince my wife!

    Enjoy the frogs...they are harmless. The link below may help you identify some of your frogs.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Frogs and Toads of Florida

  • wannadanc
    18 years ago

    I have a hard time getting frogs to survive in my water feature - because the snakes luv the site as much as the frogs, and the snakes LUV frog legs, too. I will trade you a bushel of our slugs for a bushel of your frogs!

    Best wishes .......

    Vicki

  • tjbakes_aol_com
    14 years ago

    I have same problem with frogs at front door, both the tree frogs (which i have had 1 jump on top of my head, ewwwwww) and we have the other frogs. We have front deck where they hang underneath n do all their mating etc. I read on another site that salt rock put in the area will send them elsewhere, says it burns their feet n they move on. Have same issue whether light is on or not. I go outside at night w/golf club to move'm outta my way. I'm gonna try the salt rock, it also said a highly salted water will do same. Anything that will send'm elsewhere, dont like to kill'm

  • shaun
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Wow this thread was revived from a looooooong time ago.

    I still have frogs. Lots of em. Salt rock, huh? Won't hurt to try.

    Maduce, I'm a native Floridian and have never had this problem, before moving to *this* house in 2005. But thanks for the link.

  • bippylove
    14 years ago

    kiss them and turn them to princes!

  • hearthside_im_all_in
    14 years ago

    I just realized my one proven frog-killing garter snake is actually three snakes.....therefore I have surplus. Want one? Please? :)

  • pjb999
    14 years ago

    What arrogance we humans have, that we think the earth is here solely for us? By our own way of defining things, we are a plague on the planet.

    I think having the frogs around proves the environment there is very clean, so that's a good thing. They will also be controlling bugs.

    Turning off outside lights and drawing shades may be a disincentive to climb your windows.

  • sheilajoyce_gw
    14 years ago

    I wonder if you sprinkled some diatimatious(sp?) earth around on your porch that they would find it uncomfortable. They sell it to use in pool filters.

  • billchartrand_hotmail_com
    12 years ago

    We have hundreds of little baby toads, day and night! Any suggestions to getting them out of my yard? My neighbors also have them.

  • lynxe
    12 years ago

    We treasure our frogs & toads. Frogs in the pond, frogs in damp areas, frogs in the drainage ditches. Toads living on the patio. They are voracious eaters of bugs, and the toads love slugs....why would you even want to get rid of them, Bill? They cause no harm, and they have their place in the ecosystem.

  • paige16
    12 years ago

    I would trade you for some of my deer but they would be hard to ship! They eat my newly planted plants so we have to spray them and then the smell is so awful I have to burn candles at a very expensive rate since I only seem to like the smell of expensive ones. We try to get plants they don't like but they seem to get less fussy. If it rains we have to spray all over again and then more candle burning!

  • emilynewhome
    12 years ago

    I suspect you have a lot of bugs, mosquitos etc that is keeping them there! A few frogs can be useful in the food chain!

  • lazypup
    12 years ago

    Everybody made comments on harvesting frog legs...yea....and next thing you know there will be some animal rights group picketing your front yard and petitioning the government to supply wheelchairs for gimpy frogs.

  • MarthaC100
    12 years ago

    I came across this after Googling "how to get rid of frog poop", and was pretty disappointed with all of the people that were trying to save them all. I don't mind the frogs, and love animals, (I have three adopted animals right now, and have had MANY more in the past)but come on, do any of you frog lovers want frog poop all over YOUR property?!?

  • brickeyee
    12 years ago

    Sounds a lot more like toads.

    Frogs prefer to stay IN the water.

  • lazypup
    12 years ago

    Neither toads or common frogs can climb on the windows, Those are tree frogs, and tree frogs only require standing water when breeding.

    Now in regards to the frog poop....just get the hose and wash it off,,,,if we were to dry it and put it in a nice plastic bag labeled as "organic fertilizer" ppl would pay through the nose to get it.

  • lynxe
    12 years ago

    "come on, do any of you frog lovers want frog poop all over YOUR property?!?"

    So very much not one of the things in the world that concerns me.

  • nyclady
    11 years ago

    I have been living in my apartment for 3 years and park my car in the same spot in front of my apartment (it's a handicapped spot) and have never had the problem of tree frogs getting into my car. For some reason I am being invaded with them this year. My windows are always shut and the car locked. I have even found them inside the cover of my gas tank. I'm not afraid of them but because they are in my car, I'm afraid that they will jump on me while I am driving. Any suggestions on how to get rid of them?

  • brickeyee
    11 years ago

    If they are large enough you can eat their rear legs.

  • Stacie Caspari
    5 years ago
    Ew it’s people like you that move to Florida and then want to kill the animals that have been here some hundreds of years and have no respect for Gods creatures. You can’t pick and choose. It ruins our eco system. My suggestion read read read about Florida. Worry about the giant lizards eating cats. And hire someone to clean the poo. Leave the cute little frogs that get rid of mosquitos ants and other pesky flies they love to eat.
  • toxcrusadr
    5 years ago

    Tree frogs - at least the ones around Missouri, we have green and gray ones - are way too small to have much edible leg meat! Not that I'd recommend that anyway. Just saying.

    I do love critters but they can get to be a pain and you start wishing you had some way to have fewer of them without murdering them all. Squirrels that eat the bird food, woodpeckers that attack the house, possums that burrow under the porch, etc. It's kind of like, as Tom Lehrer (the humorist and songwriter) said, being a Christian Scientist with appendicitis. :-D