This morning I noticed frog eggs in my lotus bowl. I am pretty certain those came from my leopard frogs. Want to come by and get some? I am south east orlando.

Evelyn

I opened my garbage can yesterday and there was a big old bofu toad in there. Want me to send him to you? LOL. My doberman has had one close call with a bofu. It must have been memorable: she steers clear of them now, thankfully.

I found this cutie pie perched on a paper yard wastebag in my front yard in October 2006 but haven't seen him since.

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That "cutie pie" is a Cuban Tree Frog!

Barrierisland, there are usually online resources for securing tadpoles and every year at Green Thumb Festival (St. Pete's garden show) they sell bullfrog tadpoles. Good luck.

since there is no way to contact you, not even through gardenweb, I repeat myself: I still have the leopard frog eggs in a bucket, do you want them? if not I will let them go. Let me know :-)

Evelyn

TampaArt- I wish I had known that about the bullfrogs! I lived on a lake for 22 years and always wanted bullfrogs! Now it is too late for that. We did have leopard frog.

I always find little frog/toads in my potting areas inside of stacked pots.

How nice leopard frogs. I have Cuban trees and Cane Toads by the zillions .

I hope to one atleast see a local leopard frog and green treefrog lots lakes around here but never saw a leopard frog

Well. I joined this web to learn. Thank you for enlightening me about the identification of "Cutie Pie" (Cuban Tree Fog), Tampaart. I fell out of love with frogs when I lived in Jax with a protected wetlands directly behind my backyard. The nightime sound was deafening during mating season. I recognize that frogs and toads can make a huge impact on the bug population and they're friendly in the garden.

I visited your website and your article on Mango Trees was exceptional. I didn't read your other articles yet, but will. And now I want a Mango, having learned that there are species that aren't fibrous.

Here's my question to frog lovers. When it comes to invasive species, what is your opinion on whether or not to kill? The Fla Dept. of Agriculture recommends freezing bofus for 3 days before depositing in trash. I've done that a few times but felt extremely guilty about it, even though my dad was a farmer.

I really am curious about opinions on whether or not you should kill invasive critters. We seem to get all of them in Stuart.

here's a real cutie

Kill the cuban treefrogs (Osteopilus septentrionalis). Kill the cane toads (Bufo marinus). Do NOT kill all bufos. Our native toads are Bufo terrestris, and an important part of our eco-system. We have many, many posts on the cuban treefrog you can read through to help you decide where you stand on this issue. Here is a link to one, and a clickable link to another below.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/flgard/msg061330174639.html

Marcia

Here is a link that might be useful: Killing Cuban Treefrogs

Thank you for the great picture, Laurel! And I appreciate the links and info, Marcia.

For the past 3 years, I've been eliminating CTF's in my yard as best I can, even though it is difficult since they're EVERYWHERE!
To this day, I still have no native green frogs, but do have the adorable tiny Greenhouse Frogs.

When I lived for a short while up in PA, I put in a pond at my other house.
These guys moved right in and were awesome...wish they'd live down here! :(

Here's a couple of the frogs that I have on my front porch every night. I seem to have all kinds of frogs everywhere.

Karalynn, I would pay BIG BUCKS to have one or two of those on MY porch! Lucky you!!! It gives me HOPE!

Thanks for sharing!
Marcia

How great I have never seen a single Green not 1 and I have looked after it rained at night not just my yard but the area where I go fishing and the bird sanctuary behind my house .
I am not sure there are any left in my area anymore .

CTF I now see by the drones as tiny thus imagine they bred recently the bigger ones will eat them

Not sure if you guys know the species, but...

karalynn: those are both Squirrel Treefrogs (Hyla squirella)- they are native and need fishless water to breed/lay eggs in- which they do in the spring.

lellie: your's is a Green Frog (Rana clamitans)- they stop in northern Florida and don't make it down further south- great native species throughout the rest of the eastern US.

laura1: that looks like a Pig Frog, another native species

Great info on the exotic frogs (click links on bottom of page):
http://myfwc.com/nonnatives/exotics/resultsClass.asp?taxclass=A

I just moved here and am trying to turn my yard mostly native (since I rent I can't really take out all the exotic vegetation, but I'm trying) and trying to get native reptiles, amphibians, butterflies, etc back. Finally saw our first Green Anoles just the other day- beautiful native species that is getting hit hard by the non-native Cuban Brown Anole.

I'd love to see native green frogs and green anoles.
This is all I get!

Imatullen - about whether or not to kill Cuban Tree Frogs. In Florida we kill coral snakes, cotton mouth moccasins, alligators, black widow spiders, nests of hornets, bacteria that causes pneumonia, ecoli on chicken, staph on bathroom door handles..... all because they pose a threat to our health. It is an informed choice. This particular carnivore is a similar threat.

Gilt is a learned behavior, and we all have to decide where to apply it appropriately. There is guilt for the frog I kill today, versus the responsibility I have to feed babies 5 generations from now - babies I will never know.

atrox, thanks for the frog IDs. YOu sound like some one who knows their stuff!

I've lived in my current house for 11 months (frog pix taken as last house). I've planted so many plants (native and non-native) to encourge the wild life...birds and butterflies and all kinds of buzzing insects, anoles, toads. There is always some thing going on in both the front and back yards. It was a mono culture (grass) when we moved here. It is wonderful to see the transformation.

Too little time to guilty about killing a dang Cuban frog! And if I could get my hands on the amidillos I'd kill them too! hehe

Well stated support, Barrier and Laura. The links Marcia previously provided gave me all the mental ammo I needed to, well, whack 'em.

Today was trash day and I pulled a big Cuban Marine Toad - Bufo Marinus - out of the can in the freezer, stuck him in a bag after his 4 day vacation to Antartica, and threw him in the bin, saving the big can for future conquests. (It still creeps me out though, that first part when chasing them with the can and the lid.) Thanks to Marcia, I know without question that I'm not hurting the native bufo, the nice ones without those pronounced sacs hanging on each side of their big fat ugly neck.

Qustion: any suggestions for keeping bufos out of broms?

Gosh, barrierisland, where in Florida do you live where all those things are killed indiscriminately? Yikes! I can only speak for myself, but personally, I do NOT kill coral snakes, cottonmouth moccasins, alligators, black widow spiders, nor nests of hornets. I MIGHT be guilty of killing some bacteria here and there, but as haphazard as I am about house cleaning, maybe not. Nor do I think most of those things could really be considered threats to our health. If you HANDLE or corner some of them, perhaps. But in general, they pose very little threat to us, and I pose NO threat to them at all. Besides which, they belong here. They were all here long before us two-legged types.

And Cuban treefrogs don't actually pose a threat to US, either. However, they do pose a serious threat to our native frog species, and since they do not belong here, I have no qualms about killing them.

Just wanted to be sure no one thought I was advocating killing frogs, snakes, alligators, spiders or other animals wholesale. I'm pretty much a live and let live kinda person, with a few notable exceptions. The Cuban treefrog being one. (Okay, I'll admit I also kill lubber grasshoppers and fire ants, but that's about it.)

Marcia

Gosh, Marcia, why would you use the dramatic term "kill indiscriminately"? My post clearly specifies that killing anything in my garden is an informed choice.

The examples I gave pose a threat to children in my garden. They have a tendency to "handle and corner" anything that moves. I am not sure where in that post you find reference to an entire population committing wholesale slaughter of ... well, you repeated the list twice...

I was talking about my garden, not yours, and not the population of any community.

BarrierIsland, it was the "In Florida we kill..." phrase that I was referencing to. There were no qualifying statements to that, so it sounded to me like you meant that was the norm for people in Florida, rather than what you personally choose to kill. If I misinterpreted your meaning, I apologize. My post was mainly meant to let people know that even though I advocate killing Cuban treefrogs, the native population of snakes, alligators, etc, are safe from me. Even if they wander through my yard, for the MOST part. Perhaps not every single time, but for the most part. If I found an alligator in my yard, for instance, and I couldn't find anyone to remove it (not real likely), I would think about killing it, I guess. Maybe. And you are certainly within your rights to kill things that come into your yard, if they aren't a protected species. But I didn't see your reference to that, so I apparently didn't understand your point.

Just wanting to let newcomers and those on the fence know that killing Cuban treefrogs is a whole separate issue from killing other forms of wildlife.

Marcia

...did you ever take Evelyn up on her offer of leopard frog tadpoles? They would make a great addition, and if I had my pond set up, I would have jumped on that offer, myself.

Marcia

Marcia, you just let me know when you are ready for tadpoles :-)

Marcia, I appreciate your points (mostly, except for the maybe killing an alligator thing).

And BarrierIsalnd, there really is no reason to kill native wildlife just because you see it as a potential hazard. There are laws concerning these things and you do NOT own the wildlife on your property. The way the law works is that you own the vegetation on your property because it does not move out of your property. Wildlife does. It belongs to the state. One day it is on your land and the next day it may hopefully find its way to a more friendly yard.

Over the past 30 years, only about 3-4 people a year have died of venomous snake bite in the USA- most of those from people trying to kill or handle the snake. Look up death by dog bite, lightening, and bee stings for comparison.

In regards to the disposal of non-native species, just remember that we are in the 6th major global extinction event; and after habitat destruction/urbanization (because an animal can't live if it doesn't have somewhere to live), invasive (non-native) species are considered the second greatest threat to global biodiversity (plant and animal alike).

Best page on Cuban Treefrogs including instructions at the bottom on how to get rid of them in your yard:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/UW259

Great that so many of you want native wildlife back! Hopefully we can all help to make that happen.

Atrox and Manature - I disagree with your assessment of me as an ignorant wildlife slaughtering fool ( you now seem to have me killing mammals, birds, fish, anything wild....a true urban legend in gardening gloves). But I do respect your right to depict me that way on an international website, as long as I continue to post on it.

I just don't understand the almost obsessive thing about killing just the treefrogs. I can understand your reasoning but, if that's the case you should be killing iguanas, Cuban anoles, brown anoles, parrots, starlings and the list goes on.

Barrierisland- native wildlife = snakes
That is all I was referring to since that is all you talked about. Nothing slanderous intended, I just feel strongly about protecting our native wildlife (which includes the heavily prosecuted snake).

Minibim, technically you are right. No exotics should be allowed to live in the wild areas of Florida, especially if they are disturbing native species, and some of the ones you have listed certainly ARE. Unfortunately, the boat has already sailed on many of them, though there are dedicated folks who are still trying. However, if you will read back over my personal posts on the Cuban treefrog, I have not ever suggested there was any way to get rid of them in south Florida, where they have taken over. (To kill or not to kill down there is a pretty much a personal choice.) I HAVE suggested killing them in central to northern Florida, where there is still at least a CHANCE of saving our native treefrogs. And I will continue to do so as long as there is any hope. I would also trap or relocate any pet iguanas, monitor lizards, parrots and the like that show up in this area, where it is at all possible to do so.

Atrox, that is why I said "MAYBE" in my post. Frankly, I would have a hard time killing an alligator anywhere, unless it had something or someone I loved in its mouth. I'm for letting them alone, or calling authorities if they turn up in the wrong place.

Barrier Island, where do you see me referring to you as an "ignorant wildlife slaughtering fool?" (Talk about dramatic phrasing.) As I said in my second post, I read your earlier post as referring to people in Florida in general as you didn't specify you were talking about anything else. As I also said in my second post, I apologize if that was not what you meant.

Nothing left to be said on that subject, as far as I'm concerned.

Evelyn, when I get a pond going, I'll check back with you, for sure! I'd love to have native leopard frogs in my yard.

Marcia

I guess it's time to jump in here and confess that I DO kill nests of hornets. Yes, it's true. Indiscriminately.

If there was an alligator in my yard I would NOT be trying to kill it, unless as Marcia says it was in the process of chomping on one of my dogs. I would stay in the house, making IWSF faces at it from the window in the hope that it would think I am more dangerous than I am and choose to move back to the pond.

__________________

Seriously folks, let's remember that this forum is for a friendly exchange of ideas with a focus on the friendly part. We don't always agree - that would be boring - and we occassionally challenge one anothers ideas because we tend to be passionate about gardening and about Florida, but we are always respectful. That's why we continue to come here. Nobody called anyone ignorant or a fool or anything else ugly and demeaning.

Thank you, Kate!

Marcia

Marcia, sorry I mentioned your name in my post. I only did so out of gratitude ... appreciating the fact that you took the time and trouble to provide links for educating myself and others about the Cuban Treefrog and Marine Toad and taking pains to ensure that I/we would correctly identify native vs. invasive Bufo's. (Never knew the native Bufo's existed until I read your post, but regretably have never seen a native Bufo here.)

I have seen Eastern Coral Snakes in my yard. They are beautiful and I'd never consider harming them or any other snake. Then again, I don't have kids and my dog isn't the type to let a Coral snake gnaw on her long enough for it to inject venom. (At least so far, but she's only 7.)

Soltice, thanks. I agree.

You can mention my name any time you want, imatallun. I wasn't upset with you at all, honest. I actually wasn't upset with ANYONE, but my response to barrierisland was apparently taken amiss, apology or not. Oh, well.

I always try to help folks who are interested learn a bit more about our native (and non-native) wildlife. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. And I always learn new things, as well.

I'm glad you are a critter lover, too! They make our gardens so much richer and more interesting, don't they?

Marcia

People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible for the TREE FROGS and the ANOLES?...ItÂs just not right. ItÂs not right. ItÂs not, itÂs not going to change anything. WeÂll, weÂll get our justice....Please, we can get along here. We all can get along. I mean, weÂre all stuck here for a while. LetÂs try to work it out. LetÂs try to beat it. LetÂs try to beat it. LetÂs try to work it out. - Rodney King

Thank you Marcia - you're great!

Yes, critters definitely make our life more enriching and interesting. I love the occasional thrill a snake skirting by my ankle adds to mundane weeding, trimming and planting. That doesn't mean I don't make a lot of noise before entering the Ginger bed (where snakes like to bask in my back yard.)

Posts aren't conducive to traditional human communication: voice inflection, facial expression, body language. Posts are black and white, wide open to misinterpretation. That's all I have to say about that, except sorry, cdbinfl, I don't get the Rodney King quote at all.

Meantime, I have a new project in mind. How about a sling shot to gently relocate slugs to a more desirable environment?

You are so right, Imatallun...it is very easy to misunderstand or misinterpret the written word, just by changing the inflection in our minds. Much easier to understand intent when we HEAR or SEE the person speaking. That's why I wanted to apologize if I had misread anything. It happens, and sometimes feelings get hurt, whether intentional or not.

But for myself, I'm ready to move along now. And I think your idea to gently, but firmly, waft slugs into the air (appropriately equipped with teeny-tiny parachutes, of course) and over the fence is a great one. Rubber bands would probably do it. *going off, scratching head and pondering the neighbor's expressions at the sight of a miniature invasion of slug-a-troopers*

Marcia

Sorry, just a poor attempt at humor. All I was trying to say is "Can't we all just get along" nothing more, nothing less.

I have indeed frozen a few frog-cicles myself.