Increasing the local frog population

Every spring, half of our gravel road turns into what the kids call "the lake". Frogs quickly inhabit it and lay eggs but the pond usually dries up in less than a month before the tadpoles can develop into frogs. There is a marsh across the road where I imagine the luckier tadpoles finish developing.

This year the kids got a 20gal tank for a few dollars. They put it on the porch and started filling it with puddle water and tadpoles. It was surprisingly successful and we have SO MANY FROGS in our yard and garden.

They are local Pacific tree frogs and come in a multitude of colors.

We left the water to get nice and slimy and just replaced portions of the water throughout the summer. Didn't feed any thing. There was plenty of life in the water. Mosquito larva were abundant in the water too but I didn't notice any more than normal, not enough to bother us. I assume the frogs were eating them too.

We were surprised that some of the tadpoles took months to develop. We finally emptied the tank last week and there was still one tadpole left. These weren't newly laid eggs. 🤷

I am a frog fan and I'm just ecstatic at the increase of frogs. All from one little tank of water.

What other simple additions have you made to increase wildlife on your yard?

This very cool!
I have looked into "propagation" of native frogs before, most of the resources seem to come out of Australia, so they are not as relevant to my area.
I wonder if the different rates of maturation is a hedging of bets survival tactic?
As long as there is water to swim in and food to eat, maybe it makes sense to spread out over season.

I think frogs would be nice addition to my urban yard.
As to mosquitos, their presence probably reduces their numbers if anything.

Here's a funny update to our frog experiment... I first noticed this about a month ago when we got an early snow. I have started hearing frogs croaking whenever our forced air heat kicks on. At first I thought I was hearing things but it really is the song of the Pacific tree frog! 🐸 😂

They aren't actually in the house but the sound seems to be coming from under the house or perhaps in the air vents. It's way too dry inside the air vents but it's got to be way too cold in the house's crawl space. We have lots of sugar ants and spiders so that's probably what they are eating.

I love frogs but it's so funny to me to hear them singing in December when it's 30°F outside and all the puddles are frozen.

I had a tree frog fritz the off grid solar system recently.
It stepped across the cables blew out a big fuse.
It took a week to resolve and currently I have an 'allen key ' in the fuse location, while I find new ones!

John C Daley wrote:I had a tree frog fritz the off grid solar system recently.
It stepped across the cables blew out a big fuse.
It took a week to resolve and currently I have an 'allen key ' in the fuse location, while I find new ones!

Oh dear! 😲 I hope my frogs stay away from any electrical stuff. They should be fine since all our wiring is sealed up pretty well.

How could I miss this thread (as the frog lover that I am)?
So cool!

While I am not familiar with your type of tree frog, it is possible that if your frogs found a temperate place that instead of getting "dormant" they are still moving. As long as they find a little bit to eat and even more important some humidity they should hopefully survive.
As to the tadpole still swimming around in autumn: This can happen, more often with newts, but also with frog or toad tadpoles. Some can overwinter in that larval state. Depending on the temperatures in that specific year they will develop either next spring or get killed by frost if the water is too shallow.

Looking forward to frog and tadpole pics next spring!

Good morning folks. I wanna find out how I attract more common toads, green frogs, bullfrogs and tree frogs to my urban habitats where there's quality wetland. Could we add a body of water without it running and vegetation as long as they're native? How do non native vegetation affect native local frog and toad populations around the country? I've seen toads in my backyard in the past and a tree frog on my front yard gates.

As amphibians do have different requirements regarding water bodies I would try to diversify. Some species do not mind moving water, other prefer still water above all.
From my knowledge about European amphibians I can also say that some species require temporal ponds that dry out in summer thus decreasing predator population (from certain water beetles, dragonfly larvae and similar).

Then add habitat for those amphibians: Moist corners, stone pyramids, brush or log piles.

As to native vegetation: The effect is secondary. The more local plants you have, the more local insects will you attract that procreate in your garden and stay there - more food for the frogs and toads!

Note that some amphibians like little ponds with lots of vegetation, while others prefer quite bare and in our eyes ugly puddles. This goes in the same direction as above: create as much different habitats as possible.
Good luck!

Here are some ways to increase the local frog and toad populations:





https://permies.com/wiki/148750/pep-animal-care/Create-Frog-Habitat-PEP-BB




https://permies.com/wiki/108200/pep-animal-care/Create-toad-habitats-PEP-BB


Take some photos and get some PEP BB (Badge Bits)!

I live in tropical country and I noticed that tree frogs moved to the few bromeliads I planted in my front yard last year. I guess they are attracted to the small pool the bromeliads have. I check those small pools sometimes and I don't see any mosquitoes larvae in them, so I think the tree frogs are eating those larvaes.
Now I want to plant more bromeliads around my vegetable garden to attract frogs and control pests.

Which part of the world you're from?

It is still pretty chilly here but sunny in the daytime and the frogs are crazy! I don't know how much my efforts last summer had to do with it but the sound of their calls is deafening right now. All the rain puddles are filled with them. The neighborhood kids are having a blast seeing how many they can catch (and release).

No  better fun then kids having a blast.
I made a pond. Rainwater un IbC s thé overflow is piped to the pond. Thé overflow of thé pond is going into thé veggieplot..
I found out i can't stand thé noise of tiny frog males calling for females soon. Their screams just resonated in my head.
So i put fish in.
The younger males just see the fish and know females won't go there. It has become an old frogs home. They are quieter and go to sleep at reasonable hours.

People say ponds create musquito paradises. Not so if you have a diverse garden! When i moved in, we had to sleep under a net. Now the bats come and feast on the insects every night. Can sleep with window open! No nets needed.

It's such a shame the government blocks all water rétention efforts.