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figs and frog

Posts: 9796

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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posted 5 years ago

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I was looking for todays ripe figs this morning and found this sweet frog.

Maybe it's there eating ants?

This is a Texas Pink Dawn variety and has been covered with small figs that are gradually ripening a few at a time this fall.

I think it's doing well because there is some winter protection from the porch foundation.
...and because it has been so dry the 'eye' isn't opening as much as usual so the ants have not been as attracted to them...that and maybe some help from my frog friend

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"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Artie Scott

gardener

Posts: 874

Location: Piedmont 7a

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posted 5 years ago

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Love the all-natural pest control, Judith!

“All good things are wild, and free.” Henry David Thoreau

Robin Katz

pollinator

Posts: 458

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posted 5 years ago

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I love seeing frogs and toads in the garden. We had a Pacific tree frog living in our potato patch in late summer. I guess potato stems are just the right size for them. I hadn't thought about the pest control aspect although that's certainly welcome any time. I thought it might have been that the garden is more moist than the surrounding land.

You got some great pictures. I wish I'd done the same with our little guy.

Judith Browning

Posts: 9796

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

2950

posted 5 years ago

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Love the all-natural pest control, Judith!

me too Artie!

It's a gray tree frog, Hyla versicolor.
We usually see them more the color of a grayish lichen...this one is more unusual because of its solid green back....maybe changed because it was still cool in the morning?

The gray tree frog's color changes in response to its environment and activities, and can range from green to gray or brown. The upper surface of the body has a blotchy pattern that resembles lichen. Although the pattern varies, it usually features two dark central patches, which can be green, buff or gray. These frogs have a white spot beneath each eye and a dark stripe from the rear of the eyes to the front of the legs. The snout is short, and the skin is warty and coarse.

They are nocturnal and hunt in the understory of wooded areas in trees and shrubs. Adult gray tree frogs mainly prey upon different types of insects and their own larvae. Mites, spiders, plant lice, snails and slugs are common prey. They may also occasionally eat smaller frogs, including other tree frogs.

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/gray-tree-frog

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Greg Martin

steward

Posts: 3511

Location: Maine, zone 5

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posted 5 years ago

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He's a handsome devil Judith! Thank you for the lovely pictures.

Permaculture...picking the lock back to Eden since 1978.
Pics of my Forest Garden

William Bronson

gardener

Posts: 5502

Location: Cincinnati, Ohio,Price Hill 45205

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posted 5 years ago

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"Figs and Frog" could be the name of a pub!

Eating Bindweed
Eating Buckwheat Greens
Paul explains why I spend time here,better than I could myself.

Hans Quistorff

gardener

Posts: 1970

Location: Longbranch, WA Mild wet winter dry climate change now hot summer

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posted 5 years ago

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I only see them when they mate and lay eggs in my spring ponds. I have noticed the variety of patterns which match the various habitats around the field. Also note the absence of mosquitos when mowing that field with a scythe.

Hans Albert Quistorff, LMT projects on permies Hans Massage Qberry Farm magnet therapy gmail hquistorff

Phil Gardener

pollinator

Posts: 336

Location: Near Philadelphia, PA

posted 5 years ago

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Great insect control!

bruce Fine

Posts: 1521

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posted 5 years ago

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that frog looks very happy among your most beautiful figs.

Judith Browning

Posts: 9796

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

2950

posted 5 years ago

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found another one!
Not on the fig though...all I've seen on it are grasshoppers lately although they don't seem to be bothering the figs and I never saw that frog again, looking every morning.....

This one was in the groove on the lid of a big barrel where I store planting pots in the garden shed.

I had piled many things on top of the barrel this fall and when I went to remove them there was this little guy all tucked up under the board.

This is a 'grey tree frog' same as the one above but the coloring is more typical of what we see here...the amount of green on the one above seemed unusual.

I suspect that when it comes out at night it gets water from my rain water buckets and I have some trays that usually have water in them for soaking pots and flats.

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"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Tj Jefferson

pollinator

Posts: 1345

Location: Virginia USDA 7a/b

358

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posted 5 years ago

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I had terrible ants on figs a couple years back. I put in rock piles near the figs and now have lizards and tree frogs - and no ant damage.

Standing on the shoulders of giants. Giants with dirt under their nails

Judith Browning

Posts: 9796

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

2950

posted 5 years ago

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I was checking the figs before a freeze tonight....and found one that we had missed that was soft and full of little ants. I picked it and then saw the little grey tree frog...now I feel like I've taken away it's midnight snack

This one is so white that I had trouble getting a clear photo. I think the green of the fig leaves is reflecting on it's back as it looked quite white in the sun.

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