Frogs...too many frogs

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lorianne621

lorianne621

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Mar 6, 2018
23
Climax Springs, MO
Thanks to TFP we have a sparkly pool instead of a black pond in our backyard. This is our first year as pool owners in our new to us home in the country. I often feel like we are just barely winning the battle of keeping the jungle from taking over. lol
I do love it here and the pool has been a God-send.

We have been following all the advice we find here on your site and are working on balancing the ph.

We have been finding anywhere from 2-3 young dead frogs in skimmer each morning. I took that in stride after all we live in the country right? Well last night we had a pretty good rain but it wasn't like it was a record down pour or anything.

So this morning I went out to clean the skimmer and vacuum the pool. There were literally 100s of dead frogs in my pool. The skimmer basket was full and the skimmer only runs from midnight until 5 am. There were easily 50-60 more floating and as many more on the bottom and in the water column.

They were all young frogs, not babies really but not bigger than a quarter in diameter. I would post a photo but my hubby got rid of them already. There were just so many. I filled one of those 2.5 gallon buckets a little over a fourth of the way with just dead frogs I netted out of the pool.

I guess my question for you is this. Is it normal for frogs to jump into the water when it rains like that? Why did they die? I don't mind frogs around the pool so much as they eat the bugs but I would rather they just come eat a bug or two and then leave.

As for my water chemistry I have been checking it twice a day until I get used to knowing what to expect right now it is like this:

PH 7.5
TA 90
CYA 30
FC 7 note: FC usually drops some during day due to sun often to 3.5 or 4 I add bleach at night and check to see that it is back up to 7 after dark
CC 0
CH 150

Please tell me your thoughts.

Thank you

Lorianne
 
I've found live frogs in my saltwater pool's skimmer, but not dead ones. I pull 'em out and set 'em free. Not sure what's killing yours.

There are gizmos that you put in the pool to allow critters to crawl out. Maybe that could be a particle solution for you...

Google "pool frog saver".
 
Thank you for the replies.

I think we may get either the skamper ramp, which our little dogs could also use. If they ever decide they are not scared of the water. haha or a frog log. Or maybe even one of each. That would give the little frogs a chance to get out once they are in. That way they would not drown.

I still have no idea why so many got in during the storm and why they all died once they were in. Maybe they had trouble getting out with all the water flowing in and they just drowned.

We did have a solar cover on the pool for a few days but it is difficult to remove it completely from the pool. My husband and I are both somewhat disabled. We can remove it but with some effort. When the frogs get in the pool the snakes tend to follow anywhere the frogs go and if the cover is on... I can't see what is under the cover and it makes me nervous. Granted, I have only seen one snake in the pool, but one was enough.

Now I know this is a bit silly because I have no problem swimming in the lake when we take the boat out but I guess I always thought that snakes prefer to swim near the shore and we tend to anchor in deeper water. I dunno... but either way I would rather the frogs stay out of the pool. So I guess we will spend a few bucks and give them an escape route.

Can anyone tell me if I can safely raise the FC level a little and if I do, will it have any effect at keeping frogs and other such critters out of the pool at night? We don't seem to have any issues during the day. We do not keep any lights of any kind on in or around the pool.
 
No harm in raising FC a little. But my guess is that will not deter the frogs. Even if the chlorine would bother them (which I doubt), they'd jump in before they knew it was in there. Do frogs sniff their water before they jump? ;)
 
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Are you sure they weren’t all already in there... as tadpoles?

I had a tree fog issue about 4 years ago that went away when I bumped chlorine up. I think I broke up a few romances...

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There is not much you can do except close off all means of access. Increasing chlorine levels will do nothing except possibly kill them quicker. I get frogs in my pool all the time, especially after a lot of rain. If they have been in there a short time time (maybe a couple of hours) they are usually alive. If they have been in there for a longer period (over night ) of time they are usually dead. In any case I scoop them out with my skimmer net.
 
We got over run by tree frogs a few times this year, i went to Lowes and armed myself to the teeth with snake away (spray and granules) sprayed everything down around the pool and did the perimeter around the fence with the granules and they haven’t been back, not sure if I got lucky or it actually worked (I hope the latter)

itll stink like garlic and moth balls but that’s what I hope helped me
 
I am sorry for the late reply. I have spent a couple days unable to get online. I may try the snake away stuff... and not just for the frogs. We are still getting quite a few every day, though not the huge amount we had after the storm.

I have to admit now that I put my mind to it... they may be little toads.:confused: I have not seen a tadpole even when the pool was black. There is a pond about 100 yards away but why would they make their way to pool just to hop in and die overnight? I also don't see any eggs in the pool.. none at all. I think I would see at least some since the filter cuts off at 5 am. That should give them plenty of time to leave me some in still water but there are none at all.

Also we clean every single one out each day, dead or alive and our pool is crystal clear so we don't miss any. It isn't that big either. Just 16 X 32. Most days we only have less than 10. But there are always a few. We are thinking of getting the Frog Log as suggested by Richard320. It has been difficult to change my mindset from "I am buying a toy for some frogs" to "I am buying an accessory to help keep my pool clean" :crazy:

Perhaps they are little toad that and that is why they drown. :drown: They are not really cut out to live in the water. I just did not realize that toads would willingly jump into a pool. I can tell you though, they can swim really well for the short go. :swim: I am sure of that because once in a while I find a few alive and they dive right down to the deep end to escape my net.
 

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We were having frogs every morning in our pool. We had a great big dead one once, but most were small and still alive, but acted like they were exhausted. We have the pump running during the day, so none in the skimmers, only in the pool itself. I got a frog log and I haven't had to fish out any frogs since then. It's been a couple of weeks now. They have a party there every night and croak very loudly, but find their way out of the pool and back home by the time I go out there in the morning.
 
We’ve had more frogs (or toads) here than usual this summer. They are all baby size and I’ve had to scoop out a few dead ones but not 100s like you describe (yikes!). I just ordered a Froglog Critter Saver from Amazon. I’ll let you know if it works! They are stupid, I scooped some live ones out and my morning they had all jumped back in.
 
I have 2 of the frog escape ramps and they do work. I haven’t had a single dead frog when it’s in place. If I had 100s I’d be a crying mess.
 
Hahaha... that 'froglog' critter escape ramp is exactly the one we have been looking at. I ordered it tonight from Amazon.
:whoot:


The only time I had such a large amount of frogs was after the big storm and I admit that if I had that many every day I would be a crying mess too. I had my husband take the bucket of dead frogs down to the septic lagoon and dump them in there. If we only have one or two he flings them out into the woods. :D I don't mind netting them out but getting rid of them is his job.
The other day we had a small rain overnight and we had about 30 or 40 in the skimmer the next day. I dumped them in a bucket and then I put the bucket out for him to take down to the lagoon when he was done mowing.


That night when we were swimming I kept smelling dead frogs... I said to him "It is weird honey, but I keep smelling dead frogs." :suspect:
He gives me a look and says "Yeah, weird" :shock:
So like most wives I can hear it in his voice...
I say... "Of course, you did actually put them IN the lagoon"
He says "Yeah, I took 'em up there" :oops:
"And put them IN the lagoon?" I ask again.
He thinks about it a bit and then asks me "Well, would it matter... I mean if they was IN the lagoon or just pretty close?"
hahaha...
"Yes" says I "Unless you want our place to smell like a little froggie cadaver farm, they need to go IN the septic lagoon so they can be processed like all the other foul smelling waste."
"Ohhh" says he "now I know for next time"

I really should know better than to leave him another honey-do for after mowing on a hot day. hahaha

Well, hopefully the litter Frog Log escape ramp will be all we need and there will be no more trips to the lagoon. :)
 
So like most wives I can hear it in his voice...
Click to expand...

OMG LOL We've been married 37 yrs and I can process all the crazy ways he can do what I ask in bizarre fashion in about 20 seconds. I get really really specific.
 
An update. Snake repellent does not work on tree frogs, they come back after every storm. So anyone out there, there’s nothing you can do to stop these things. Nothing. Other than enjoy spending several days cleaning up their mess
 

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