Help me save my local frogs!

[reptileKev81]

Hi guys,
Been a while since I posted on here. A while back I posted asking for identification on a frog, and it turned out to be a perons tree frog. He was found in my backyard, and I relocated him to the front garden so my dog wouldn't interfere with it.

Anyways, it has happened a few times now and my dog keeps biting em. I heard the poor little frogs yells so I ran over and sure enough, there was my dog pawing at it.

Everytime I find one in the backyard, I relocate them to the garden in the front so my dog can't get to em. Because we have a doggy door, my dog always has access to the backyard so I can't always watch him when he's out there.

What I'd like to know, is there a way to make the garden out the front more froggy friendly so they won't keep coming back into my backyard?

And is there a reason that they're drawn to the backyard? We don't really have much out there, but the times I've found them, they've been sitting on the table or chairs we have out there, or sometimes just on the cement path we have that goes around the house (I thought they would have preferred the garden, lol, show's what I know). We don't have any ponds or bodies of water in the backyard.
Would a small pond, or water feature in the garden be more appealing to them?

I've grown quite fond of the frogs here and enjoy watching them, I don't want to see any harm come to them. I am also worried if my dog eats one, he may get sick.

Sorry for the looooooong poooooossst, just wanted to include as much info as possible so I can get the best possible replies and solutions

Looking forward to your replies.

Cheers
Kev

 

[GeckoJosh]

I would think that a pond in the front yard would attract even more frogs to the area and you will get even more venturing in the backyard.
The thing is if you have frogs in the area they will go venturing for food at night.

Sorry I cant help

Josh

 

[cadwallader]

hey kev i go out looking for them near uni and have found that they love to sit in the woody trees rather then in the creek them selves although there is always a few going for a dip.
A pond and y a water lilly and some feeder fish lol may give the an extra place to breed and it is so interesting to watch them go through metamorphosis. another thing is to try and train you dog to leave them can be hard though ( mine use to do it too ) but other then that sound like they are doing fine in your area to increase the frog you have to increase the food source
good luck

 

[cadwallader]

yer agree with gecko i think you will find it very hard to remove the frogs from the back yard with out romoving all the drains plants and every other little places frog like to hide. i would try training the dog first.

 

[Fuscus]

dog + bullet = problem solved.
if, for some strange reason, the above solution is impracticable check your lights. If you leave them on at night they attract insects which, in turn, attract frogs.

 

[Saz]

A bit of negative reinforcement with one of those electric dog collars would do the trick.

Put collar on dog - put frog in front of dog - when dog goes to touch frog administer the shock.

It usually only take a few times for a dog to associate the zap with the behaviour. Most of them aren't as dumb as they sometimes let on. You may need to reinforce the training every now and again.

Provided you administer the shock at the right time, as soon as your dog spies a frog he'll be giving it a wide berth. Also recommended to train dogs not to touch cane toads too.

Make sure you try the collar on yourself first so that you know what its going to feel like for your dog. I always think its a bit unfair using those collars unless you know what it actually feels like first so you can use your discretion as to the level you use.

Also consider the negative impact on your dog. If you really do have frogs all over the garden do you really want your dog to view them as an 'uncomfortable' object. Depending on the number of frogs in your garden it could make for an anxious dog that doesn't want to go out in the garden LOL!

Downside is that the collars are quite expensive I think, upside is its a great way to con family members into doing the washing up.

 

[hussy]

Hey kev... I used to find spotted marsh frogs in the house sometimes and wondered for ages how they got into the house until one day I saw my cat come in and spit one out.. She never killed them, just moved them around... Anyway, I put in some ponds, a traditional pond and some others made out of 'tuff' type containers from Bunnings, some water plants also from Bunnings, and some ground cover plants.. Before too long we've got literally thousands of frogs in the garden and also have perons and bell frogs.. Plant some ponds in yr front garden and frogs will happen!!!!!!

 

[hussy]

Ooopsies... Meant striped marsh frogs, not spotted... Lol

 

[AllThingsReptile]

i find frogs everywhere, my dogs dont even touch them, just ignore them, but my dogs are scotch collies and are huge, we get little frogs (i dunno species) and bullfrogs, we have thousands of tadpoles in the pond, frogs like damp dark places, and will stick themselves to your windows...if there's no lights on, also i agree with fuscus, but with a shell....a shotgun shell........

 

[GeckoJosh]

i find frogs everywhere, my dogs dont even touch them, just ignore them, but my dogs are scotch collies and are huge, we get little frogs (i dunno species) and bullfrogs, we have thousands of tadpoles in the pond, frogs like damp dark places, and will stick themselves to your windows...if there's no lights on, also i agree with fuscus, but with a shell....a shotgun shell........

Bullfrogs? I think you may be thinking of a type of Marsh frog