We have a small pond/waterfall right outside our breakfast room. For a long time, it attracted bullfrogs. And for a long time, I would get up in the middle of the night and kill them. I just can't sleep through their croaking.

I finally figured out how to get rid of them. And believe me - I tried EVERYTHING. It took me awhile, but I realized they were coming to my pond to eat, and they ate bugs, and bugs were attracted by light. So, I turned off the light over the pond. The food supply went away, and so did the frogs.

For a few years, anyway. Lately, a frog or two has been showing up at the pond. They don't start croaking until at least midnight, which of course wakes me up. Then, it takes an hour to wait them out, until they expose themselves on a rock, whereupon I can crush them with extreme prejudice. Since this is Houston, and it's summer, of course I have to take a shower.

There's a frog out there right now. I haven't been able to get him out into the open. I cut down a lot of greenery, and maybe I accidentally squashed him, or chased him off, but it's been quiet for 20 minutes.

Tomorrow, I'm going to cut all the plants away from the pond. And if any more frogs show up, I will drain the pond and fill it up with dirt.

I really hate frogs.

U are so wrong in doing that. Live and let live.

PanthaGirl said:

I can't sleep, and I was here first.

Actually, I will live and let live but to do that, I have to drain the pond.

damn, how the fuck to you do that and then go lay down???? i cant kill a BUG, damn sure know i couldnt kill a frog


hope you sleep well

RodeoSchro said:

Well considering amphibians have been around for about 350 million years I'd say they have U beat.


But go on, keep playing devil's advocate...

nakedpianoplayer said:

I sleep GREAT after I kill the frog. Peace and quiet!

Believe me, I am not a brutal dude. I don't hunt, I don't fish, and in the beginning, I used to scoop the frogs up and set them free on the golf course.

But they kept coming back. So I started dropping them down the gutter. But still, after about three days, they'd be back.

I had no choice, until I figured out to turn off the lights.

But now that they're back, I show no mercy.

PanthaGirl said:

Well, you may have a point - we were the last things God created.

But as far as my lot goes, I know for sure I was here first. There was no water on my lot until I built my pond, and that was what brought the frogs.

We've done everything we can to frog-proof our yard. We even went so far as to cover every single space between the fence and the ground with mesh. Unless something chewed a hole somewhere, I really don't know how frogs can now get into my yard.

I've been as nice to the frogs as I can, but now it's war.

Bad news - I just heard the frog. I have two choices: (1) Wait him out. He'll probably go to sleep, or whatever frogs do, within 30 minutes; or (2) smash his guts.

If I choose option 1, will you like me?

RodeoSchro said:

Okay I hear yah mate but isn't it possible to collect the frogs, put them in a bucket and take them to a local creek and let them be free, instead of killing them? I have a large pond in my backyard (drained) but before I drained it I managed to take the frogs around the corner to the creek (which is where they originally came from). Ponds attract a lot of things, I even had black eels in mine.

PanthaGirl said:

Yeah, that's exactly what I did for the first couple years. But they'd come back. I wish I'd had some way to tag them because, crazy as it sounds, I was sure it was the same 5 - 6 frogs that kept coming back.

We used to have a quacking snake hanging around. It was a little black-with-gold-markings thing, but I swear it quacked just like a duck.

RodeoSchro said:

Wow okay the little buggers, funny enough my frogs didn't come back and soon after I drained the pond anyways and want to have a new one rebuilt. Geezus a snake that quacked lol too funny it seems it was once a breed of snake that mutated into something else lol.

RodeoSchro said:

i am still shocked.

sorry...


i will forever think of you killing frogs now when i see your name.

PanthaGirl said:

LOL. The first time I heard it quacking, it was at night, and I went into the backyard, expecting to find a duck that had wandered into my yard from the golf course. But I found nothing.

A day or two later, I heard the quacking and went out to the yard, but no duck. I was standing near the pond when I heard the quack come literally from right next to me. I looked down and saw the little snake. That's the only way I knew it was a snake making that noise.

nakedpianoplayer said:

RodeoSchro The Killer of Frogs. It's not a mantle I wear with pride, believe me!

If it makes you feel better, I let tonight's frog live. Thanks to the conversation with you and PanthaGirl, I have been busy and the frog appears to have hit the hay for the evening.

Tomorrow I will get rid of all the vegetation around the pond (weeds, actually) and maybe that will keep the frogs away, and EVERYONE will be happy.

RodeoSchro said:

Also if the pond has lilypads U may consider pulling them out (as beautiful as they are and fish feed on them), but the frogs luurrrrve them too.

PanthaGirl said:

Good point! I will do that, too.

Thanks for the friendly help. And now, I - like my new friend, the frog - am going to sleep!

You should eat what you kill... frogs legs are the BOMB! A little garlic butter and a quick pan-fry, some shallots, nice green salad, white wine...

Dude it's ON!!!

don't. frogs are critically endangered today. since the 1970s they have been dying off in huge numbers. scientists are calling what is happening to frogs today the same thing that happened to dinosaurs back in their day. extinction. so please have mercy

RenHoek said:

hell yeah....

Let Kermit Live !!

Maybe earplugs will help? If its just the croaking of the frogs that bother you, maybe getting used to the noise of your natural surroundings may be an easier goal. Waking up to smash them every time takes too mush effort. Animals shouldn't have to respect property lines, but we as responsible people should respect nature.


BTW... Get an owl or a weasel.

Lord I make no sense before drinking caffine...edit
[Edited 7/15/09 5:14am]

paintedlady said:

..or put a on the frogs mouth..

Methinks this thread will come back to haunt you

I'm not sure why people feel they have right to just kill things they 'don't like'.

Fucked up.
[Edited 7/15/09 6:37am]

muirdo said:

LOL, my wife said that one day, I was going to wake up and there were going to be a million frogs outside, and they were going to frog me to death. Eerily enough, I had just read a short story by Stephen King in which that exact thing happened!

During my War With The Frogs, I had all kinds of suggestions: get earplugs; sleep with the TV on; run a loud fan; etc., etc. But all those suggestions were unacceptable, because they meant the frogs would win the War. And I was NOT going to be defeated by frogs!

That was when I started thinking like a frog, and figured out the deal with the lights.

JustErin said:

what about in 3rd world countries...when they need to kill to survive? You think it's ok right?

peacenlovealways said:

What does 'killing something they don't like' have to do with killing something to survive?

Don't see the connection, sorry.

RodeoSchro said:

I think ive read that..Rainy Season or something.A couple staying in a hotel and it rains killer frogs with wee killer teeth. lol

Collect them in a bucket and release them near a creek or something. Can´t be that difficult, right ? Anything is better than killing such nice and helpful creatures. They eat mosquitoes and bugs. Be glad that you have a nice garden with a pond, many people don´t live the life you live.
Over here, you might end up in court for animal torture. Frogs are a protected species over here.

Find a peaceful and humane solution.