Or dogs barking.
Frogs Annoying Neighbors.
- Thread starter 420benz
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I'm definitely no fan of a uncontrolled dog. My dogs are part of the family and like a family member there are rules we all follow. Carrying on uncontrollably is definitely not allowed without a very good reason .
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I have about 5-8 of the Cope's Gray Tree Frogs that come down from the trees and hop into the pond (sometimes I can find the same one most nights, about 4'-5' above the ground on the trunk directly above my pond, calling to the ones on the lily pads and vice versa before eventually hopping in too) and they are by far one of the loudest locally and seem to call even when not straight up breeding (lack of females appearing, lack of eggs, and late in the season). I've yet to take my db meter down to the pond, but between just their sound bouncing off the water's surface, and the ones that sit in between the gaps of the stacked rocks right at the water's surface, THEN calling out over the water, amplifying their calls greatly (enough of a db bump it can make me cringe when too close) has to easily be between 95 to 110db or greater. They also rarely alternate to a creepy (but very funny) cackle. I only seem to hear the cackle when a bunch of males get too close to each other on the lily pads after a rain OR running the sprinkler over the pond at night, so dunno if that's a territorial defense call or not, but it's funny as 2-3 will sound like they are having a maniacal laughing fit.
Been out enough nights now, that I can recognize it's the same batch of gray tree frogs though, as they are very much creatures of habit and typically occupy the same spots each night, assuming they come out. They call in that terrible midrange frequency that human ears hear all too well. A 2" Cope's gray frog at 5' can make 4" Green frog sound like a whisper.
Maybe stick a pinwheel on a diy weathervane (or make a few of them) and place them where the frogs are calling from. Get creative and stick some small, red, LED lights on it along with reflective tape so it's not completely darkened. As long as it moves, it should spook them. No idea how well that will work, but the frogs that sit on/around my pond, will stop briefly when I approach the pond and sit. After a few seconds to a few a minutes, one will eventually call and that signals the other frogs it's OK to respond. What's interesting is they'll cross-call each other too. So a green frog grunts and all the gray frogs will start up.
Yeah, some people definitely can't tolerate the calling though. And it's not your fault frogs are in the wild and happy to find running water that isn't from a storm drain in a Walmart parking lot.... You can try putting the pump on a timer (use an outdoor water proof type on a GFCI outlet; pump should be run off that type of outlet anyways if not already) and see if it has an effect, but to be perfectly honest, it's probably helping mask their calls a bit especially if the water's surface has ripples and is moving vs. a perfectly flat water surface sound will bounce off easier. After observing my pond's frogs and a local toad, they CLEARLY have a memory (have a toad that shows up in the same spot in my driveway, directly under a porch light every night; can recognize the same frogs returning to their "territory" including perching in same spots, etc., day after day even if they don't show up constantly) and will most likely return regardless but chillier weather (even if just a one night anomaly) seems to hush them as does movement. Basically, they'll remember your pond is where it is regardless of running water sound (most likely) but who knows.
Been out enough nights now, that I can recognize it's the same batch of gray tree frogs though, as they are very much creatures of habit and typically occupy the same spots each night, assuming they come out. They call in that terrible midrange frequency that human ears hear all too well. A 2" Cope's gray frog at 5' can make 4" Green frog sound like a whisper.
Maybe stick a pinwheel on a diy weathervane (or make a few of them) and place them where the frogs are calling from. Get creative and stick some small, red, LED lights on it along with reflective tape so it's not completely darkened. As long as it moves, it should spook them. No idea how well that will work, but the frogs that sit on/around my pond, will stop briefly when I approach the pond and sit. After a few seconds to a few a minutes, one will eventually call and that signals the other frogs it's OK to respond. What's interesting is they'll cross-call each other too. So a green frog grunts and all the gray frogs will start up.
Yeah, some people definitely can't tolerate the calling though. And it's not your fault frogs are in the wild and happy to find running water that isn't from a storm drain in a Walmart parking lot.... You can try putting the pump on a timer (use an outdoor water proof type on a GFCI outlet; pump should be run off that type of outlet anyways if not already) and see if it has an effect, but to be perfectly honest, it's probably helping mask their calls a bit especially if the water's surface has ripples and is moving vs. a perfectly flat water surface sound will bounce off easier. After observing my pond's frogs and a local toad, they CLEARLY have a memory (have a toad that shows up in the same spot in my driveway, directly under a porch light every night; can recognize the same frogs returning to their "territory" including perching in same spots, etc., day after day even if they don't show up constantly) and will most likely return regardless but chillier weather (even if just a one night anomaly) seems to hush them as does movement. Basically, they'll remember your pond is where it is regardless of running water sound (most likely) but who knows.
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Mmathis
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So, I was really shocked when my husband, who can usually sleep through anything (he’s actually completely deaf in one ear), freaked out when a male Baja California tree frog (the frog sound from most movies) decided to set up shop in our pond this spring not long after I set it up. It called for a mate all night long, which I thought was charming but apparently was going to give my husband a mental breakdown after just two nights (he claimed it completely prevented him from sleeping and made him agitated, and he is normally a very mellow person).
So, what I learned from this is that to my surprise, the sound is genuinely disturbing to some people, and I ended up finding and catching the little guy at dusk the next day and moving him down by his buddies at the creek 1/4 mile away where the sound of the frogs is pleasantly distant half the year.
have you tried collecting the frogs by hand or with a net at dusk by following their calls and relocating them to another body of water not too far away (but far enough)? I know this can be a challenge but even reducing the population by half might make a big difference. Or perhaps get a larger fish that might scare them off? I haven’t seen any frogs again since I put my adult goldfish in the pond. A waterfall seems like it would still be attractive to them.
So, what I learned from this is that to my surprise, the sound is genuinely disturbing to some people, and I ended up finding and catching the little guy at dusk the next day and moving him down by his buddies at the creek 1/4 mile away where the sound of the frogs is pleasantly distant half the year.
have you tried collecting the frogs by hand or with a net at dusk by following their calls and relocating them to another body of water not too far away (but far enough)? I know this can be a challenge but even reducing the population by half might make a big difference. Or perhaps get a larger fish that might scare them off? I haven’t seen any frogs again since I put my adult goldfish in the pond. A waterfall seems like it would still be attractive to them.
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I went out to listen to "your" tree frogs. I stand corrected! I, also, am usually very sensitive to noise. Those frogs sound worse than clog dancing, dogs barking, and the sound of people locking their car doors remotely.
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do you mean the Baja CA tree frogs? or the ones the original poster has in his yard?
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the Baja frogs.
If you think so, you haven’t heard my black lab bark, she has an ear splitting high pitched bark…..have yet to hear anything worse than her, at least we have a big property so the only hearing she destroys with that bark is mine.
Yes we are taking a trip to Topper Town or TT in brokensword speak.
When someone says something about what is going on with them and there is always someone that has one better aka a topper, hence the trip to topper town as I was saying you think those frogs are bad come listen to my dog bark non stop for 5 minutes cause she can’t get to her favorite ball.
Usually nothing noise wise makes me cringe, just from the work I do. But woooo that dog and her bark, we almost thought about giving her back ( she is a rescue). Ok not really on the giving her back thing, but her bark literally hurts our ears, and when we first got her she would go on these barking binges for a few minutes.My brother's sweet Sheltie-mutt "Ellie" - I required ear plugs - and STILL the Baja frogs made me cringe.
