Frogs as Pest Control Allies

Cuban Tree Frog (?)

Tree Frog in a Seashell on my Front Porch

Tree Frog on a Friend's Croton.....Cuban?

Teensy native tree frog

Teensy native tree frog

When I was a kid in Michigan, then years later a young teen here in Tampa in the late 1960s, leopard frogs were a common sight. Sadly, I now rarely see them...instead Florida has the invasive Cane Toad and Cuban Tree Frog reshaping the ecology. But we still have some natives too, and I enjoy trying to suppress the invasive ones and helping those that "belong" here, and soon I will post a brief YouTube video about that effort. But I am mindful that even these invasives help to control plant damaging bugs right up to the time that either I or my chickens ( they LOVE Cuban Tree Frogs!) control them.

Here are a few photos of a truly charming native frog we have here...a WEENSY TEENSY tree frog, which I feel certain that due to its diminutive size must surely eat a lot of spider mites and ants and aphids.

Sadly, populations of frogs and other amphibians are plunging globally due in part to human-released toxins and increased UV from thinning of the ozone layer, and now this new plague occuring in areas where tropical deforestation is rampant.

Enjoy the pics of this cute little bug eater!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100719162647.htm

John