How to Get Rid of Frogs in Your Yard (Using 6 Simple Methods) (2024)

Ideal frog habitat is on the bottom of a pond. But, your yard might not have ponds in it, so you will need to use other methods to get rid of frogs from your backyard. Here are six simple techniques that can be tried out and see if they work for you!
1) Buy Frogs (or their natural predator the bullfrog). 2) Cover Up Water sources 3) Drown them 4) Use hair conditioner 5) Use soap 6) Get aggressive with garden hose

The “what chemical will kill frogs” is a question that many people ask. There are 6 simple methods to get rid of frogs in your yard.

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During the rainy season, when there are plenty of puddles and wet nooks and crannies for them to hide in during the day, frog populations explode. Frog infestations are a common concern for many homeowners, particularly those who have pools or ponds in their yards.

Remove standing water sources, trim grass and weeds short, and clear away empty pots, old wood piles, and other frog hiding spots in the yard to get rid of frogs. Switch off outside lights at night and use frog repellent spray to keep frogs away of your yard.

Some frog species are harmful to pets, and having a high number of frogs in your yard can attract snakes. Plus, their nighttime croaking might distract you from being on cloud nine.

Whatever the cause for your quest for a solution to your yard frog issue, this article will provide you with the information you need.

Know Thy Enemy, Frogs

Learn about the life cycle of frogs, the environments they need, and how they act to approach the frog infestation in your yard in a rational, educated manner.

Frogs are amphibious, which is the most basic fact to know about them. They must spend a portion of their life in water. Frogs spawn (or deposit their eggs) in water, and tadpoles remain in the water until their lungs and limbs are completely formed.

Mosquitoes are a significant source of food for frogs, which are insectivorous. Mosquitoes rely on water for a component of their life cycle as well. Adult frogs spend a lot of time near bodies of water collecting food.

Frogs will be attracted to a pond, birdbath, swimming pool, or even a standing puddle of stagnant water in your yard.

Moths, grasshoppers, snails, spiders, dragonflies, beetles, butterflies, flies, crickets, and co*ckroaches are all food for frogs.

Frogs’ skin is very thin and sensitive, thus it must be kept wet. They use oxygen to breathe by absorbing it via their skin. During the day, frogs hide in dark, cool locations to keep their skin from drying out.

This is why frogs like yards with plenty of secure hiding places, such as empty pots, woodpiles, or old lumber.

Begin by recognizing the frogs in your yard.

With around 7000 distinct species, frogs constitute a varied order of vertebrates! Varied varieties of frogs have different behaviors and hence react to different management approaches.

It is unlawful to kill some frog species because they are severely endangered. In the United States, for example, the following ten species are included on the IUCN red list and may not be killed:

1. Yellow-Legged Frog of the Sierra Nevada (Rana sierrae)
2. Frog of the Dusky Gopher (Rana sevosa)
3. Toad of the Arroyo (Bufo californicus)
4. Red-Legged Frog of California (Rana draytonii)
5. Spotted Frog of Oregon (Rana pretiosa)
6. Yellow-Legged Frog of the Foothills (Rana boylii)
7. Toad of Amargosa (Bufo nelsoni)
8. Frog of the Florida Swamp (Rana okaloosae)
9. Tarahumara Frog is a frog native to the Tarahumara (Rana tarahumarae)
10. Leopard Frog of Chiricahua (Rana chiricauhensis)

Some frog species are also invasive outside of their natural habitat. The following frog species are invasive, and it is allowed to kill them:

1. Invasive in the Americas are Cuban treefrogs (Osteopilus septentrionalis).
2. Puerto Rican coqui frogs (Eleutherodactylus coqui) have become invasive in Hawai’i.
3. Rhinella marina, a Central and South American cane toad, has become invasive in Florida and Australia.
4. Bullfrogs (Rana catesbeianus) are native to eastern North America, but they have become very invasive in western North America, Asia, Europe, and South America.

It’s vital to recognize the species of frogs in your yard before taking any action against them. First, so you’ll know what steps to take to keep them under control, and second, so you’ll know if it’s lawful to kill them or whether you should transfer them.

Check with your local wildlife authority to see which frog species are endangered and which are invasive in your region.

Frog Control Techniques in the Yard

There are a plethora of methods for getting rid of frogs in the yard and deterring them from returning. By eliminating sources of food and shelter, all of these strategies aim to make your yard less favorable to frogs.

You may get rid of frogs in your yard by:

1. Make a frog repellent spray at home.
2. Make your yard uninviting to frogs. Remove any standing water, cut the grass short, remove the clutter, and dispose of trash and leaf litter.
3. At night, turn off the exterior lights.
4. Kill eggs and tadpoles to disrupt their life cycle.
5. Insecticides may be used to reduce the number of insects in your yard.
6. More birds will visit your garden if you encourage them to do so.

Frog habitats should be removed from the yard.

Begin by taking a cautious tour around your yard, searching for water sources and frog hiding spots. Frogs will leave your yard in search of better sites to deposit their eggs and find refuge if you remove them.

Any standing water in the yard should be drained. For draining larger water sources, use a water pump. Drainage ditches and gutters should be kept free. Take care of any drainage difficulties that are causing puddles in your garden.

Frogs prefer stagnant water to filtered, circulating water. Installing a filter in your backyard pond can cleanse the water of mosquito larvae, reducing the number of frogs in the area. To consume the tadpoles, you might also put some fish in your pond.

Cut down weeds and foliage surrounding water sources and mow the grass to a short length. Frogs like to hide in vegetation and prefer tall grass since it attracts their preferred food. Frogs will be deterred by keeping the grass short, clean, and weed-free.

Frogs are attracted to outdoor lighting at night.

If you keep the patio light on overnight, it will attract a lot of moths and other insects, which frogs like eating. To keep insects and frogs out of your yard at night, turn off all of your garden lights.

Attracting owls at night might be as simple as turning off your yard lights. Owls eat frogs, making them an excellent bird to keep in your yard if you have a frog issue.

Frog Repellent Spray (DIY)

Combine a gallon of water and 1.3 pounds of citric acid powder to make your own natural frog repellent spray. Combine the ingredients and pour the mixture into a spray bottle.

Spray the frogs with the citric acid solution immediately. The spray’s impact will be seen right away.

This is an extremely potent solution that can immediately kill frogs. Natural frog repellent is preferable to chemical repellants since chemical repellents kill frogs considerably more slowly and are hence less compassionate.

If you want to keep the frogs away rather than kill them, use a vinegar-water solution. Use the same amount of each ingredient. Spray this on locations where you don’t want frogs to congregate, such as the porch, windowsills, and entrance.

When the frogs jump over an area sprayed with vinegar solution, the acetic acid will burn their feet. This is a more humane technique to get rid of frogs in your yard. Keep in mind that vinegar is toxic to plants, so use caution while spraying the solution about the garden.

Kill the eggs and tadpoles of frogs.

Interrupting the frog’s life cycle by destroying their eggs and tadpoles is a highly effective way to reduce the frog population in your yard.

There will almost certainly be locations in your yard where frogs are laying eggs and multiplying if you have a frog infestation. Look for locations that are wet, muddy, and have standing water.

You may have a toad issue if there are no moist places or pools of standing water in your landscape. Toads have thicker skin than frogs and can survive in drier environments.

Frogspawn resembles a swarm of little translucent balls with small black spots in the center. It is often seen adhering to plants near a water source, just under the water’s surface. Toad spawn, on the other hand, has the appearance of a string.

A typical fish tank net may be used to capture frogspawn and tadpoles. Tadpoles and spawn will perish if they are allowed to dry out. As a result, the easiest approach to kill them is to leave them in the sun on a concrete or asphalt surface or bury them in sand.

Increase the number of birds in your yard by making it more bird-friendly.

Hawks, owls, crows, ravens, ducks, geese, and blue jays are natural predators of frogs. As you make your yard more appealing to certain bird species, the number of frogs in your yard will naturally decrease.

Keeping a small flock of ducks in your yard is an excellent technique to reduce the quantity of frogs. Ducks will also eat slugs and snails, which are common garden pests.

A birdbath will attract wild birds such as blue jays and robins to your yard. While a birdbath may attract some frogs, the birds that arrive will quickly consume them.

A birdbath will attract a variety of smaller birds, which in turn will attract bigger birds such as hawks. These predatory birds will aid in the management of frogs.

Predatory birds like to sit on tall trees, so plant a few in your yard and wait for them to come.

Provide nice perches for owls to attract them to your yard. Avoid chopping old, dead horizontal branches from huge trees because owls and other birds of prey use them as perches.

Install nest boxes along the perimeter of your property to provide owls with a secure haven. The majority of owl species hunt for hollow trees to build their nests in. Owl nest boxes are designed to mimic the natural breeding environment of owls. Install them in trees that are at least 10 to 12 feet tall.

Use Pesticides as a Last Resort to Get Rid of Insects and Frogs

If you’ve done everything else and still can’t get rid of the frogs in your yard, you may need to resort to applying a chemical pesticide. Pesticides are very detrimental to the environment, thus this is a last resort strategy.

The theory behind applying pesticides is that by eliminating the insects in the garden, the frogs’ food supply would be removed, and they will be eradicated.

Some products may be sprayed directly on frogs, their spawn, or tadpoles. They promise to kill frogs right away, yet pesticide death is usually a horrible, lingering death for frogs.

Herbicides containing atrazine have an unexpected impact on male frogs: they become females. In amphibians, birds, reptiles, and mammals, atrazine inhibits testosterone production.

When you use this herbicide in your yard, it will stop the frogs from reproducing, putting an end to your frog infestation.

Atrazine has been linked to frog population declines across the world. Although it is freely accessible in the United States, it is prohibited in the European Union owing to its detrimental environmental effects.

Roundup®, the world’s most widely used herbicide, includes the active component glyphosate, which is lethal to tadpoles and frogs. This pesticide is also known to cause tumors and malignancies in humans.

When you use these powerful pesticides in your yard, you put yourself, your family, your pets, and all the birds, butterflies, squirrels, and raccoons that visit your yard in danger. While Roundup is an efficient way to get rid of frogs in your yard, there are safer alternatives.

Using Traps to Catch Frogs

If you have any loud bullfrogs or treefrogs in your yard keeping you awake at night, catching them in a trap is one way to get rid of them. You may set them free a few kilometers from your house.

You should kill the frog species you’re after if they’re invasive in your region. However, you should be aware that limits may apply in your location. In Kansas, for example, you must apply for a license and are limited to shooting 24 bullfrogs.

Gather the following materials to make a frog trap:

• Two medium-sized buckets with drilled holes on the bottoms.
• A 12-inch-thick plywood board measuring 4 feet by 8 feet.
• A shovel

Cut two 12-inch-wide, 4-inch-deep slots into the rims of the buckets on opposing sides to prepare the buckets. Slide the plywood board into the slots to make sure they’re the appropriate size.

Begin by drilling two 8-foot-distance holes in the earth. The holes must be large enough to accommodate the whole bucket.

Ensure that the two buckets are flush with the ground by sinking them into the earth. Fill up any gaps with dirt around the buckets.

Next, dig a 4-inch-deep trench in a straight line from one bucket to the other using a shovel, ensuring that the trench lines up with the bucket slots. The trench’s walls must be uniform and even.

Slide the plywood board into the slots in the buckets and trench to support it. The board should be able to stand on its own. Fill up the gaps in the trench on opposing sides of the board with dirt to help support it. Stakes may be hammered into the ground if the board requires further support.

The trap is finally complete! Allow it to sit overnight. Check to see whether you’ve captured any frogs in the morning.

The frogs will reach the board as they jump across your yard. They will attempt to get around it and fall into one of the buckets since they are unable to leap over it. The frog cannot get out of the bucket because the sides are too steep and slippery.

How to Kill Frogs in a Humane Manner

The prospect of murdering anything, even a frog, makes many people nervous. However, if you have a bad frog infestation in your yard and the frog species is invasive, you should get rid of it. Then killing them is the most ecologically friendly and ethical option.

The most compassionate way to kill frogs is to:

1. Put them in a plastic jar with holes for ventilation.
2. Refrigerate the container for at least 12 hours.
3. Place the container in the freezer for at least 24 hours.

Frogs can’t control their own body temperature since they’re cold-blooded. If you put them in the fridge, their bodies will go into hibernation. Their metabolisms will slow down, and they will be in a profound sleep-like condition.

The excessive temperature will kill the frogs if you put them in the freezer. However, since they are unconscious, their death will be painless.

Native frog species should never be killed.

Amphibian populations are declining all around the globe.

Frogs in the Pool: How to Keep Them Out

Nobody enjoys fishing dead, bloated frogs and frogspawn out of their pool with a net every morning. There are, fortunately, techniques to deter frogs from leaping into your pool at night.

Using a pool cover at night is an efficient approach to keep frogs out of your pool. The use of a solar cover has the extra advantage of heating the water, which keeps frogs away.

Installing a frog fence around the outside of your swimming pool is the best method to keep frogs out.

With a fence, you can keep frogs out of your yard.

Although an attractive and safe fence is costly, it is the only surefire solution to keep frogs out of your yard. Make a normal fence that matches the style of your home, then frog-proof it.

The appropriate material for a frog fence is 1/8-inch hardware cloth. Chicken wire is effective for keeping bigger frogs and toads out. Plastic fence with tiny mesh may also be used.

A frog-proof fence must meet the following criteria:

• At least 6 inches into the earth should be sunk.
• Small frogs will not be able to fit through the thin mesh.
• Frogs can’t leap over it since it’s too high.

In the United States and Canada, frog fences are utilized in Wildlife Management Areas. To save endangered frogs from becoming roadkill, they are placed beside roadways. Frog barriers have shown to be quite effective.

The Advantages of Having Frogs in the Garden

While it’s understandable that many people are terrified of frogs and don’t want them in their homes or yards, frogs are really valuable creatures to have around.

The majority of people install ponds in their gardens for a variety of reasons, one of which is to attract frogs and other animals. A diverse range of creatures of various sizes visiting your yard indicates that you live in a healthy environment.

In a single night, a frog may consume up to 100 insects. Because of their ravenous hunger for bugs, they are an excellent natural pest control option in the garden.

Cutworms, caterpillars, grasshoppers, slugs, snails, beetles, and moths are just a few of the garden pests that frogs devour. They’re very useful in vegetable gardens.

Last Thoughts

If you have a frog infestation in your yard, you should concentrate on eliminating their food and shelter supplies. The following are some strategies for getting rid of frogs in your yard:

• Make your own natural frog repellent spray. All you need is citric acid and water!
• Keep your lawn mowed to a minimum. Long grass and weeds are ideal hiding places for frogs.
• Remove any stagnant water sources in your yard, such as puddles.
• To keep the water moving in your pond, use a water pump or a fountain. Frogs enjoy water that is still.
• Remove clutter from your yard, such as empty flower pots, and dispose of waste and leaf litter. Frogs can hide in all of these areas.
• To avoid attracting insects and frogs, turn off outside lights at night.
• Kill eggs and tadpoles to disrupt their life cycle. Catch them with a net and leave them in the sun to dry or bury them in the sand.
• More birds will visit your garden if you encourage them to do so. Owls, hawks, crows, ravens, blue jays, and geese feed on frogs.
• Insecticides may be used to reduce the number of insects in your yard. This is the last resort option as pesticides are ecologically harmful.

The “how to get rid of frogs home remedies” is the process of getting rid of frogs in your yard. There are 6 different methods that can be used to remove the frog population from your yard.

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