Frog Deterrent

Last night was quiet. Eerily so. It was eleven o'clock, so I got the dog but left the gun in the safe. We wandered about in the rain and then it hit me. The frogs weren't barking.

I was actually quiet worried something had happened to the little buggers. The pond was one of the reasons Rog and I had purchased was once the world's biggest dump of a property. About the only thing the former owner had done right was nurture this 9-foot watering hole, moved some huge boulders around for a waterfall, and added trout that have grown to about 12 inches long. This wasn't even the main attraction. The barking frogs reminded Rog of his Colorado roots, and me of summers at our cabin in northern California.

 Had some invisible plague swept on our property only, skipping over the pond a thousand feet down the hill and through the woods, only to hit our water effects? Unlikely. Our pond is the blessed sort that has thousands of frogs, and a few massive northwest bullfrogs (for my southern friends, big up here is the size of a man's palms, which is micro compared to the big-daddy Louisiana monsters).

Went inside, hit the Internet and pulled up frog deterrent, hoping to come up with some reverse osmosis solution. Our property is free of pesticides (and cides of all types), no moles, tracks of frog-eating mammals. In short, the sites were worthless because they were pretty much all pro-frog site (as they should be).

I went back outside and surveyed the area. As I stood by a small, man made water effect that Rog did in about 4 hours of downtime, I heard a lone bullfrog barking. This water effect is just just across the lane on the property, but one look was all it took to have my moment of clarity. The man-made area has only one, underwater light and a single above ground light. It is natural, subtle, and away from the pond itself, directed up at a tree. Yesterday morning, I'd installed flourescent lights all around the pond about every five feet. It wasn't necessary: more for aesthetics. The spread of light was approximately three feet in diameter. In other words, I'd lit up the pond like a lightening rod. I hypothesized the frogs weren't going to get near the lights, hop or move around or bark, since they would basically be giving a suicidal shout. Since I love my frogs more than I love my property to look like a million bucks, I ignored the rain that had started to fall, and started gathering up the lights I'd painstakingly placed earlier in the day.


After an hour, me and P-dog went back outside. The moment I stepped outside, my ears rejoiced. The thousands were in their glory, howling at the moon. So, for all you folks who don't believe the dulcet voices of the little amphibians, here is your 5 dollar solution. ENJOY!

Deterring Frogs

Solar Flourescent path lights from Lowes. On line it's a buck more than I paid in store. Why? Who knows. Wet area discount? Iny any case, I paid $4.95 US.

couldn't find a pic of mine but
this is an example

The saleman told me the battery inside will last about a year, and then need to be replaced. The other thing...it takes about 45 min to charge (in full sunlight) for each hour of light at night. It's Washington, and if you didn't know about it before Twilight, it's a bit dank and dreary up here. I had low expectations that the things would even get charged. HOWEVER-- don't despair. In this overcast environment, these suckers still eeked out light for about six hours a night (how do I know this? I was up at 3 am and saw for myself). I'd imagine the gal in England can now rest easy, knowing the environment and frog issue will be rectified.

PS--I don't know if the regular lights (the ones that are natual light and use electricity). I purchased these to be "green" (oh, the irony of this is enough to make my mother giggle with glee).

oh--and I did reuse the lights. Today I placed the 25 or so around the back of our property where the bears have hung out. We'll see if they deter the black bears that are running amock...