Meet Fred the Frog. He is a Green Tree Frog.
Fred and a few of his friends and family have been renting out space in our backyard.
They are very welcome although the dogs are not happy they are our tenants at the Home by the Sea.
The frogs try to get the favourite spot on the edge of the potplant as this helps them catch the moths that frequent our lawn at night, as modelled here by Esmeralda.
Australian Green Tree Frogs
These frogs have an ability to change the colour of their skin according to the surface they are sitting on. Sometimes bright green, othertimes brown.
Their skin also emits secretions should they be eaten by a predator. The secretions in the skin taste awful and make a predator, such as a dog vomit, and suffer depression for up to 60 minutes.
Of course, the dogs had to test the theory. The new puppy couldn’t resist picking the frog up in its mouth. As well as the protective secretions, frogs have another defence. They scream, they wail. It is a sound that brings us running to rescue them. But we don’t touch them!
Safety with Frogs
Human TOUCH can burn a frog’s skin if we pick it up with dry hands.
WET YOUR HANDS WHEN HANDLING A FROG.
[And do not touch toads without gloves. They are toxic!]
The vomit has been cleaned up and the depression lasted for a hour. A textbook example of the frog’s skin secretions at work, protecting it from being eaten by predators.
Here is a list of the frogs found in our area. At present we have around 8 -10 in our yard. The recent rains have delighted them.
| 1. | Limnodynastes peronii : Brown-striped Frog | 6 |
| 2. | Limnodynastes terraereginae : Northern Banjo Frog | 1 |
| 3. | Litoria caerulea : Green Tree Frog | 4 |
| 4. | Litoria fallax : Eastern Dwarf Tree Frog | 3 |
| 5. | Litoria gracilenta : Dainty Green Tree Frog | 4 |
| 6. | Platyplectrum ornatum : Ornate Burrowing Frog | 2 |
| 7. | Pseudophryne major : Large Toadlet | 4 |
| 8. | Rhinella marina : Cane Toad | 5 |
A Home by the Sea 
OK, screaming frogs, that’s a new one! I guess only in OZ…
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It sure is a different sound. Unfortunately, with a new little puppy in the house, we frequently have to rescue the frogs!
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I’m sure that the frog screaming is as much for dog rescue as frog rescue!
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Well in our case, yes! We don’t want the dog to chuck up, nor the frog to get hurt. When we hear the frog/s go off, we certainly come running.
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The FROGs wail and scream? Can you make a video & recording of that? I just cannot imagine what a wailing frog sounds like. I’m not sure I’d like to have all those frogs in my back yard 😦
When I lived in the tropics our house was in the hills in a fairly untamed area. After the rains there’d be frogs everywhere and they’d be flattened by cars. Yuck. I hated walking on the road. It still gives me the shivers to think about it!
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Not nice to see flattened frogs, Sandy. They are in decline world wide, so are precious and an important indicator of environmental health.
I actually searched for a video of our green frogs screaming but could only find people laughing while holding frogs in other countries. People who do not realise they were burning the frog’s skin by handling them with dry hands.
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How wonderful to have frogs. A couple of weeks ago, we had one in the dog’s outside water dish. The dog avoided it.
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That is a good thing. One schnauzer avoids them, the other hunts them.
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A brilliant way of saying they are renting a space in your back yard. Interesting about the scream, color changing and burning them when you use dry hands. Thanks for a good description of your tenants.
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They are very welcome tenants, Ineke and I am happy to waive any rentals due! Lol.
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You are a good owner! I’m doing my best to get some birds visiting my café but the neighbors cats keep interfering. There are no birds to visit anymore!
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That is a shame. People with cats who let them roam are annoying. It is hard to keep cats out. Doesn’t Trompie do border patrol?
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He does but they know Trompie can’t jump over the fence. When he gets a chance Trompie chances them back into their house!
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Good on you Trompie
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How interesting that you get these regular visitors! I think I should add to my list seeing a cane toad, never seen one in real life before.
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Oh no, you don’t want to see a cane toad. They are grotesque creatures. You just have to travel north of Port Macquarie to see them
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I’ve learned something new today and that’s a good thing. I have never touched a frog and no desire to do so but it I had to move one I use something more natural to push them in a safe direction. Screaming frogs would hurt my heart.
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When the frogs start skrieking, we come running!
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Hi Amanda. I replied to your email many weeks ago but never heard from you again. Possibly my message went to your SPAM box. Did you get my message ?
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Hello Dai, I did get your message and sent a reply back. I will investigate to see if it went through.
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Beautiful frog’s. Nice color.
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They are an asset in the garden.
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It’s garden is your. It’s sound doing sweet. Drow…drow….
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I love Frogs!!!! I think they are so attractive and positively adorable!
and those Doggies of yours are so cute (and have such a sense of humour!).
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Thank you. One of the dogs is a Mischief maker, but oh so cute.
I like having the frogs in the garden even if it means we have to watch the dogs closely when they are outside.
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Rascally cuteness!
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Well described, Ju-Lyn!
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Oh no, so sorry for your dogs! We only have toads around here but bestia is not interested in them in the least. If we pass one, I showed it to him and he just continues without even a nose in its direction. Should one come into our yard, he would bark a little to scare it away but wouldn’t touch it. Maybe he had an early lesson…
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It is for the best that Bestia is not interested in the toads. Easier for you to manage when out walking. The puppy has a very high prey drive but is learning not to be so good a hunter. Lucky the frogs are in hibernation for winter.
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Yesterday I saw those mice in Australia, today a swarm of spiders. 😦 Never a calm moment, it seems. Hopefully not where you are.
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No. The mice are the problem down south and out west atm, anyway. Hopefully they wont migrate north!
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A good post on biodiversity. Thank you 😊
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Biodiversity is important for a healthy ecosystem. Man is slowly coming to understand that you if you play around and damage or remove one sector of the ecosystem, it has effects on the rest. If any one part becomes unbalanced, chaos can arise.
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Yes. That’s true.
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