Last week we had a little bright green tree frog clinging to the inside of our screen door. Not wanting it to jump into the house, and also not wanting it stepped on out on the deck, I trapped it and carried it several hundred frog-lengths across our back yard, and shook it out into the neighbor’s bush (my kids insisted it needed to be on the other side of the fence, to help protect it from our big gormless feet).
Today, Froggie is back between my back door and screen door. What is so freaking special about this spot? How did the frog figure out where to go, and why was it so dedicated to this destination?
I’m tempted to just catch it and put it in a terrarium, since I now suspect that not even driving it across town would permanently remove it from our door!
"Oh the frog came back
The very next day . . . "
I captured some tree frogs and put them around my pond, they didn’t stay long. One of them took up residence where the leaf on a lilly joins the stem as it fills up with water. I moved him back to the pond about 50 ft away and next day he was back in his lilly.
I think male frogs can be territorial. Guess your door is his territory. I suppose it might be fun/educational for your kids to keep Froggie over the winter and then release him in the spring, but I have no idea if tree frogs are endangered, hard to keep in captivity, etc…
My guess: a porch light is causing bugs to swarm next to the screen.
Here in Northern Idaho the first freezes have arrived. In our backyard we have a Pacific Chorus Frog (formerly known as Pacific Tree Frog) who takes up residence in the coils of the garden hose- the rotary kind that spool the hose. Year after year, although we have no way of knowing if it’s the same frog, our hose spool croaks most of the summer and well into fall. Whenever we use that hose, we first have to slowly and carefully unspool it until we reach the frog, and gently move him to a safer location. We assume he’s a male because of the LOUD croaking.
So… one morning a few weeks ago, my wife decided that he’d be better off wintering in a particular area of the front yard. She apprehended him, carried him all the way around the house, put him in a suggested safe spot.
Less than 24 hours later he was back in the hose spool, croaking away. He’d traveled about a hundred feet, with three hard right turns at the corners of the house, through various bushes and grasses and fences. We applauded his fortitude and determination, left him alone.
For a week. It was time to move the hose spool into the toolshed for the winter. Moving the spool is pretty clumsy, and we didn’t want to risk having the frog fall out during transit, possibly getting rolled over or stepped on, so he had to come out. We’d put him back on his spool after it was shedded, where he can stay overwinter, or creep under the door to hibernate out in the yard.
We did the usual careful unspooling, found him a few turns in, moved him to a holding cell, started respooling the hose, and another frog fell out. The amazing journey was explained. Frog #1 made it back to the hose, but probably not in such a remarkably short time as we thought.
(They stayed in the shed for a few days, croaking duets in the dark. Last time we heard them they were back out in the yard somewhere.)
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Are you certain it’s the same frog?
Pretty sure it’s the same frog - we have never seen a frog like this before. But it could be a coincidence of course.
Having dug for info, I think it’s a squirrel treefrog, and it probably is hanging out next to the windows on the door because the light from inside attracts bugs, while the double door provides a cool moist place to hide during the day.
I wouldn’t seriously try to keep it as a pet, but after reading about them I really wouldn’t, and I think we’ll try to leave it be, because they are endangered to some degree.
This all just reinforces the need to get a proper screen door that fits the frame and doesn’t have a moldy old ill-fitting dog door in it!
I know you’re asking the OP, but…
In our case, no, but we have flimsy reasons to think Frog1 and Prodigal Frog1 are the same amphibian.
Sounds like a Homing Frog. Was there a note tied to his leg?
Yep. It said (and I quote): “ribbit”
