frogs in swimming pool

[deereman63]

I have just opened my pool.This is the first I have owned so I am little green like the first chap who tried it out--- a frog. Now I 'm worried because I will be away for some time so if his friends come down for a pool party how are they going to get out? You may feel that I am being too sentimental, but by all reports these critters have suffered enough at the hands of mankind so what can I do to help them hop or crawl back out. I thought of leaving a piece of wood in the pool onto which they could hitch a ride and as it swung by the edge hopefully they would have the gumption to leap off.

 

[Junkman]

I would put a few lilies in the pool so they can have lily pads to rest on. It will enhance the visual appeal of the pool to the other frogs so they will want to join in. I also suggest that you put a water snake into the pool to keep the frogs under control if they get rowdy. A few snapping turtles will also make the pool have that down home stream look. Add to that some Canadian Geese, or any other nationality geese you might prefer. Just remember not to discriminate against any nationality geese or you will be in hot water yourself.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Would you like a recipe for frogs legs????? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[Dargo]

Unfortunately I seem to have to toss a frog or two every other day or so out of my skimmers. I have a 7' tall privacy fence all the way around my pool, so I don't get too many of them, but they still get in. I'm sort of like you; I hate to have them die. The bad deal is that your chlorine in the pool will do them in within a few hours anyway. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif I've sat some outside of my fence gate when they were alive in the skimmer, only to find them still there, and dead, the next day.

 

[riptides]

Part of our aummertime ritual is pool amphib rescues.
Thanks to my daughters quite a few frogs have been helped along, after the get a swimming workout by the girls. The girls love chasing them down in the pool. I am sure the frogs are only too happy to see the forest again.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[woodchuckie]

Back when I still opened my above ground pool every summer, I would get frogs out just to have them get back in on their on. Some even became bleached out because of the chlorine. We had lots of frog eggs one year. I guess the skimmer and filter did them in. I haven't opened my pool in several years now and I mostly drained it except for the deep end which is sort of a pond now. I have left the frogs alone and a few seem to have stayed there the whole time. He looks like he would weigh two pounds.

 

[twabscs]

Frogs will be the least of your problems. Every day, and for a couple of weeks, after opening, I have between 4-15 frogs and toads that I "save" each morning. The lilly pad idea helps a bit, but the skimmers cause the problems so you can't save them all.

Get ready for snakes, mice, salamanders. During the season, field mice are second to frogs and toads. Maybe 2-3 per week.

The strangest thing that I've had so far was a possum couple. They arrived at 10 PM one night, jumped in and started doing laps. I went out to see what was going on, and they didn't bat an eye, just kept right on swimming. After about 10 minutes they got out and went on their way. They came by 2-3 times that season.

Didn't expect any of this when I decided to get a pool. Oh well, at least the wife can swim now so it was worth it.

 

[mathey]

There's actually a Yahoo group dedicated to "natural swimming pool owners"...the motto is "if fish can't live in it, I don't want to swim in it" or something similar...

 

[DocHeb]

I had a good friend that used to put bait minnows under the neighbor's pool cover, and watch his suprise when the cover came off. The neighbor never caught on, until my friend got too rowdy with the 25 live bluegill one year. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[lrunge]

I had a black lab that would swim in the pool every morning until he cleared out all of the frogs. He would swim around until they surfaced and then would glide up behind them and chomp... he would then get out,spit the frog out and get back in until they were all gone. It was a daily ritual for him. He was also deadly on any leaf that would fall in the pool.

 

[chatcher]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I had a black lab that would swim in the pool every morning until he cleared out all of the frogs. He would swim around until they surfaced and then would glide up behind them and chomp... he would then get out,spit the frog out and get back in until they were all gone. It was a daily ritual for him. He was also deadly on any leaf that would fall in the pool. )</font>

You're lucky - all my labs ever did for my pool was to claw holes in the vinyl liner.