Tropical Storm Fay brings scads of frogs in Florida

ShareThis

"The river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber and upon thy bed."Exodus 8:2Although not quite in biblical proportions, scads of frogs are showing up on Florida's Treasure Coast, one more lingering effect of Tropical Storm Fay.But then, Exodus doesn't mention frogs in thy toilet, which can happen given the influx of Cuban tree frogs, a non-native creature that's supplanting the green tree frogs, barking tree frogs, squirrel tree frogs and other species indigenous to Florida.Ken Gioeli, natural resources agent with the St. Lucie County Extension Service, said the wealth of frogs is "a direct result of the amount of water we got from Fay a few weeks ago. As long as you have an abundance of water and an abundance of food, you're going to have an abundance of frogs and toads. And they'll be around until things dry up, which I don't think will be anytime soon."Gene Lemire, Martin County mosquito control administrator, attested to the likelihood that the amphibians' presence will only grow."When we've gone out looking for mosquito larvae in ditches and ponds, we've been finding an abundance of tadpoles in all shapes and varieties," said Gene Lemire, Martin County, Fla. mosquito control administrator. "A lot of areas are just shimmering with tadpoles."For humans, the influx of frogs doesn't amount to a plague. But to native frogs, the arrival of huge numbers of the thuggy Cuban variety is not good news."The Cuban tree frogs reproduce quicker than the native species," Gioeli said. "Plus, they're voracious predators. They'll try to eat anything they can get in their mouths, including beetles, roaches and native tree frogs."Cuban tree frogs were first reported in Key West in the 1920s and on the mainland in 1945. By the mid-1970s, they had spread throughout the state."They're like the Brazilian pepper tree," said Bruce Dangerfield, animal control officer at the Vero Beach Police Department and member of the Treasure Coast Herpetological Society. "They're taking over, and they shouldn't even be here."Gioeli said Cuban tree frogs also have been known to cause power outages by crawling into transformers and switch boxes.They've even been reported in people's toilets."Yes, it's a real problem," Gioeli said. "You can expect to see Cuban tree frogs anywhere that's humid and moist."Gioeli said the frogs can get into a toilet via the small air vent that leads from the toilet through the roof of the house."Typically, they'll climb from a tree, to the roof, into the vent and down into a toilet," he said.To keep frogs out of your toilet: Cut back tree limbs that spread over your house and install a small-meshed screen over the top of the vent.That, and let Moses and his people go.(Tyler Treadway is a reporter for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers, The Stuart News, Fort Pierce Tribune and Vero Beach Press Journal.)