We get frogs around here at various times of the year. We have a couple of ponds that grow food for us and the water seems to make a reasonable habitat for frogs. They have different calls, so we do get different species, but I am not sure what type of frog they are. However, after I put a picture of one up on a frog identification Facebook group I was told it was a Peron’s tree frog.
A few years ago, after having found a frog perched in the 50mm pipe which is the entrance for wastewater into our constructed wetland, I decided I wanted to make a ‘frog hotel’ to give frogs somewhere to live that was safer and with no chance of wastewater contamination. After some research I put one together and it has definitely been patronised, if irregularly, after I built and installed it. Unfortunately, due to the way it is constructed, it is a bit difficult to get photos of the frogs-in-residence, due to reflection and the frogs heading for the water in the bottom of the tubes, but I can see they are there.
Being able to provide such frog accommodation has been very satisfying, but that is not the end of the story.
When we built the back deck, I wanted to have some hanging pots to grow food in, usually tomatoes and cucumbers in the warmer months, so I got hold of some alleged ‘self-watering’ pots that have a (very) small reservoir in the bottom to hold water that can then be accessed by the plants. They have been in use for almost ten years, and I haven’t seen anything untoward about them, until about six months ago.
One night I was coming up out of the garage and along the back deck to go inside, using my head torch to light my way, and I noticed something looking back at me from the overflow hole of one of the self-watering hanging pots! It turns out that there was a Peron’s tree frog happily ensconced in the water filled bottom of the hanging pot. I have no idea how on earth it got there, or how it gets out (if it wants to) but is has now been living there for some months.
Just in the last couple of days the frogs have upped the ante somewhat and we noticed a second frog in another of the hanging pot reservoirs. Having now seen two frogs it prompted me to check out the rest of our six hanging pots to see if we had any other residents. It turns out that have no fewer than four frogs dwelling in pot reservoirs. Clearly, they have no problem accessing the pots and what I thought of as a one-off has in fact become a hi-rise froggy community!
I tend not to do much with the hanging pots in the cooler weather but with frogs now in place I have committed to keeping the water levels up. I still have no idea how they got in (or get out) or even what they are eating, but the hi-rise froggies seem to happy staying there. At least, none have lodged a formal complaint with the landlord about their accommodation!
