Keeping Your Pool Frog Free
Whether you love or loathe them, frogs can be great addition to your backyard and play an important role in creating a balanced ecosystem feasting on mossies, spiders and bugs but they are best kept out of the pool as they can disrupt the chemistry and the chemical environment can be very dehydrating for these pesky little critters.
Why do Frogs Love Pools?
Frogs will jump at any opportunity to inhabit water especially during warm and wet weather and swimming pools can provide an ideal habitat as there’s a fresh supply of water (albeit chlorinated) and plenty of food like mossies, flies and worms in the vicinity. Swimming pools are also the perfect place for frogs to chill out or even hide from predators. And while you probably don’t want to consider that frogs may find your beautiful family pool the perfect spot to breed, it can be a quiet and cool environment for them to lay thousands of eggs – cue tadpoles!
Check out this video in the Southern Riverina region in NSW after floods in 2022.
How to Keep Frogs out of Your Pool
Frogs generally don’t like clean, sanitised pool water but are unaware of the chemicals until they’ve already bounced into the water and then find it tricky to get back out of the pool.
Bioguard/Focus has some tips to make sure your pool doesn’t become the local frog hot-spot!
1. Create a Barrier – pool blankets have many advantages and act as a great barrier to accessing the water. Frogs also intensely dislike salt or anything acidic like vinegar or citric acid. Dilute salt into a bucket of water (about 1kg of table salt per 10L bucket) and pour this salty water around the edge of the pool. When the water evaporates there will be a light coverage of salt over the area. Salt is uncomfortable to the frogs feet and will deter them from making the leap without harming them.
Be mindful when applying as salt can be detrimental to nearby plants and poolside vegetation, young children and pets (read our article on Pets & Pools here.
2. Keep Your Pool Clean – algae, leaves and debris will attract the wrong kind of clientele to your pool. It’s important to follow a regular maintenance schedule to keep your pool looking fabulous. Maintaining your pool doesn’t have to be difficult. Simple steps like using a skimmer to clean debris from the surface and turning on your pool cleaner a few times a week will help to keep your pool in shape. We always recommend getting expert advice from your local pool shop or service technician. For more information on maintaining your pool head to the Pool Spa Life website.
3. Turn Up the Heat – frogs absorb oxygen through their skin and with cold water having a much higher oxygen count, they generally prefer cold water. Learn more about options on how you can heat your pool and get the most out of your swimming season here.
4. Keep your Backyard Tidy and Trimmed – Frogs love to hide. Fill in any holes in the garden and remove large clumps of weeds. You could also look at purchasing a fertiliser with ammonia sulphate which will deter them from hanging out in your backyard in the same way as salt.
5. Turn the Lights off – Frogs are nocturnal creatures and pool lights will not only attract our fearless friends but will also encourage their food source like bugs and mossies so it’s a great idea to kill the lights in the evening!
6. Turn on the Pool Pump or Add a Water Feature – Frogs love still bodies of water so if the water is in circulation, frogs will be less attracted to your pool.