What to do about a frog?

May 17, 2010 11:59 AM

Whilst spring cleaning the large light well in front of my house (inner London UK) I came across a 2½ inch frog perched atop some leaf litter. I have no idea how long it has been there or how it got there but it looks healthy enough. I am a little concerned as to its future though. It is a barren environment with a concrete floor, an adjacent coal store, glazed brick on the head hight walls, a mesh covered drain, the aforementioned leaf litter and a few potted ferns. Should I leave it where it is and keep it damp over the summer or move it to the small but leafy back garden where he will have the neighbours cat to contend with?
posted by Dr.Pill to Pets & Animals (6 answers total)

The neighbor's cat is likely not confining itself to the back garden. So, the little frog is probably more at risk in the front where there's little cover to help him hide. I'd move him around back or take him to an even more suitable area like a park with a pond or a small stream.
posted by onhazier at 12:11 PM on May 17, 2010 [2 favorites]

He'll have the neighbor's cat to contend with but he'll be living his life as will the cat. I say give him a chance to live in the world, not in a prison.
posted by amethysts at 12:17 PM on May 17, 2010

Move him to the back. Without water and other frogs, he'll have no chance to mate and live his little froggy life.
posted by anaelith at 12:24 PM on May 17, 2010

Best answer: do you have room in your garden to make a little shelter? You can use a clay pot, turned on its side and partially buried for a frog/toad shelter.

If you want to sign up, you can record your frog sighting using the links at the bottom of this article on Wild London.
posted by oneirodynia at 12:30 PM on May 17, 2010

Turn the frog loose in the back, or perhaps even better, take it to a park with pond and some surrounding marshy area and turn it loose. Trying to protect it will just make things worse.

Are you sure it is a frog, though, and not a toad?
posted by justcorbly at 12:35 PM on May 17, 2010

Response by poster: Out the back he goes, better to live a day as a free frog than a lifetime in chains.
posted by Dr.Pill at 4:05 AM on May 18, 2010