Frogs are cute and many people enjoy seeing them hopping around. However, it can be a bit of an annoyance when you have lots of frogs on your property.
If too many frogs are present, then you might start seeing frogs sneak into your house. There are also many people that have frogs get into their pools, and this is going to be less than ideal for a number of reasons.
What should you do when you find that you have many frogs in your pool? Is there a good way to keep frogs out of the pool that will help you to turn things around?
Keep reading to learn about the best methods for keeping frogs out of your pool. Some of these ideas might even help you to keep frogs off of your property so that you won’t have to worry so much moving forward.
Why Don’t You Want Frogs in Your Pool?
Some people might not be sure exactly why frogs are so undesirable. If you find frogs to be kind of cute and endearing, then maybe you’re not convinced that you need to take steps to keep them away.
Liking frogs is fine and it’s not like frogs are dangerous to you or anything like that. It’s simply best for the frogs to not go into your pool for their own safety.
Read on to learn a bit about why frogs should be kept out of your pool. It’ll help you to understand why you’re taking steps to protect your pool and the frogs themselves.
Frogs Will Try to Lay Eggs in the Pool
Frogs don’t understand that your pool isn’t a natural source of water. They aren’t able to differentiate pools from ponds, and this means that they will use your pool just like they will a natural body of water.
It’s normal for frogs to seek food in ponds, and your pool is also going to be a good source of food for them. They’ll find plenty of insects and other things like that on the surface of the water in your pool.
You’ll also find that frogs will try to lay their eggs in your pool. You might come out to use your pool one day and discover that there is a mass of frog eggs at the bottom of the pool.
Frog eggs will always immediately sink to the bottom of the pool. They’ll be pretty noticeable and you’ll have to dispose of them yourself which will be a pain.
You might not realize this, but frogs can lay as many as 50,000 eggs at once. That’s an insane number of frog eggs to have in your pool, and you definitely don’t want that.
If you care about frogs and don’t want to dispose of the eggs, then you could try to find a better spot for them. Try to move them to a nearby pond or something like that.
Some people have placed the frog eggs in a kiddie pool that is far away from the main pool. It’s up to you how you decide to deal with this situation, but it’s best to try to keep it from happening in the first place.
Frogs Often Die in Pools
Another thing to understand is that frogs will often wind up dying in pools. Pools might be easier for frogs to enter than they are for them to exit.
The edge of the pool might be too high for the frog to jump to from the water. Frogs are good swimmers, but they’re only going to be able to swim around for so long until their stamina gives out.
This means that a frog will eventually get too tired and will drown in the pool. You’ll be left with dead frog bodies in your pool that you’ll have to dispose of.
You might think that frogs would be smart enough to get out using the pool steps, but frogs don’t always understand they can do this. Also, many people remove the pool steps when they aren’t in the pool.
If you don’t want to see dead frogs in your pool on a semi-regular basis, then you’ll need to take steps to keep frogs away from the pool. Thankfully, there are many ways that you can do just that.
1 – Be Sure to Use a Pool Cover
Something as simple as using a pool cover is going to make it much harder for frogs to get into your pool. You should buy a cover that fits your pool perfectly so that you can use it to protect the pool when it is not in use.
This is going to be useful for more things than just protecting the pool from frogs. It’ll also ensure that you won’t have as many insects and leaves fall into the pool over time.
These pool covers come in many different varieties, but you’re probably going to want to buy a heavy-duty vinyl pool cover. When you buy pool covers like this, you’ll be able to feel confident that frogs won’t be able to get into the pool.
Pool covers that are made like this can support up to 200 pounds of weight in most instances. That means that no frog is going to be able to cave the cover in and gain access to the water.
It’ll also protect pets and kids from falling into the water when you don’t want people using the pool. These pool covers are a must when you own a pool, and it just makes sense for you to own one.
There are also mesh covers that will keep pets and kids from falling into the water, but those won’t do much to stop bugs and frogs. Get a vinyl cover and you’ll be much better off.
2 – Install a Fence Around Your Pool
Another good idea to consider involves installing a fence around your pool. This is going to be a solid idea even if you aren’t worried about frogs.
Pools can be a liability and you don’t want your neighbor’s kid wandering into your pool. It would be unsafe for something like this to happen, and that’s why many people install fences around their pools.
It’ll also help to keep strangers from trying to use your pool while you’re away. As weird as that sounds, people have been known to try to do that in some neighborhoods.
A fairly high fence is going to do a good job of keeping people away from your pool. You’re also going to want to install a fence that can keep frogs and other creatures away.
Avoid using chain-link fencing or iron bars because frogs will still be able to get in. You’re going to want to build a solid wood fence that is too tall for frogs to jump.
Vinyl fencing can also work, but it’s up to you to decide which option is better. It might be wise to make the fence tall enough that most humans won’t want to try to jump the fence, too.
3 – Keep the Lights Off
Did you know that the lights that you have near your pool could be attracting frogs? Many people install lights near their pool areas so that they can use the pool easily when it gets a bit dark.
This is definitely a good thing to have, but you might want to ensure that you’re turning those lights off when you’re not using the pool. If you leave the lights on all night, then frogs are going to be more drawn to the pool area.
One of the reasons why this happens is that lights attract more bugs. Bugs are drawn to lights, and frogs are going to follow the bugs since that’s what they eat.
You might wind up inadvertently attracting frogs to your pool by using the lights. To be clear, using pool lights is perfectly fine, but you just want to turn them off when you’re done swimming.
This is likely going to be a good idea anyway since you don’t need to unnecessarily use electricity. Save yourself a few bucks on your power bill and turn those pool lights off when you aren’t using them.
4 – Keep Your Landscaping Tidy
Have you been doing a good job of maintaining your yard? If you’ve been slacking off when it comes to landscaping as of late, then that could be attracting more frogs to your property.
You see, frogs are going to enjoy tall grass and weeds. These will be good places for frogs to hide and thrive that you will want to get rid of on your property.
If you want to keep your pool area free of frogs, then you’re going to need to pay attention to the landscaping. Take the time to pull weeds near the pool and don’t let the grass grow too tall either.
This might make it so that you will have to do a bit more work than usual, but it’s going to be worth it in the long run. Do your best to reduce the frog population in your yard by making your yard less appealing to the frogs.
5 – Heat the Water in Your Pool
Another thing that you can do to make your pool less appealing to frogs will be to heat it up. You can buy heaters for your pool that will ensure that the water is always warm.
Frogs actually prefer cold water, and this means that they will likely avoid your pool if it’s warm. The reason why frogs need cold water is that it makes it easier for them to get oxygen.
Essentially, frogs have skin that can absorb oxygen, and cold water has more dissolved oxygen than warm water does. It makes the pool less than ideal for frogs when it is being artificially heated.
It can be kind of nice to have a heated pool for other reasons as well. You’ll be able to use the pool even when it’s a bit chilly, and this means that you might get to use your pool for longer periods of time instead of having to stop as soon as it gets a bit cold outside.
6 – Consider Installing a Water Feature
You could consider installing a water feature in your pool to keep frogs away, too. This actually does more to keep insects away because insects won’t like moving water as much as they do still water.
Insects like still water because it winds up being an ideal place for them to lay eggs. When you make sure that the water is in motion with a water feature it’s going to disrupt things and make the insects less interested in the pool.
When you have fewer insects coming around your pool, it’s going to be less attractive to frogs. This is going to make it so much easier to keep frogs out of your pool, and water features can be a lot of fun to have in your pool as well.
There are quite a few options to consider, but many people wind up going with fountains or waterfalls. If you think that this sounds like an appealing idea, then you should definitely go for it.
7 – Make an Alternative Habitat for Frogs Somewhere Else
If you like having frogs somewhere on your property, then you could try to just keep them away from the pool. This can be accomplished by creating an alternative habitat for the frogs somewhere that is a fair bit away from the pool’s location.
For example, you could place an artificial pond on the other side of the property that will do a good job of attracting frogs. This will give frogs a spot where they can hunt for bugs and lay their eggs in peace.
If you use the methods above to make the pool area less appealing to frogs, then the frogs will gravitate toward the pond area instead. This idea works well because it gives the frogs someplace to be and makes it so that they don’t need to go near the pool.
You could even line the little artificial pond with flowers and plants that will make it easier for frogs to climb in and out of the water. As long as you keep this artificial pond far away from your pool, it’s going to be a good thing overall.
The only issue with this is that it may take a bit of work to set things up. Also, you’ll likely want to look after it a bit, and not everyone is going to want to go to those lengths when trying to keep frogs out of their pools.
8 – Spray Vinegar Near the Pool
Spraying vinegar near the pool area can actually act as a bit of a frog repellent. Frogs don’t like walking on surfaces that have been sprayed with vinegar and they will try to stay away.
Vinegar actually causes frogs to feel a burning sensation on their feet. Whenever they feel this sting, they’re going to hop away in the other direction.
You can effectively create a perimeter that frogs will not want to cross if you use vinegar spray regularly. It’s easy to create this by just mixing vinegar in a spray bottle with some water.
It won’t be harmful enough to the frogs to kill them so you don’t have to worry about anything like that. You can use this to your advantage, but the vinegar will wash away when it rains, which will force you to have to spray again.
This is really only a temporary solution, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a useful trick. It can be used in conjunction with the other methods that have been listed to help you to keep your pool free of frogs.
Don’t Use Ammonia Fertilizer
Some people cruelly suggest using ammonia fertilizer on your lawn when trying to get rid of frogs. It’ll certainly work to get rid of frogs, but you should know that ammonia fertilizer kills frogs.
If you don’t wish to kill the local frog population, then you’re going to want to stay far away from ammonia fertilizer. This is a completely unnecessary thing to do and most would consider killing frogs to be a negative thing.
Even if you don’t have affection for frogs, it’s easy to see how annoying this could be. If you use ammonia fertilizer on your lawn, then you’re going to have a bunch of dead frog bodies on your lawn.
It’ll be up to you to dispose of these frog bodies, and that’s going to be less than pleasant. Use the methods above that won’t kill frogs because they make a lot more sense overall.
Final Thoughts
You know everything that you need to know about keeping frogs out of your pool now. There are many different things that you can do that will help you to get good results.
It’s likely going to be best to pair several of these ideas to keep frogs out of your pool. You should have an easier time enjoying your pool without having to worry about frogs dying in the pool or having them lay eggs in there.
Ben has a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering. When not constructing or remodeling X-Ray Rooms, Cardiovascular Labs, and Pharmacies, you can find him at home with wife and two daughters. Outside of family, He loves grilling and barbequing on his Big Green Egg and Blackstone Griddle, as well as working on projects around the house.
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