Frogs

[backstairs]

I live in a nice house in a nice compound which is free from cockroaches, ants and a lot of mosquitoes. I have been here 8 months free of bother. Nice. But recently I have had big-eyed visitors. The first was sitting on my bed on a pillow. Quite a shock. A frog. Before it turned into Prince Charles I took it to the garden.

3 days later I nearly stepped on another, or maybe the same one, in the living room. AND NOW I have found another one back in the bedroom. I cant believe it.

The bedroom is sealed. I don't open the windows. There are no holes in the floor. It is a modern house.

Could they come through the air con? OR could it be the part-time maid leaving the doors open while I am at work?

It has not reached the stage like that scene in the movie Magnolia where they fall from the sky. But it's doing me blood pressure in. Your lucid comments are, as always, appreciated.

[starkey_rich]

Wet season

get used to it they are everywhere and very very noisy

[BangTaoBoy]

Are they definitely frogs not toads?

I hope so, because I think some Thai toads are quite poisonous?

[xen]

Maybe the frogs are the reason your house is free of mosquitos , if not some of the other insect creatures. Learn to live with the little buggers for your own good.

[petercallen]

We had a problem with frogs last month when it rained for a week,

They did not come into the house but were very noisy especially one type,

That type of frog all ended up in a unfinished swimming pool next door and a man speared them and took them home for dinner,

I think the snakes are slowly getting rid of most of the others, maybe you should get a pet snake and keep it in your bedroom that should solve the problem

[ignis]

Are they definitely frogs not toads?

I hope so, because I think some Thai toads are quite poisonous?

No idea of the difference ? around the house outside have many some very big, lots smaller, often take out big one every morning from the pond, some are brown, some brown with orange markings and lots are white but these appear to live in the trees hang for hours in the same place, some live in the shrubs expect over a 100 all around the house in trees.. Lots of lizard some very beautiful, Cobra snakes, 3 years running had to have the Government men come to remove a 1.5 meter long snake looking thing with legs [have 5 dogs and 200 Koi fish]

Yesterday a Lady in the house across the road in the village came out holding her small dog screaming, she came to me and made some phone calls........ Daughter was trapped upstairs. as she was downstairs have lunch in the door came a Alligator, long and the short of it was a old man from further up the Village managed to get it into the downstairs bathroom, it did do a lot of damage with its tail, when the men came from the Government they had the correct poles, they measured it 2.8 meters long, they tapped it mouth and held its tail, took 3 men to lift it into the back of there pickup.

Have seen a few over the years here sun bathing in different Village roads but never that close.

[keestha]

Living in an area with lots of greenery around, wildlife getting into the house varies from season to season and from year to year. The OP should be glad it is just frogs, and not the small centipedes that have a painfull bite. Cicadas can be a problem, and so can be the big brown beatles flying around aimlessly, making spectacular loops, and colliding with whatever is in the way, your face for instance. On the bright side, they cannot get up anymore after having crash landed on their back, which frequently happens. Worse are the very small black beatles that give off an evil smell when touched, they tend to land in your food when you are eating, definitely not making the spaghetti more palatable. This time of the year, there are often the very small flies called malaeng wee in Thai, they don't bite but keep hovering around very close to your face, occasionally getting into your nostrils.

Edited May 7, 2011 by keestha

[KarenBravo]

Are they definitely frogs not toads?

I hope so, because I think some Thai toads are quite poisonous?

No idea of the difference ? around the house outside have many some very big, lots smaller, often take out big one every morning from the pond, some are brown, some brown with orange markings and lots are white but these appear to live in the trees hang for hours in the same place, some live in the shrubs expect over a 100 all around the house in trees.. Lots of lizard some very beautiful, Cobra snakes, 3 years running had to have the Government men come to remove a 1.5 meter long snake looking thing with legs [have 5 dogs and 200 Koi fish]

Yesterday a Lady in the house across the road in the village came out holding her small dog screaming, she came to me and made some phone calls........ Daughter was trapped upstairs. as she was downstairs have lunch in the door came a Alligator, long and the short of it was a old man from further up the Village managed to get it into the downstairs bathroom, it did do a lot of damage with its tail, when the men came from the Government they had the correct poles, they measured it 2.8 meters long, they tapped it mouth and held its tail, took 3 men to lift it into the back of there pickup.

Have seen a few over the years here sun bathing in different Village roads but never that close.

Toads have dry skin, frogs damp skin.

There are no alligators on Phuket. What you describe is probably a Water Monitor. A very large lizard that is getting rarer and rarer due to excessive hunting for their meat.

[ignis]

Living in an area with lots of greenery around, wildlife getting into the house varies from season to season and from year to year. The OP should be glad it is just frogs, and not the small centipedes that have a painfull bite. Cicadas can be a problem, and so can be the big brown beatles flying around aimlessly, making spectacular loops, and colliding with whatever is in the way, your face for instance. On the bright side, they cannot get up anymore after having crash landed on their back, which frequently happens. Worse are the very small black beatles that give off an evil smell when touched, they tend to land in your food when you are eating, definitely not making the spaghetti more palatable. This time of the year, there are often the very small flies called malaeng wee in Thai, they don't bite but keep hovering around very close to your face, occasionally getting into your nostrils.

small centipedes that have a painfull bite? what is small? I get lots but many different sizes, many up to 50 cm long, mostly in the bathrooms, but have had them in the master bedroom and in the living room in the curtains, then there's the rats and mice that appear to get everywhere and every room of the house, but that is no different to my old house in a Village in the UK, where I had to check every night they were not in the bed.. And here those double body flying things that give a nasty bit that stays red and itches for days..... at this very moment on a shelve above the PC table is a very nice green Carmelia [spelling?] its eyes going every which way.

[ignis]

Thanks KarenBravo

I see frogs then in the day time, just when I let the dogs out at 10pm for there last run around the house, there are lots, as it is dark no idea if there dry or wet skinned...

Any idea on snakes? often find small black and yellow one curled up and often see a long 1.5 - 2m but the size of my finger they are vivid green., will they hurt my dogs? have 5 Shih Tzu's The big Boa snakes has been lots of these in the Village over the years so know what they are.

What you describe is probably a Water Monitor........... thanks up close the body and tail looked like a Alligator but the head looked smaller, but others from village + Government men said Alligator

[backstairs]

Thank you all for giving a wider view of reptiles and insects in Phuket and beyond. My domestic helper has arrived. She has left all the doors open. I did an impersonation of a frog and pointed at my bed. This could have gone very wrong but she got the idea and we closed the doors. Felt bad that I did not know the Thai for frog, pillow and prince. We all have to live with these creatures; the main point of my first post still is: how in hell do they get inside? Let's see if the closed door policy works.

[madmitch]

small centipedes that have a painfull bite? what is small? I get lots but many different sizes, many up to 50 cm long, mostly in the bathrooms, but have had them in the master bedroom and in the living room in the curtains, then there's the rats and mice that appear to get everywhere and every room of the house, but that is no different to my old house in a Village in the UK, where I had to check every night they were not in the bed.. And here those double body flying things that give a nasty bit that stays red and itches for days..... at this very moment on a shelve above the PC table is a very nice green Carmelia [spelling?] its eyes going every which way.

You probably have millepedes; brown in colour and they can grow quite long. They are harmless.

The centipedes mentioned above are only a few centimetres long, quite thin with a gret body, a forked red-tipped tail and a reddish head. These are nasty and should be avoided.

[LeungKen]

I think I've been here too long......

When I find a large frog around our place i have to pick it up and turn it over, so that she who believes all things mystical, can rub the freckles on the frog's chest to reveal the winning number for the underground lotto......

The strange thing is that she wins about 60% of the time.

[ignis]

Another one next door this afternoon in the garden, this one 1.7 meters long... Government men arrived again, I asked they said 100% Alligator, it is not a Water Monitor...

By the way I am not in Phuket, never look to see which Forum posts are in, my house is in a small Village 50km north west of BKK

[Jimi007]

I think I've been here too long......

When I find a large frog around our place i have to pick it up and turn it over, so that she who believes all things mystical, can rub the freckles on the frog's chest to reveal the winning number for the underground lotto......

The strange thing is that she wins about 60% of the time.

LOL! Thanks for the laugh! I'd take frogs over fire ants in my bed, like this morning! Or geckos crapping everywhere... Luckily no cobras in the house, just outside. To find out about snakes here in Thailand, there is a great website: http://www.siam-info.de/english/snakes_poisonous.html

It also has non poisonous snakes on it...

[Shot]

We get a few frogs and snakes now and then. But, the real problem over the past few weeks is ants. Lots of them.

[MissChris]

Probably the reason why you don't have cockroaches is that the frogs are eating them. Those brown torpedoes you see around are recycled insects of all sorts. We feel privileged to have 3 frogs at present in our home in Oz. One (the smallest) loves to sound like a mini machine gun while we are showering. I love them! They annoy the cat though, by bathing in her water bowl.

Leave them, or, if you need to move them, do it gently. Their skin is fragile.

Remember, Princess Diana used to tell her boys that she found a frog in the garden. LOL

[WarpSpeed]

Are they definitely frogs not toads?

I hope so, because I think some Thai toads are quite poisonous?

Only if you lick them... Anyway I thought this was a topic about a rise in French tourism ...