I honestly don't think they can come up through the toilet. That should be a closed line. But exacatly how they DO get in is a mystery. My instincts are that most often they come through the doors or windows, just like anything else would. A loose screen (they can get into VERY tight spaces) or the like would be a piece of cake for them. Also, if you leave your garage or porch/patio door open, they have easy access that way. Once they make it into the garage or the lanai or screened porch, they just wait for the right moment and they're in. It's WHY they come in that makes me wonder. Surely there are more bugs OUTSIDE than INSIDE, even in the worst cases, right?

And I hope your husband sent this one to that big Frog Pond In The Sky. Lordy, I hate 'em!!!

So much for being humane to everyting, eh? Sorry to spoil my reputation, but these guys are just wretched!! Oh, how I long for the days when we had scads of our own native little green treefrogs everywhere.

Marcia

Yes, Marcia, he will not bother me or anyone else ever again.

We are so careful to keep the doors shut so I'm really stumped as to how he got in. Surely I would have seen something that big (he was at least 4" long) if it came in the door with me. Another thought was that possibly he came in on a house plant that I had bought from HD and have sitting on a pedestal in my entryway. Still odd that he found the guest bathroom on the other side of the house. Either way I'm glad he's gone now.

~Betsy

I have had 2 big ones come out the toilet this summer. Both times I lifted the lid and one came out. Also had one on the hall wall the other night. They can make them selves very flat and squeeze through narrow spaces.

I don't mind them around at all, I let them be. The ones inside I take out and let go. I never saw green tree frogs around. They do a tremendous job eating insects. When they aren't hanging around there are clouds of all kinds of bugs swarming around the front door and light at night and some always get in when you come home. Now there are 4-6 CTF hanging around every night and hardly any bugs.

Eric
Orlando,FL z9b/10a

I also found one in the toilet! Ewww. They come down the vent pipe.

Only problem, Eric, is that they are the reason there are no native green treefrogs left. And they eat so much more than bugs. They eat anything they can cram in their mouths, including anoles, small snakes, and even baby birds. Cuban treefrogs are a blight on our state, and I will do everything I can to keep them out of my yard. After I got the numbers down from dozens and dozens to the occasional one or two, my green anoles began to come back. I'm hoping the green treefrogs will eventually make a comeback, too, though I fear it may be too late, already.

Down the vent pipe sounds much more likely than up through the toilet. After they get inside, then they probably seek out the nearest source of water (the toilet bowl) to hang out by.

Marcia

I hate the CTF's too. I have lots of green tree frogs and anoles and want to keep it that way. Unfortunately I fished two small green frogs out of the pool this week that did not make it. I keep a boogie board tied up for the critters that find their way in the pool to get back out but sometimes they just don't make it.

I added on to my "honey-do" list - check the vents and screen if necessary!

~Betsy

Put some hardware cloth over the top of your vent pipes. You won't have anymore frogs - or snakes (!) - in your bathrooms.

~ Robin

Acros the street there is a swamp and stream and there are tons of green tree frogs over there. I used to live down the street and we always had both frogs covering the sliding glass doors. Even had a barking tree frog.

Theres no shortage of anoles around my house, the brown ones hang out in the sunnier spots and the native green ones in the shadier areas. Also geckos at night and quite a few toads. Right now there are lots of tiny baby toads in the grass.

My yard has a live and let live policy except for fire ants and sugar ants coming in the house. Florida has been over run and invaded by people so whats a few tree frogs going to hurt. They breathe and live just like us. I don't want a big hand grabbing me and putting me to sleep in the freezer just cause I wasn't born here. At least they aren't fouling the water and producing noxious gases and poisoning the air. CTF are now a wild part of the Florida ecology. just too many places for them to breed and live, just like humans. The only time I'll kill them is when Florida is returned to forests, empty beaches and Native American villages.

related experience -- on GW advice, i brought in the 15 black swallowtail butterfly cats that i found on my dill. we put a screen top on it, but obviously not a tight one. several of the cats got out.

we looked EVERYWHERE for them. my wife fretted. maternal instinct and all that. now, we keep finding huge, beautiful, healthy but confused swallowtails flying round the house.

we shoo them out the door, and they appear to be none the worse.

a much better uninvited guest than a ctf!

(by the way, eric, SMUSH THEM!!! aside from the loathsome lubbers and the CTF, i agree with your live and let live. but for these two creatures -- nothing but the business end of a trowel. heck, i even let the bees make a hive in the crack below my bedroom balcony!)

I'm with you, Ill. Everyone has to decide how they feel, of course, but Cuban treefrogs are doing fine in their native land. They don't need to colonize our state uninvited. And when something shows up in my backyard that is on the exotic species list and described as a monumental threat to native wildlife, it's not welcome. There were no green anoles in my yard the first three years I lived here. I steadily reduced the population of CTF's around my house and now I have them back again. I don't believe it's a coincidence.

My yard is live and let live, too, as long as the critter belongs here and isn't a lubber grasshopper. If I can help restore balance, even if it is only in my little area, I'm going to give it a try. Might not do any good, but it can't hurt, either.

As I say, that's just my feelings. Others might feel differently.

Marcia

Worried about CTF's (or any other slimy thing) getting into your house via the toilet? My late dad showed me how to keep anything from coming up the pipes.

Once a month dump just a little muriatic acid (the stuff you treat your pool with) down the toilet and flush. Nothing will ever again come up through your pipes.......alive that is.

If I wasn't freaked out by the giant wolf spider in the garage, now I'll be looking in the toilet!!! I've got to start turning the lights on before going into a room.

Julie

Julie, speaking of wolf spiders, I fish one out of the pool almost every morning. We sure seem to attract alot of them here! They can get so big! I just turn them loose in the yard. Maybe its the same one every day? And to get really creepy ... one morning the one I fished out had about a million babies on its back! That was something I had never seen before but it left it's imprint on my brain! lol!
~Betsy

As ~Robin said (above)...here's how frogs,snakes etc. get in to the house:

Here is a link that might be useful: