Is there a frog-palooza going on in SC backyards? Here’s what’s happening with amphibians

If your backyard is feeling overrun with frogs and toads, it’s not just you, said South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Herpetologist Andrew Grosse.

Multiple people have taken to Facebook within the last few weeks to point out the frog-palooza going on in their backyards. Posts and videos largely show various tree frogs and other species seemingly taking over a backyard.

Has there actually been an influx of frogs?

Andrew Grosse said it’s possible Tropical Storm Debby shares part of the blame.

“Frogs and toads in general, they’re really dependent on rainfall,” Grosse said.

The Myrtle Beach area has had a weird year for rain, being wet the first couple months, transitioning into a drought during mid-sumer and then being inundated with rain from Tropical Storm Debby. If conditions are not good for breeding, such as there being little rain, frogs will focus on surviving, not creating offspring.

“You get this huge rain event and conditions are right for several days or weeks, you get this influx of breeding,” Grosse said.

It takes a few weeks for the amphibians to go from eggs to developed frogs, meaning there’s time between a large rainfall and the start of a frog-pocalypse. Frogs also produce thousands of eggs to combat the fact that they are a food source for many animals, so when they all hatch around the same time, it can be a lot to deal with, according to Grosse.

Some of the most common species include the squirrel tree frog, green tree frog and gray tree frog, Grosse said.

Usually Grosse gets calls asking how to get rid of the frogs, but he encourages people to coexist with the small creatures.

“They do provide a service in eating bugs, mosquitoes and all the other things out in the yard that people typically don’t love, so they are great to have around,” Grosse said.