The way to Avoid Hitting Frogs & Toads When Mowing the Grass

The way to Avoid Hitting Frogs & Toads When Mowing the Grass

Like many creatures, frogs and toads are perfectly camouflaged to fit and conceal in their environment. When they sit, it’s tough — if not impossible — to see them, as their protective coloration patterns mix into the background. While this survival technique typically works out well for them, it clashes strongly with power lawnmowers. Amphibians usually lose in technology vs. critter confrontations. Even if you’re not especially fond of frogs and toads, you most likely don’t enjoy dicing them up in your mower. A few extra minutes and a little measure of thoughtfulness on your part can save yourself a number of these little guys from urban catastrophe.

Mow in the afternoon, when frogs and toads are not as likely to be on your own lawn. During daylight hours, these creatures are most active early in the morning, before the sun gets cranking. It’s still cool and the grass is wet with dew, making conditions the amphibians enjoy enormously. When the grass dries and the temperature rises, the creatures seek cool, moist spots for a midday nap, typically in secluded spots where you are not likely to mow.

Mow your lawn regularly to keep it from growing too tall. Frogs and toads naturally migrate to tall grass to conceal and homestead. Don’t give them the opportunity and time to prepare home in areas you would like to remain cut.

Use a manual push reel mower instead of a power mower. Your pace is going to slower, allowing frogs and toads more time to get away. Modern reel mowers are easier to use and far different than your grandpa’s heavy old dinosaur. Reducing your lawn just takes a little more than using power mowers and gives you a mild aerobic workout. Healthier for your lawn, push mowers scissor the grass blades cleanly. The cutting edges don’t shred and tear the plants, exposing them to pests and diseases as power mowers do. Manual mowers are quiet and don’t belch smelly fumes. Running a gas-powered mower blasts as much pollution to the air as driving the average car for about 200 miles.

Place the lawnmower height for at least 3 or 4 inches high. Raising the cutting height enhances the chances of hitting creatures that live near the ground. Frogs and toads hunker down and hug the ground during dangerous situations they cannot evade. This gives the small guys a shot at surviving the mower blades in case you do happen to pass over them.

Make a ruckus from the yard to shoo frogs and toads in the region until you mow. Send the children out to play in the yard and make commotion. Give them lawn rakes and inform them to chase amphibians out of harm’s way. Take a leisurely stroll around the region. Pick up any small animals in the line of fire and relocate them to safer spots from damage’s way.

Mow from the center of an area and work your way outward. This provides frogs and toads a larger range of escape routes in all directions, allowing them greater chances of survival. Walk slowly to give animals time to escape. Their small legs are much shorter than yours, therefore it takes them more to cover a specified distance. Focus your eyes on the region immediately in front of the mower and be on the watch for amphibians.

Peek under low-growing hedges and shrubs until you thrust the mower beneath them. Small animals commonly find refuge there. Shake or otherwise disturb tall grass or weeds to chase frogs and toads out of them. Chase the animals securely away, then mow or trim.

Permit grass clippings to remain on the ground for a couple of hours after mowing. The thatch provides safe emergency havens for frogs and toads to flee and hide as you continue cutting. Leave the clippings in place for many days, if at all possible. As the amphibians seek new undisturbed stomping grounds, the clipped grass shelters them from predators.

Leave a tiny out-of-the-way part of your yard unmowed, especially if it is next to a wet or wooded location. This provides a safe haven for little wildlife. The animals will quickly learn how to find refuge there. Use a weed whacker to trim the grass no shorter than about 6 inches tall

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