Do frogs squeak?
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The Ranger’s correspondent in Fratton writes as follows to pose an intriguing question to readers. He even includes an illustration to fire your imagination.
Perhaps this is like the occasional absurd question that crops up in the Answers section of a certain internet service provider, like ‘do fish know when they are wet?’ I suppose it all began a couple of years ago when a neighbour dug a pond, and over the course of time frogs started to appear, as did the council’s offer of free compost bins. So out with the old fold up bin, and in with a sleek big black bin looking like a cross between a stove and a dalek. Time to exterminate some of that kitchen waste, grass cuttings and the like ” the usual composty stuff. Then one day I lifted the lid and glaring back at me were five frogs, which quickly leapt down to the sides of their palatial compost home. A couple of weeks ago a small frog ended up in the lid as I lifted it. The dear frog leapt to the ground while I tried to catch him and put him back, but he was too fast. There he hid behind the bin before leaping out; then he looked at me, opened his slimy chops and squeaked, just like, erm… a squeaky toy! And after his third and final long squeak off he leapt.
It probably didn’t sound much like this (above)
Do frogs really squeak? Or was this particular chappie’s voice yet to break to an adult croak? I haven’t heard any further squeaks. So next time you compost (waste that is), try chasing a frog, have a listen, and you may be surprised by what you hear. Tim
So, dear readers, any suggestions? The Ranger has plenty of experience of frogs and particularly toads hissing, croaking, and sometimes puffing themselves up when threatened. But squeaking? That’s a new one. Was this frog just making defensive noises to threaten a perceived predator? Or had it learnt a new trick?
Follow-up: it seems that frogs most certainly do squeak. there are plenty of anecdotes to support it – just look at the comments below.
Funny you should mention compost bins. This afternoon I tipped a load of wet stuff into mine and immediately a frightful squeaking broke out. I thought it was a rat, but realised it was coming from to my right, where I spotted a frog, which squeaked again when I approached it. Never heard that before, though I’ve had many encounters with frogs. This is in north Durham.
Obviously found this site for the same reason as other posts. In our basement we have deep window wells and every spring the toads surface from their hibernation. We have created a haven for them complete with water, bark tunnels, plants and moss. We open the window to feed them live crickets and sometimes they will squeak. Our friends think we’re nuts but we enjoy our little friends and they come back year after year.
I enjoy them also Randi as they do come back year after year and I have rescued almost all of them from snakes. I feed them worms and crickets and then follow me around outside. My family has been over when I go outside and they see the containers and start hanging around my feet. I have had up to #10 at one time. And yes, they squeek when they get scared or upset.
A neighbour’s cat was chasing a common frog across the garden and the frog let out a series of piercing squeaks (just like a squeaky toy) as it hopped away. As we shooed the cat away, the frog hopped into the garden border, emitting the same squeaking with every hop! This was news to me….
I concurr, the same just happened to me when nudging a frog off the lawn to avoid it becoming my cat’s toy… squeak, hop, squeak, hop.
Thanks for sharing☺
A few years ago I went out onto the patio & saw a frog, I wanted to move it as I knew my cats would hurt it if they found it! As I bent to pick it up it let out an ear piercing scream, I jumped back not believing what I had heard! I tried again with the same reaction, so I put a bucket over it & tld my neighbour what had occured & asked him to remove it please. He agreed somewhat scepticallly & got the shock of his life when it screamed at him! He did manage to remove & all was well.
I was in my garden one day and heard a series of high pitched squeaking noises. At first I thought it must be the dogs next door with a squeaky toy. But then I realised it was coming from a toad on the grass in my garden! Later, I moved an old water butt and underneath was a whole family of toads, and one of them began squeaking exactly the same! They immediately relocated under the compost bin nearby. Eastleigh, Hampshire.
Thank you. My Labrador and I were walking in nearby woods when we heard some squeaking coming from the path in front of us. It was a green-ish frog, and it hopped into the undergrowth.
old thread but still relevant, yes i just saved a frog from the cats it was making a horrible spine chilling squealing sound..i reckon it must be a defense sound, gave me the shivers anyway 🙂
My dog just found a frog and to my surprise the frog started squeaking, squealing or crying… He got away but yeah, the sound is spine chilling, gave me the creeps.
happened to me last night which is how I ended up here as I never knew it happened ! about 3am woke to an awful screaming squeaking sound – cats had a small browny green frog cornered. NEVER knew frogs made that sound – especially such a little frog.
YES! toads will squeak. I have a 3 year old southern toad (Barnum) and every now and then he will let out a “squeak”. I have a barking tree, some green tree’s and some fire belly’s and they all have their own distinctive croaks but every now and again the toad will let out a quiet but audible “squeeeeeeeeeek”
tonight i was ironing in the conservatory when i heard a loud squeaking outside. I was ignoring it, assuming it was the neighbours dog with a toy, but then my young cat began scratching on the door- and trying to torment the frog at the same time. Couldn’t believe a frog could make that noise!!
I heard a loud squeaking in the house last night and I assumed my cat had caught a mouse. I went to investigate and found that it had cornered a frog. It is the first time I have ever heard a frog squeak. Amazing!
Wow, today experienced our cat in a bush with this horrible load squeeking noise, thought it must be either a mouse or god forbid a rat! I know we have frogs in our garden so googled ” do frogs squeak” and can’t believe they do.
Um.. yeah my frog just ate a wolf spider. After it had the spider, it squeaked very loud and long. Was wondering if anything was wrong with it, or was it because the other frog was too close when it was appetizing on the wolf spider.
So I am not going mad! I found your website by googling “do frogs squeak” because I experienced the very same phenomenon this morning. I was simply looking for courgettes in my very overgrown veggie patch and I heard a really strange squeaking sound. It sounded like some sort of distress alarm. I thought the neighbours cat had got another unsuspecting bird but no… out hopped a large and very beautiful frog. Maybe he was being squeezed between the spikey courgette stems or something. I couldn’t help thinking I was jumping to conclusions in thinking it was the frog that was responsible for the sound. Thanks for clearing that up. What a relief.
Yes, some frogs definitely do squeak. I work from home and have 2 cats. Many of the frogs that frequent my pond will squeak when the cats corner them – I try to rescue them and return them to the pond for safety. Every year there seem to be more frogs that squeak as well and I’m wondering if some sort of natural selection is happening here as the frogs that squeak get rescued and therefore breed while those that don’t may end up as cat dinner and therefore not breed!
When I was young, someone told me that if you gently squeezed a male toad, it would squeak. this is one way to tell the difference between males and females. Consequently, I spent lots of time squeezing toads to test the theory – and it works!
(please note, no toads were hurt in the testing of this theory!)
YES! Frogs do squeak. When I lived in London the two cats next door were playing with what I thought was a squeaky toy. As I watched, they were in fact tormenting a frog that was trying to jump away and making a most bizarre sound. I stepped over the (low) fence, chased the cats away and caught the frog, releasing it when the coast was clear. It was certainly making defensive noises to threaten the predators.