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Interesting note from this site:
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/coqui/Bakingsoda.asp
Baking Soda (sodium bicarbonate)
Recently baking soda has been promoted to control coqui frogs. While some concentrations of baking soda may be effective, the only legal and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved agents for controlling coqui frogs are citric acid and hydrated lime. Use of baking soda as a frog control agent has not been approved by the EPA; therefore it would be a violation of EPA regulations to use it for that purpose.
Citric acid is on a list of substances that are exempt from EPA regulations because it is generally recognized as safe, whereas sodium bicarbonate is not exempt. A 16% citric acid solution is recommended as a treatment against coqui frogs. In 2005, the EPA granted a 3 year permit for 3% hydrated lime solution to be used as a coqui frog control agent based upon efficacy data and an environmental assessment.
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Indeed.
One can't purchase hydrated lime from my supplier w/o filling out a form declaring where used (by TMK), and how much. No such requirement for citric acid.
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Even if it is restricted for critters, Hydrated lime is perfectly OK to use as a "soil ammendment" wink, wink !
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That coqui eco tourism website mentioned their new program to send the frogs back to Puerto Rico. They said this would be better than the "catch and release" plan that people have been using. Maybe the catch and release people are spreading the coqui to get them away from their own homes. That is a "motive" for dumping frogs.
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maybe Pele would like some live animal sacrifices
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
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it's too late to do anything about them, unless you're talking about your own yards
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The citric acid is "generally recognized as safe"(GRAS) by the FDA, not EPA. Citric acid and Sodium Bicarbonate(baking soda) are used together for the "fizz" in many commerial products.
Don't shoot the messenger.
Don't shoot the messenger.
Heads up guys, for-about-it. A few years back, pre frog, pre-building boom, pre-speculation deforestation we'd sit at dusk in the middle of the road, in the middle of HPP. NO frogs in the middle of the park yet.
We placed bets on which would make it to the water from the highway first, The frogs or the D-9s. The D-9's kept going the frogs slowed down at the tree line.
Get used to them everyone, you will not eradicate them. You may control them around your house. BEST method? snatch, grab and pop. Then step on their head. Seen many hop off after letting the air out when you thought you squished em. ha ha
They started the grant program, took them months to get that "organized". When you get the funds from the county, equiptment from the state and or the feds, well lets just say organized it wasn't.
I drug that 2" x 200 ft hose through the jungle, in the rain afetr dark by myself. I got suckered into donating some labor to the goverment, I did. But you live and learn.
The frogs are in the ground, in the tubes, in the africian snail empty shells, under piles of wood, your trash can and will be in you shower and eventually you'll see one little bugga hoppin across your livingroom floor. But hey! They're slower than a centipede and don't sting when you squish em. They can't swim long so I feed em to my fish.
I just close my windows at night and if there is a peticularly loud one outside my bedroom window I take the little bite lite and go put the little guy to sleep so I can sleep. He no peep I sleep. 8)
Oh, and they got to my street by the idiot's brother who lives in the Matson container, when he was away in jail for a couple years. His brother brought junk cars down from 39th and Pohaku loaded with frogs, that was it!
End of story.
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I was told that the citric acid, once mixed up, stays in suspension instead of settling to the bottom of a tank.
That got me interested in the possibility of using a simple pressure misting system around my property line. Misting systems are used in AG and in deserts for cooling. A fine atomized mist is produced by a pressure tank, small, black circuits of tubing with atomizers located along the tube.
My point is: rather than get into day to day battles and physical exertions (hard on some older folks) an atomized misting system could deliver citric acid around a home site simply, efficiently and relatively effectively. I used to see this type misting in Palm Springs on 110 degree days.
This idea will not, of course, solve the problem island wide. The coqui would still be out there. But it could provide a buffer to a home and keep the noise level down.
While I am pleased with my little theory I haven't deployed it yet. My house is well enough insulated that they don't bother me that much. I appreciate that they do bother others a lot. BTW I live smack in a coqui zone in Pahoa Village. If tested successfully it could become a cottage industry (job) for someone.
Assume the best and ask questions.
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