Frogs are goofy, mostly harmless, and even scary to some. They are easy to ignore out in the open or the garden. However, most people will draw a line once they start seeing frogs in their toilets.
If the frogs don’t scare you, they definitely will shock a guest or send a family member shrieking out of the toilet. Figuring out why frogs are in your toilet bowl and getting rid of them is the most appropriate course of action.
Why Are There Frogs in My Toilet?
Frogs can spend hours on land or in water. This gives them many ways to get into your toilet bowl. Some of the most common ways they make it there include:
Swimming Up the Sewer Lines
If your toilet empties to a nearby septic tank or large sewer drains, frogs can make their way into the toilet plumbing through openings to these drains.
Since the drain isn’t very far away from your toilet and the frog can swim through the little water they encounter on the way, chances are they can stumble upon the pipes leading to your toilet bowl.
However, the opening has to be really close. No frog will undertake a long swim from a far-off septic tank to your toilet. There simply isn’t sufficient motivation for that, and frogs aren’t inherently malicious – or at least I think so.
In most cases, they will access the drain through an opening or maintenance hole next to the house or a cracked pipe, then swim and hop to your toilet.
ProTip: Frogs in the toilet could mean you have an open sewer line cover or a crack in sewer pipes somewhere close to your house.
Through an Open Door Or Window
Frogs also fare very well on dry land. That’s why you find them hopping around the backyard, garden, and even around trash cans.
During very sunny or cold days, they could make their way into your house through open doors or windows to shelter from the elements.
Once in the house, they could easily stumble into the bathroom and decide to jump into the toilet bowl to cool themselves in the water. Though it sounds convoluted, it is one of the most common ways through which frogs make their way into your toilet.
This will be common if you live out in the country or a townhouse with a sizeable garden and some frogs roaming around.
Falling Down a Bathroom or Toilet Vent
Every house has a vent or more that whisk away gases from your toilet, bathtub, and other drains in the home. The vents all join to one or more vertical stacks that stick out through the roof or off under eaves.
This stack is a two or three-inch pipe which more than enough for a frog to fall through. Since frogs, especially tree frogs, sometimes hang out on the shingles soaking up the warmth, they can find their way into these vents.
The frog will then fall to the bottom or a junction. As it tries to escape, chances are it will end up in your toilet since it is the only one without a drain grill.
How to Get Rid of Frogs in the Toilet
Getting rid of frogs in the toilet should be straightforward. Even though they hop around a lot, you can still easily capture and dispose of them. Here are some tricks to make things easier.
Capture and Release it Outside
Capturing and releasing is the most efficient and harmless way to deal with frogs in the toilet. If you are comfortable handling frogs, slap on some rubber gloves, grab hold of the frog and release it outdoors.
If possible, walk down to a nearby river or pond before releasing it. The further away you go from your home, the less the chances of the frog coming back.
Here are some tips to help you capture and handle the frog better.
- If it is a small frog clinging onto the underside of the bowl, place a container or fishnet under the frog and flush the toilet. This could make it release and drop onto the container
- While most frogs aren’t harmful, putting on some heavy-duty toilet cleaning gloves before handling the frog will make things less gross and off-putting
Alternatively, you can shoo the frog away after prodding it out of the toilet with a long stick. Guide it out of the house by nudging it and keep doing it until it is out in the yard or the garden.
Most frogs in your toilet bowls have just lost their way. There are no insects to eat in your toilet. They will be more than eager to get out of the toilet bowl and be on their merry way.
How to Kill Frogs in the Toilet
Frogs are not that hard to handle. They are not as fast as mice or as dangerous as raccoons and skunks. There’s really no point in killing your little guest.
Note: We don’t encourage you to go down this router regardless of how many times you find the frog in your toilet. Relocating the little amphibian and taking preventative measures is a more practical solution.
If you want to kill the frog instantly, you can spray it with citric acid. 1.3 pounds (600 grams) of dry citric acid in a gallon (4 liters) of water should do the trick. Use a spray bottle to spray the solution directly onto the frog.
What Chemical Will Kill Frogs?
There is no need to use extermination chemicals on frogs. They will have a more undesired effect on the ecosystem that will not justify your actions since you did not have a full-scale infestation.
Stick to relocation or using citric acid and steer clear of fungicides and agricultural chemicals whose impact on the larger ecosystem is still debatable.
Will Flushing the Toilet Get Rid of the Frog?
Sometimes, closing the toilet lid and flushing could be enough to carry the frog down the drain. However, this might not work in some cases.
Most frogs are great swimmers. Chances are they will somehow ride out the turbulence and remain in the toilet bowl or swim right back after the flush.
However, since it is a simple and almost effortless fix, it won’t harm to try flushing the toilet and see what happens.
ProTip: If you care about what happens to the frog (and you should), flushing might be a death sentence. If the frog can’t find a way out of the sewer system soon, it could starve to death or even suffocate if the oxygen levels dip too low.
How to Keep Frogs Out of Your Toilets
After getting rid of the frog, you should also take some steps to make it hard for them to come back.
- Inspect your plumbing for any apparent holes in the drainage or open maintenance holes close to your house
- Trim back any branches that are very close to your home and touching your roof to make it harder for frogs to access your roof vents
- Keep the garden and yard clean to deter frogs from making it into your house
- Put wire mesh screens over your toile and drain vents to prevent frogs and other debris from dropping down the vents. You can also use hardware cloth to cover the vent.
What Do Frogs Hate the Most
If you are looking for something that deters smokes without killing them, you can try snake repellent.
The repellent does not kill or harm them, but they find it irritating. This is a great way to keep frogs from entering through doors, windows, and drain pipes.
Can Bleach Kill a Frog?
Bleach is a corrosive chemical that is highly harmful to a frog’s delicate skin. It will start by irritating the frog and eventually kill it if you douse it with enough bleach.
This is a slow, painful and inhumane way to kill frogs.
Will Salt Kill Frogs?
Frogs have very delicate and moist skin. Applying salt causes dehydration and even death if the frog doesn’t get to freshwater to dehydrate.
While it might not have the immediate and dramatic effect it has on slugs, it will eventually get the gross job done.
Check this too: How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies
Chances are the frog or frogs will relocate long before the frogs dehydrate to death.
Bottom Line
In most cases, there is no point in using potent fungicides or poisons to kill the frog you find in your toilet. Relocating the frog is a great way to remedy the situation. After all, it is just one frog or two.
However, if you have an overwhelming infestation, you could try figuring out why they are coming in first and blocking their entrances. After this, you can use repellents and non-toxic killers to get things under control.