How to Keep Frogs Out of Your Pool: 11 Easy Solutions

Learn how to keep frogs out of your pool or spa with 11 of the most proven methods other pool owners are using.

These are ALL Natural remedies to help keep frogs out of your pool and keep you from having to fish them them out of your skimmer.

Let's Go!

Anyone who has owned a pool for any length of time has quickly realized just how much frogs love them too.

Unfortunately, your wonderful, perfect pool that you just spent weeks opening looks no different to a frog than a beautiful lagoon, a wonderful place to swim, catch bugs, do froggy stuff, and lay their eggs.

Yuck.

The problem with your swimming pool though is that once the frog hops in, they rarely can get back out.

The coping along the edge prevents them from escaping and they aren’t exactly smart enough to find and use your steps.

So, your friendly visitors swim and swim and swim, usually until exhaustion and are eventually swept into the skimmer basket along with everything else.

And so here you find them day after day, sometimes alive, sometimes bloated and dead, but nonetheless now your problem to deal with.

Which leaves you to wonder:

How do I get rid of these frogs in my pool?

We looked at some the best ways to not only keep frogs away from your pool, but how to effectively do so without using harsh and toxic chemicals.

Jump to:

• Why you Don’t Want Frogs in your Pool
• Assess your Landscaping
• Turn off your Pool Lights
• Run your Pump at Night
• Cover your Pool
• Use a Frog Log
• Heat your Water
• Frog Netting
• Fencing
• Frog Traps
• Frog Repellents
• Looking for Other Great Pool Ideas?

Why you Don’t Want Frogs in your Pool

Okay, so what's the big deal about a couple harmless little frogs?

Why should I even care about keeping frogs out of my swimming pool anyway?

Bacteria

While most American frogs are not poisonous, just like any animal they carry nasty bacteria on their skin that they pick up from your lawn and garden before hopping in the pool.

While your pool's sanitizer should take care of eliminating these bacteria, it’s not necessarily something you want to add to the equation if you can help it.

Also, if a frog dies in your skimmer and you don’t notice it for a number of days, that’s a dead animal decomposing in the same water you and your family are trying to enjoy.

Frogs Can Lay Eggs in your Pool

Frogs have to lay their eggs in water, and if you own the most convenient large body of water in the neighborhood, well, its “Call the Froggy Midwife” time at your house.

And frog eggs are, suffice it to say, pretty gross.

Plus they don’t just lay one, they lay hundreds at a time.

You end up with a swarm of small black squishy sacs that float to the bottom of your pool in a dark gelatinous cloud.

Fun times indeed.

If not removed, these eggs quickly turn into little swimming tadpoles in your pool. More yucky stuff to clean out of your skimmer basket or vacuum off the bottom of the pool.

We’re almost certain you’d much rather spend that time lounging in your pool with a drink in your hand.

Let’s dive in to look at the top ways to avoid ending up with frogs in your pool in the first place.

Assess your Landscaping

Frogs love tall weeds and grass and other places they can stay shaded and hidden from predators.

Make sure you are keeping your lawn cut low and avoid planting lots of tall grass plants close to your pool.

Also look for rock and wood piles or other clutter around the yard that could resemble a shady froggy habitat.

Turn off your Pool Lights

I know.

Those pool lights weren’t cheap and they make the pool look so pretty at night.

You also get compliment after compliment on the cool vintage string lights you hung all around the entire pool patio area.

Unfortunately, all those lights also attract lots and lots of bugs. Which in turn attract lots and lots of frogs.

If you absolutely MUST show off all your beautiful pool lighting, try putting them on a timer so the lights turn off after a certain time when no one is necessarily out there enjoying them anyways.

This will tell all the bugs and frogs they don’t have to go home, but they can’t stay here.

Run your Pump at Night

Bugs much prefer still water to moving water. They can’t as easily land on the moving water to drink or lay eggs or other nasty stuff so they avoid it.

And if bugs aren’t around the water, the frogs have less reason to be too.

If you don’t want to run your pump all night you can try a pool fountain or some other less expensive way to agitate the water and keep the bugs from landing on it.

Cover your Pool

This one is kind of obvious, but a bit of pain unless you have a smaller pool.

If you cover your pool every night, frogs obviously can’t get into it.

We recommended always using a well proven pool safety cover to prevent children or pets from falling through or getting trapped underneath.

Use a Frog Log

A who?

A Frog Log is a nifty little…yes, we said nifty…device that helps frogs get back OUT of your pool once they hop in.

It won’t deter them from going into your pool in the first place, but at least they will be able to get back out and you’ll have fewer dead frogs in your skimmer basket to deal with each week.

Another option we found is the Critter Pool Escape Net which is designed to give frogs and other critters a way out of your pool before they end up in the skimmer basket.

Heat your Water

Frogs prefer colder water because it helps them absorb more oxygen through their skin while they are swimming.

But I’m sure you already knew that.

They do have to have a way to get back out once they realize they don’t like the warm water though.

So warmer water, used in tandem with a couple of Frog Logs positioned around your pool may just do the trick.

You can obviously use your heater if you own one. If not, you have a couple other options such as using a solar cover or solar rings.

Frog Netting

This may work best on smaller pool or even a plunge pool, but some people use Koi Pond Netting to keep frogs out.

This netting is designed to protect fish in koi ponds from birds and other predators. Just make sure the holes are small enough that those little tree frogs can’t still slip through.

Fencing

If you really want to keep pests out of your yard, including those annoying neighbor kids, installing a privacy fence around your yard perimeter will definitely cut down on unwanted visitors.

It will need to be a full wood or vinyl privacy fence with no slats or other holes for animals to squeeze through.

Chain link and wrought iron ain’t going to cut it here.

Also make sure the panels go flush to the ground with no small gaps and openings underneath.

Frog Traps

Another option is to buy some frog traps and place them around your yard.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t eliminate the whole "you having to deal with them possibly dead or alive" issue.

And if you aren’t into the whole frog killing thing you are going to have to tae the time to relocate them somewhere else far away.

So, while frog traps ARE an option, they are not the ideal deterrent.

Frog Repellents

Salt and Vinegar

That’s right. They’re not just for potato chips anymore.

Frogs hate salt.

Frogs hate vinegar.

And conveniently, neither are toxic to you or your family.

Try spraying a vinegar and water solution around the perimeter of your pool, or sprinkle some salt in areas you know the frogs like to congregate.

Be careful spraying or spreading around your plants and bushes as both of these things can be toxic to your landscaping.

Citric Acid

Citric Acid is a food grade substance and is the same stuff that gives sour candy its sourness.

It is safe to you, your pets, plants and your family, but it IS toxic to frogs if it comes in direct contact with their skin.

So be aware if you use Citric Acid around your pool, it will kill any frogs that come in contact with it.

Since our goal is to deter the frogs and avoid dealing with dead ones around the yard and in your skimmer, this is not the ideal option.

Looking for Other Great Pool Ideas?

Check out some of our most popular other articles below:

• How to Keep Wasps Away From Your Pool
• How To Level Ground For a Pool Without Digging: 3 Easy Solutions
• How to Lower the Chlorine Level in your Pool: 5 Simple Solutions
• Everything You Need to Know About Plunge Pools
• How To Keep Bees Away From The Swimming Pool
• What is Best Month to Open Your Pool?
• How to Open an Above Ground Pool: Easy Step-by-Step Instructions