CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Frogs are leaping into summer as temperatures warm up.
As the weather changes and heats up, frogs are also waking up -- and they are in search of a mate and a meal.
"Frogs are wonderful things for eating bugs," Alice Chambers said. "They are insectivores. They are going to eat mosquitos and gnats, and flies, and anything they can catch with that sticky tongue that they have”
Environmental education manager Alice Chambers said frogs have something like antifreeze in their bloodstream.
“So they hibernate by burying themselves in the mud at the very bottom of the pond and become almost frozen solid," Chambers said. "In cold weather, they just turn into a rock and hang out all winter long. So as the weather then starts to warm up, and the water temperature warms up in their pond, that's when they're gonna come out."
Chambers said frogs need a soft bottom pond, which is why it’s important to put back what you dig out when building a pond. If you want to attract some frogs to your pond, you'll need to create the appropriate habitat for the short-bodied tailless amphibians.
“They like the slow-moving or the still water," Chambers said. "They also need some messy kind of places, some logs, some fallen leaves, some sticks and twigs and things that they can hide underneath because predators like to eat them also."
Frogs are more active after heavy rain during the spring and summer, and like most living things, frogs retreat when temperatures are too hot.
When you don't see frogs leaping around, you'll likely hear them at dawn and dusk. It's typically the sound of the male frog calling for a female frog to mate. The sound is different depending on the type of frog.
Contact KJ Jacobs at kjacobs3@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.