What does the Striped Marsh Frog look like?
Striped Marsh Frogs can seem like an invisible caller. Their beige, golden or dark brown stripes blend in with earthy surroundings. Their limbs, splattered with irregular brown spots and squiggles, can look like blobs of mud. Striped Marsh Frogs have a standout feature though—a pale yellow stripe which runs down the middle of their bodies.
Where is the Striped Marsh Frog found?
You will find them along the eastern coast of Australia, from northern Queensland to Tasmania. Striped Marsh Frogs like permanent water sources. They live amongst reeds, leaf litter and fallen logs, so place some around your pond to give them a safe place to live.
Fast facts:
- The Striped Marsh Frog is a hardy frog found in many different environments, is very adaptable and appears to be quite tolerant of polluted water.
- Striped Marsh Frogs will leave their natural refuge of debris, logs, rocks and bushy plants to go singing in the rain. Listen out for his favourite note: a loud ‘tok’ that sounds like a tennis racquet hitting a ball.
Striped Marsh Frog – the full story
Striped Marsh Frogs can seem like an invisible caller. Their beige, golden or dark brown stripes blend in with earthy surroundings. Their limbs, splattered with irregular brown spots and squiggles, can look like blobs of mud. Striped Marsh Frogs have a standout feature though—a pale yellow stripe which runs down the middle of their bodies. These calling card stripes are unique to each frog, and on some frogs it’s pale yellow, on others it’s highlighter bright and on a few including young ones, the stripe is missing entirely.
Around November each year, you might hear the Striped Marsh Frog’s distinctive call. During spring and summer, males either call from the water or hidden places, such as under leaf litter or rocks.
The distinctive mating call is a single ‘pop‘, ‘toc‘ or ‘whuck‘ repeated once every few seconds. You will find them along the eastern coast of Australia, from northern Queensland to Tasmania.
Striped Marsh Frogs lay masses of eggs which are easy to spot as they look like beaten egg whites with pepper in it. They spend a lot of time in winter hibernating at which time they don’t need to eat.
As the weather is warming up, Striped Marsh Frogs are waking up and starting to fatten up for the mating season from September through to April, when they lay their eggs.
The tadpoles are mostly bottom-dwellers, darkly pigmented and can take up to a year to metamorphose. Tadpoles swim around eating tiny animals, algae and other plant life in the water. Gradually they lose their tails and grow legs and arms until finally they turn into fully formed frogs.
These frogs are perfect for keeping summer insects at bay as they constantly eat anything that moves and fits in their mouth including house flies, blowflies, crickets, cockroaches, mosquitoes and their larvae, slugs, snails, beetles and even other frogs.
Striped Marsh Frogs like permanent water sources. They live amongst reeds, leaf litter and fallen logs, so place some around your pond to give them a safe place to live.
Did you know?
The Striped Marsh Frog is a hardy frog found in many different environments, is very adaptable and appears to be quite tolerant of polluted water.
They are aggressive breeders that make it hard for smaller and less dominant frogs to breed. If you want more than one type of frog, it is best to have more than one frog pond on different levels in your garden.
Tip
Be a buddy to Striped Marsh Frogs by building a frog pond.
Plant local native shrubs and trees in your backyard, and place rocks around.
Leave leaf litter and rocks in your garden, and place rocks or branches in water so frogs can get out easily.
Avoid using pesticides or chemicals in your garden that could contaminate water used by frogs.
