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Our Canadian friend George was seated on the toilet when suddenly something jumped from inside the bowl and attached firmly to his family jewels. This rugged and stoic hunk of a real man bolted up, freed the frog from his hang me down and ran outside to distance himself from the critter. A Cuban Tree Frog (Osteopilus septentrionalis)… AKA Frogzilla (Godzilla has nothing on this guy)… was in the most sacred room of the house and George wanted as much distance between he and it as possible. Florida was never George’s favorite place and this incident did not improve the situation. Tree frogs are associated with trees like Canadians are to hockey rinks. It is totally natural for a tree frog to climb a tree. They have specially suited suction cupped toes that make them excellent climbers. Once up in the tree the frog jumps onto the roof of a house where they seek out the warmth of the shingles.  By the mid-1920s, Cuban Tree Frogs arrived in the Florida Keys via cargo, such as bananas, transported on ships.  Once warmed up, they start searching for a cooler area, and the toilet vent pipe is often the place. Frogs can fall into your bathroom vent pipe and that’s how they end up in the toilet. This incident never would have happened if George had simply cut back the trees that hung over his roof and installed a wire mesh screen over the toilet vent pipe. These frogs are known to be nuisance pests that often invade plumbing systems, toilets and sink drains, but can also can cause havoc with utilities and make a general mess wherever they hide.  Cover roof vent pipes with hardware cloth to prevent entry into buildings by Cuban Tree Frogs. Credit: UF/IFAS  This Cuban Tree Frog apparently likes the warmth of the vehicle’s hood. During the day they seek out cool places, often under shutters and between patio doors. Each Spring when we lubricate the accordion shutters before hurricane season, we always find stains down the wall behind the panels where the frogs have been hiding. As we close the shutters the frogs emit mucous that is noxious to humans and pets, and can cause an allergic reaction and trigger asthma. At night Cuban tree frogs are attracted by lights, which attract bugs and provide a powerful incentive for tree frogs looking for a meal.  During the day the Cuban Tree Frog seeks shelter under shutters and around screen doors. This polite invader tries to use the door knocker to gain access. There is nothing more tropical than the croak of frogs on a humid summer evening. It starts with a single utterance from a lone frog, then seconds later another chimes in, and before you know it is an out of tune stereophonic chorus resonating from the pond, the hedges, the tree tops, the gutter track and rainwater cistern. Be quiet and and listen, as there is no way you can talk over the noise. What was the Grimm brothers message in their fairy tale The Frog Prince? Was it that beauty is in the eye of the beholder? Some may see a frog, but the princess sees something more beautiful, so she kisses the frog and a curse is broken and the frog becomes her handsome prince. It reminds me of an incident that happened during my sailing days, at English Harbor, Antigua. The Captains daughter, who was about 5 years old at the time, paused to marvel at a frog sitting on a tree. As she grew closer, the frog jumped onto her face! Yikes. No prince appeared however. Frogs are a bit creepy, and slimy but also beautiful in their creation.  The Frog Prince: Grimm Fairy Tales. The moral of the story: beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Since the first Cuban Tree frogs were discovered in Key West they have progressively spread north to the Florida mainland most likely by the construction of State Road AIA in the 1940’s, on trucks full of plants and produce, and now are firmly established as far north as South Carolina. Its ability to thrive in urban areas have made it highly invasive. Cuban Tree Frogs are commonly available in pet stores. Cubans are the largest tree frogs, varying in size from 2 to 5.5 inches in length. They eat insects, but also prey on our native tree frogs, including their tadpoles. The invasive Cuban variety outcompete our native tree frogs such as the American Green Tree Frog (Hyla cinerea) which is only 1 to 3 inches long and the Squirrel Tree Frog (Hyla squirella) which is smaller, only 1 to 1-1/2 inches long. A Cuban female can lay several hundred to 1000 eggs at a time, and eggs hatch in 30 hours and tadpoles can fully develop in one month.  The native American Green Tree Frog (Hyla cinerea) grows to 1 - 3 inches long. Credit: UF/IFAS  The native Squirrel Tree Frog (Hyla squirella), is only 1 to 1-1/2 inches long and are rapidly disappearing due to predation by the invasive Cuban Tree Frog. Credit: UF/IFAS Features that can help identify Cuban Tree Frogs are their large physical size and larger sticky pads on their toes. They can change color and patterns, and can be white, beige, brown, yellow, green or combinations of these colors. Their skin is rough and warty. Cubans are considered invasive, so you can attempt to contain them by making a Tree Frog House. By removing Cuban tree frogs, you can help Florida's native tree frogs survive. This link to a UF extension publication explains more: https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/UW308  Cuban tree frogs are mostly gray, brown, or green. This young frog, resting on an orchid leaf has a more greenish color than an adult.
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Talk about taking your job seriously. While writing this article about the feral cat situation in the Keys, I adopted a shelter kitten. Since my first little grey kitty, adopted in 1984, I have always had two cats. Unfortunately back then, as an inexperienced mom, I left out some yarn, the cat ate it, causing her death when its intestines became entangled. Why are there so many cute pictures of kittens with balls of yarn? My ensuing adopted cats: LC, Dolly, Ansie, and calicos Callie and Miely Bug thrived with lots of love and awareness of possible dangers lurking around the house. When Miely Bug passed of old age, I said she was my last, since Miely was the best. If you were to ask any cat that, they would reply “Yes, I am the best.”  Anna Kent loving on a shelter cat at Upper Keys Humane Society. Socialization with humans is a key component of “finishing school” which ensures kitten adoption success. About a year later, my heart having healed, my stance had changed to “I’m looking for a calico.” In October 2025, I agreed to foster a 6 week old kitten. It wasn’t a calico but it was a survivor. It was one of two kittens that had been abandoned in the wild, not yet weaned and lacking skills for survival. When rescued, both kittens had wounds, and were in poor condition. One sibling eventually died. After weeks of medical care, and bottle feeding, I received my foster kitten complete with missing fur and healing sores, but full of love. Immediately after bringing her home, my husband picked her up and kissed her. I knew there was no returning her. Over the weeks and months she grew into the most perfect companion, rarely leaving my husbands side. What makes people think that abandoning kittens in a box at a dumpster or by the side of the road is a good thing? But it happens too often. Cats are dumped by their owners when they are moving out of the Keys. In the last decade, our islands have become home to another non-native species courtesy of pet stores and snake owners, the Burmese python, an efficient predator of furry creatures such as possum, raccoon, woodrat and possibly cats and little white dogs.  The minute the foster kitty was in our home, we knew there was no going back. Nikita grew into the most perfect companion.  Nikita posing on a pedestal. If you ask any cat they will tell you they are the best. Thankfully there are people who care, and are making a difference. There are a number of options in the Upper Keys to address the feral cat problem. Feral cats are trapped, spayed or neutered, vaccinated, tested for feline AIDS and leukemia and then are hopefully adopted. ORCAT is Ocean Reef’s Trap-Neuter-Release program that began in the 1980’s when the Keys had a serious cat overpopulation problem. At the time there was an estimated 10,000 feral cats that had been abandoned or lost in the Keys. The Humane Coalition Shelter at mile marker 106 ocean side is the county facility. Marsha Garrettson who privatized the coalition in 1998 sums up her dedication by saying “I thought I could fix the problem.” She realizes you can’t fix the problem through adoption, you must focus on birth.  Medical Director Dr. Shirley Thomas, Manager Karla Perrine, President Vivianne Wicker standing outside UKHS at MM 101.6 oceanside.  “By providing free spays and neuters to the citizen’s animals living in our service area (MM 70 to MM 112) beginning July 2000 has had a direct effect in reducing the average number of animals coming into the Shelter each year from 1,642 to 241.” The industry of breeding, buying and selling is the core problem. All shelters are full as a result. There are no shortage of animals. If you closed every pet store, and shut down every breeder, there would still be cats and dogs needing homes. That’s just the way it is. A cat can be nursing and still get pregnant and have another litter in just two months. A portion of society does not care. Owners with pets that get pregnant and produce more puppies or kittens, are not doing their job.  In 2000, Bob Barker, TV personality on “The Price is Right” provided financial support to the Humane Animal Coalition at MM 106.  A feral cat in North Key Largo. According to the website at humaneanimalcoalition.com: “By providing free spays and neuters to the citizen’s animals living in our service area (MM 70 to MM 112) beginning July 2000 has had a direct effect in reducing the average number of animals coming into the Shelter each year from 1,642 to 241.” Another organization The Upper Keys Humane Society (MM 101.6 oceanside) is also doing their part finding homes for abandoned animals. So far this year they have spay and neutered 400+ animals. Their animals become socialized through their foster program and the Cat Cafe where kittens mingle with their visitors during visiting hours. Check their website at ukhsociety.org for more info.  Our new calico kitty.... Looking forward to having her inside our home. Cats do not belong in the wild. Domestic cats are efficient hunters, and their natural predatory instincts have negatively affected our resident and migratory songbird population. I love birds as much as I love my cats. So the cats stay in, and stay safe.
My new kitty… she is a calico. She’ll be spayed by the time this story is published. Looking forward to having her inside our home. My childhood memories are full of sunny summer days at Ft. Lauderdale beach. I can still see the mounds of seaweed that had to be stepped over to get to the ocean, and feel the tickle of floating seaweed rubbing against my skin as I swam in the surf. It was fun to shake out the clusters of seaweed and see the small crabs and shrimp fall from its cover. There were other things contained in the seaweed such as black tar and the stinging Portuguese man o’ war that had to be watched out for. At the end of May this year, while seated at the ocean’s edge, those memories came rushing back to me, with a nostalgic filter of course. As a fresh batch of seaweed floated by, I admired how its light brown color was set off by the aqua of the sea and was amused by the exposed coral rocks that seemingly wore seaweed toupees, from fresh weed deposited by the high tide.  Wading birds flock to the seaweed, which is full of life. Reality check! A Miami news station had a feature about the FIFA world cup visitors who were turned off by our smelly beaches and weed filled waters. Not what they expected, especially after coming from across country or from Europe. The scourge of summer, from the viewpoint of South Florida resort managers, who have to field complaints about the stinky mess from June until September. Floating mats of fresh seaweed eventually end up onshore and become a hazard that attracts flying insects and carries contaminants and bacteria. Parents worry when their child has to wade through the junk in order to paddle board, kayak or launch a Hobie Cat. People with respiratory problems are at risk from the release of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia.  A Great White Heron waiting for low tide when the cove will be shallow enough to wade in. There will be plenty of crabs, shrimp, and small fish to be had in the sargassum accumulated below. Seaweed, also known as Sargassum, is a brown microalgae that never touches the sea floor, but instead drifts on the surface of the ocean. Its name Sargassum originates from the Portuguese word sargaço, a type of grape or also a wild vine that grows in willow thickets. The tiny balls that keep the weed afloat look like grapes. Christopher Columbus encountered a thick mat of weed while sailing in the Atlantic near the Bermuda Triangle, and with light winds prevailing, he feared getting stuck in it. Columbus had encountered the Sargasso Sea, an area that cannot be found on any map, but is defined by the convergence of four major Atlantic currents: the Gulf Stream, the North Atlantic Current, the Canary Current and the North Atlantic Equatorial Current.  Seaweed, also known as Sargassum. Its tiny balls keep the weed afloat. The Florida Keys are one stop along the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt which spans 5,000 miles from coastal West Africa to South America. Winds and currents act like a conveyor belt that distributes the seaweed into the Atlantic and Caribbean Sea, and a “loop” current carries the seaweed around the coast of Florida into the Gulf of America. NOAA designates sargassum as essential fish habitat, for species including gray triggerfish, amberjacks and mahi mahi. In the open ocean seaweed provides food or shelter for fish, crustaceans, turtles and seabirds. When the weed hits the coastal flats, the wading birds flock to its floating mass, which is fresh and full of life. I netted a bucket of fresh weed and shook it until the critters contained within it fell out. There were shrimp and crabs galore. I marveled as the crabs would approach the shrimp and start pinching. The shrimp were translucent mini-me versions of jumbo shrimp.  I netted a bucket of fresh weed and shook it until the critters contained within it fell out. There were shrimp and crabs galore. Harvesting of sargassum is prohibited in U.S. federal waters (between 3 miles to 200 miles from shore.) Sargassum is not protected in Florida, as long as it has washed ashore naturally you can pick it up with your hands or with hand tools. In State waters up to 100 pounds of sargassum can be removed from canals or nearshore waters with a recreational fishing license. A commercial saltwater products license is needed to remove more than 100 pounds according to the FWC. Once near shore the weed makes its way into man-made canals and marinas and gets stuck. Keys boaters curse the seaweed as it fouls their props and canals get clogged with the weed. The trapped weed sinks, making the canal brown, due to the decaying weed, which depletes the oxygen in the water, resulting in fish kills.  A boat ramp covered with weed. You must wade through the junk in order to paddle board, kayak or launch a Hobie Cat. In Ft. Lauderdale small barges would run up and down the canals scooping up the seaweed with a fork. Removal is a futile process, since the seaweed floats in every day. Bubblers at the entrance to a canal may help keep it out. Seaweed has the potential for use as fertilizer; it contains nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK), the same ingredients found in fertilizer, plus micro-nutrients. Since there is arsenic in seaweed, it might be best utilized on ornamental plants and palms, not food crops.  The weed was so thick the black birds could walk on top of it. |
CAROL ELLIS
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