How to Get Rid of Cuban Tree Frogs

The most effective way to get rid of Cuban tree frogs is to capture them by hand or with simple PVC pipe traps and then humanely euthanize them using a benzocaine-based topical anesthetic. Because these frogs are invasive in the United States and destructive to native wildlife, Florida wildlife authorities actively encourage residents to remove them. The process sounds straightforward, but correct identification is the critical first step, since killing a native tree frog by mistake does more ecological harm than good.

Identifying Cuban Tree Frogs Before You Remove Anything

This step matters more than any trap or removal technique. Florida is home to several native tree frog species that superficially resemble Cuban tree frogs, and some of those native populations are already under pressure. Removing the wrong frog defeats the purpose entirely.

Cuban tree frogs are the largest tree frogs in Florida, reaching up to about five and a half inches from snout to tail. Native green tree frogs and squirrel tree frogs rarely exceed two inches. Size alone, though, is unreliable for younger Cuban tree frogs that haven’t reached full growth. Color is even less helpful: Cuban tree frogs can be white, gray, green, brown, or a mottled mix, and they can shift shades depending on temperature and surroundings.

The most reliable field test is texture. Gently press the skin between the frog’s eyes. Cuban tree frogs have skin that is fused to the skull, so you’ll feel hard bone directly beneath. Native tree frogs have loose, spongy skin in that same spot. Other clues include disproportionately large toe pads and a generally “washed out” or rough-textured appearance compared to the vivid, smooth green of a native green tree frog. If you are still unsure, the University of Florida’s extension guide on this species is the most thorough visual reference available.¹

Catching Them

Two methods work well, and many people use both in combination.

PVC pipe traps exploit the Cuban tree frog’s habit of squeezing into tight daytime hiding spots. Cut a length of PVC pipe about eighteen to twenty-four inches long with a diameter of roughly one and a half inches, cap one end, and attach it vertically to a tree trunk, fence post, or exterior wall at roughly eye height. The frogs will climb inside to sleep during the day. Check the traps in the morning. To extract the frog without a struggle, slide a clear plastic bag over the open end of the pipe, then flip the pipe so the frog drops or slides into the bag. You can mount as many pipes as you like around your property; they serve as both traps and long-term monitoring stations.¹

Hand capture at night is also effective. Cuban tree frogs are nocturnal and predictable: they congregate near porch lights and exterior fixtures to hunt the insects drawn to the glow. Go out after dark with a flashlight and a pair of nitrile or latex gloves. Catching them is easier than it sounds once you know where to look. They perch motionless on walls, window frames, and downspouts, making them simple to grab. A damp cloth bag or large zip-lock bag works for holding captured frogs.

Humane Euthanasia

Wildlife researchers recommend a two-step process. First, apply a generous stripe of benzocaine-based ointment (a common over-the-counter toothache product like Orajel works) along the frog’s back and lower spine. Benzocaine is a topical anesthetic that absorbs through the skin and renders the frog deeply unconscious within minutes. Once the frog is unresponsive, seal it in a plastic bag and place it in the freezer overnight. The cold finishes the process while the animal is already insensate.¹

Some people skip the benzocaine and place the live frog directly in the freezer. This is less humane because the frog may remain conscious and experience discomfort as its body temperature drops before it loses awareness. The benzocaine step takes only a few minutes and eliminates that window of potential suffering.

Do not release captured Cuban tree frogs anywhere else. Relocating them simply seeds a new invasion in another location, and under Florida law, releasing a non-native species into the wild is illegal.

Keeping Them Off Your Property

Removal without prevention is a treadmill. Cuban tree frogs are prolific breeders and excellent colonizers, so new individuals will move into cleared territory unless you reduce what attracted them in the first place.

Outdoor lighting: Bright white lights are insect magnets, and insects are what draw Cuban tree frogs to your walls and windows. Switching to amber or yellow “bug” bulbs, or simply turning off unnecessary exterior lights, can reduce the nightly buffet that keeps frogs coming back.
Standing water: Cuban tree frogs breed in remarkably small and shallow water sources. Plant saucers, uncovered rain barrels, kiddie pools, clogged gutters, and birdbaths all qualify. Drain, cover, or regularly empty anything that holds water for more than a couple of days.
Entry points: These frogs can squeeze through surprisingly small gaps. Seal cracks around windows, doors, utility conduits, and A/C line penetrations. Weatherstripping and expanding foam go a long way.
Daytime shelter: Stacked lumber, dense ornamental plants pressed against exterior walls, equipment covers, and debris piles all provide the dark, tight crevices Cuban tree frogs favor during daylight hours. Clearing or reorganizing these reduces available hiding spots.

Prevention alone will not eradicate an established population, but it makes ongoing trapping more effective by reducing the local carrying capacity of your yard.¹

Protecting Plumbing and Electrical Equipment

Cuban tree frogs cause infrastructure headaches that most people don’t expect from a frog. They climb into transformer enclosures, air conditioning units, and electrical junction boxes. When their moist bodies bridge two contacts, the result is a short circuit. Research into chemical deterrents applied to utility infrastructure has shown promise as a low-cost way to prevent frog-related power outages in heavily colonized areas.

An even stranger problem is frogs entering plumbing through rooftop vent pipes and appearing in toilet bowls. If this happens to you, the fix is mechanical: fit a piece of hardware cloth or mesh screen over the vent pipe opening on the roof, secured with a hose clamp. The screen must still allow airflow (that vent exists to equalize pressure in your drain system), so use a mesh fine enough to block a frog but coarse enough to avoid clogging with debris.

Handling Safety

Cuban tree frog skin produces a mucus that acts as an irritant to mucous membranes. If you handle a frog barehanded and then touch your eyes or nose, expect burning, stinging, and watery eyes that can last an hour or more. Some people develop contact rashes on their hands. The irritation is unpleasant but temporary for most adults.

Always wear nitrile or latex gloves. If you do get the secretions on bare skin, wash with soap and water immediately. If mucus gets in your eyes, flush with clean water for several minutes.

For pets, the skin secretions can cause heavy drooling and visible discomfort if a dog or cat mouths one of these frogs. Serious toxicity in household mammals is uncommon from Cuban tree frogs specifically, though any pet that has mouthed an unknown frog should be monitored for worsening symptoms.

Why Removal Matters for Native Wildlife

Cuban tree frogs eat native tree frogs, small lizards, and even small snakes. They will swallow anything that fits in their mouths, and because they grow much larger than Florida’s native tree frog species, a lot of native wildlife fits. Green tree frog and squirrel tree frog populations decline in areas where Cuban tree frogs become established, not just from predation but also from competition for hiding spots and breeding sites. The invaders are bigger, more aggressive, and less particular about habitat.¹

Beyond the direct predation, Cuban tree frogs carry parasites that may add another layer of ecological disruption. Researchers in central Florida recovered larvae of the rat lungworm from the hind leg muscle of Cuban tree frogs, the first report of this zoonotic parasite in the species.² Rat lungworm can cause a form of meningitis in humans, typically through accidental ingestion of contaminated produce or undercooked snails rather than direct frog contact. The finding still matters ecologically because it means Cuban tree frogs may serve as additional hosts that help the parasite’s life cycle persist and spread in the environment.

Why Native Predators Cannot Solve the Problem

A reasonable hope is that Florida’s snakes, birds, and other predators would eventually control Cuban tree frog numbers. The evidence says otherwise, and the reason is counterintuitive. A feeding study on native gartersnakes found that snakes consuming Cuban tree frogs gained less than half the body mass of snakes eating native prey. Cuban tree frogs were also significantly less digestible than native species.³ The frogs are, in effect, a bad meal, but the snakes don’t recognize them as costly prey and keep eating them anyway. Researchers call this an “evolutionary trap”: the predator’s instincts tell it to eat the frog, but doing so makes the predator worse off.

The upshot is that natural predation does not apply meaningful population pressure on Cuban tree frogs. If anything, eating these frogs harms the predators. Waiting for the ecosystem to sort things out is not a viable strategy. Removal has to be a deliberate human effort.

Cold Weather Won’t Eliminate Them

If you live in north-central Florida or along the Gulf Coast where hard freezes occasionally hit, you might hope a brutal winter will clear the problem. Research does not support that optimism. A multi-year study tracking Cuban tree frog populations through several freeze events in the Tampa area found that while temperatures around minus 4°C did kill some frogs sheltering in exposed PVC refugia, the species showed a high probability of recolonizing sites between freeze events. After three separate freezes, Cuban tree frogs were still captured at nearly all study sites.⁴

Separate research on the metabolic costs of cold exposure found that low temperatures do impose physiological stress on Cuban tree frogs, but this stress alone is unlikely to cause mortality rates much greater than what populations already withstand across their current range.⁵ The frogs are adept at finding insulated microhabitats: inside walls, under roof overhangs, inside sheds, underground. These refuges buffer them from the worst cold. Their northward expansion may slow in cooler climates, but expecting a freeze to wipe out an established local population is unrealistic.

Seasonal Timing and Community Effort

Cuban tree frogs are most active and most visible during the warm, wet months from late spring through early fall. This is also their primary breeding season, when you’ll hear males calling from pools, ditches, and rain-filled containers at night. Warm-season trapping is the most productive time to make a dent, because frogs are abundant, active, and concentrated near water and light sources. That said, you can catch frogs year-round in southern Florida, where mild winters barely slow them down.

Individual property efforts help, but community-scale participation makes a real difference. Cuban tree frogs disperse easily across adjacent yards, so clearing one lot while the neighbors remain infested leads to rapid recolonization. If your neighborhood has a Cuban tree frog problem, encouraging several households to set up PVC traps, reduce exterior lighting, and eliminate standing water creates a wider zone of reduced habitat that slows reinvasion.

There is no chemical spray, ultrasonic device, or essential oil that reliably repels Cuban tree frogs from a residential property. Products marketed as “frog repellents” have no robust evidence behind them. The methods that work are the ones described by university extension researchers: physical trapping, habitat modification, exclusion, and humane euthanasia of captured individuals. It is unglamorous, repetitive work, but it is the approach that actually reduces numbers over time.