Out of town for a while and am worried about my little buddy on the porch

[Niffla]

Okay, so this summer a tree frog found his/her way to my third floor apartment porch in Houston. I have a couple of medium to large plants out there and a few small ones. For the most part he prefers the same medium to large plant, as he can usually be found in the same plant and in the same area of the plant. Upon finding the little guy, I began misting him/her daily. I've been doing this for the entire summer now.

Well I had to take off out of town for my sister's wedding, and won't be back to my apartment for a good two weeks. The best I could come up with is leaving a medium sized bowl of water at the base of the plant, and another large bowl near the plant. So he has two water sources if he is able to find them. I also know that Houston is one of the more humid cities out there, and there should be some dew to be had -- so there's that. But the porch is well covered so even heavy rains will probably fail to reach the plant.

This is probably a really ignorant question, but I'm not a frog expert, so....is he going to be alright while I'm gone? I know frogs can get some water from their prey and also probably from morning dew, but aside from those two sources my porch seems pretty dry without my misting the plants. I hope he can find the two bowls I left for the little guy.

Thanks in advance for any replies, I'd really appreciate a few

[Mentat]

Hello and welcome to FF! Interesting situation, because frog is still in the wild and feeding itself. Well, I would not leave water dishes because of possibility frog would pee on water and later continue to use it. That could lead to "Toxic Out Syndrome" and make things worse. So just let the frog manage by itself until your return. Maybe you can move plants closer to porch edge so they get wet with rain. By the way, if misting frog, make sure you use dechlorinated water and not straight tap. Good luck !

[Niffla]

First of all, thank you Carlos for your reply and advice.

Unfortunately though it appears I already made some beginner mistakes, as I was misting him with tap water (I won't do this again if he's still there when I get back) and it's too late for the bowls of water as I'm already gone out of town. And as for moving the plants closer to the edge -- they actually are already as close as they can be -- it's just these particular apartments have a ledge on the roof that extends outwards far enough to where it makes getting rain to the porches nearly impossible.

I guess I'll just have to hope for the best at this point and hope the little fella makes it on his own.

[Mentat]

Sorry; was reading the 1st post around 3:30 AM and did not realize until now you were gone already. Please let us know if you find frog upon return and have a safe trip .

[Niffla]

Thank you Carlos, will do

[Heatheranne]

Interesting post. Fun to have a returning frog in the wild . Good luck! I hope he continues to visit.

Yes, dechlorinated water is safe. You can even make up a gallon at a time to make spraying quick and easy. I make mine up ahead and fill a gallon sized round-up sprayer. Works great. A fine mist works perfect and can last a few days . When empty, rinse out sprayer and make a new gallon of dechlorinated water. Easy peasy .

[Niffla]

Thanks, Heather!

And good news! I came back home a full two weeks later and didn't see him for the first few days...I even went and combed through the plants to see if I could find him -- and didn't -- so I assumed he was gone. But low and behold today the little guy was back in his usual spot!! Pretty cool. It's starting to get pretty chilly though so I'm guessing it will be time for him to burrow pretty soon.

[Heatheranne]

Thanks, Heather!

And good news! I came back home a full two weeks later and didn't see him for the first few days...I even went and combed through the plants to see if I could find him -- and didn't -- so I assumed he was gone. But low and behold today the little guy was back in his usual spot!! Pretty cool. It's starting to get pretty chilly though so I'm guessing it will be time for him to burrow pretty soon.

That's so neat .