coqui

When I was in Hilo 3 years ago, the coqui frogs where all the talk. What is the current situation. Are they still driving people mad?

coqui

I like em but I also don%26#39;t have to live with them. I think TT also enjoys them in moderation; not sure if KK likes them so much. But they%26#39;re still around, and likely will be for a while. Especially in Puna.

coqui

I sure love them, they put me to sleep in no time! I sleep better in Puna than anywhere else.

Was in Puerto Rico many years ago and loved hearing them there too. Never bothered me then and didn%26#39;t bother me when last in Hilo. I guess since they have no predators in HI their concentrations are much higher and therefore louder. Seems everyone was trying to figure out how to get rid of them and they were tearing down whole forest areas in their quest. Maybe some creature has devleloped a taste for them now? Hoping to come visit next month (but staying in Kohala this time).

I hate them and they are a worse problem than ever. They just held the first annual coqui conference here and it was in the paper this week.

In one year alone the population went from infesting about 7000 acres (those reported) in 2006, to 25,000 acres in 2007, which is huge.

The frog density can be as high as 20 THOUSAND frogs per acre, each frog having the volume capacity of a lawnmower.

They have given up on eradicating them on the Big Island, and are working on plans to stop the spread and clean up some areas.

So far the only real control is through thousands of dollars and many man and woman hours spent hand spraying and volume spraying.

Even if they don%26#39;t bother you, they should, or it would be at least courteous to others not to minimize the issue. The emotional, physical, and financial toll on people here is very high-- people are sad because they can%26#39;t enjoy sitting out at night, can%26#39;t sleep in many cases, have to wander around in the dark with spotlights and sprayers (that would be me) -- and in general it is no fun and expensive.

If you do the math --

If all 25K acres were at max infestation of 20K per acre, that would be a population of

FIVE HUNDRED MILLION frogs and more than tripling each year.

Now the only reason the population is lower than that is the spraying programs done by people who are taking the frog explosion seriously and working on keeping the density down, because it has been seen first hand that when left alone they will and have been achieving that density.

When you say it like that... hrm, maybe they aren%26#39;t so nice. LOL

5 Million coqui%26#39;s at once... dear lord.

Five HUNDRED million, that is half a billion, JC!!!

Last night I spent at least an hour outside in the rain with a flashlight and gallon sprayer looking for the little buggah that had parked itself somewhere around the front lanai and was driving me nuts, so I%26#39;m not feeling too frog-friendly just at the moment.

Yeah that%26#39;s a lot of frogs. That%26#39;s like a plague of frogs. What you spray them with? Caffeine? Maybe give them some Vault, LOL.

I was just listening to one of my nature sound programs (hey it helps me sleep) and one of the sounds under Frogs is the Coqui. I%26#39;m sure more than enough people turn to that one and scream, LOL.

I enjoyed hearing them in Puerto Rico, but they don%26#39;t belong Hawai`i where the population can explode as mentioned.