How Do Frogs Spend the Winter? A Detailed Explanation of Frog Overwintering Methods

The frog is an animal of the class Amphibia, order Anura; eggs are laid in water and fertilized externally, so how do frogs spend the winter?

1. Living habits of frogs

The frog is a vertebrate of the family Ranidae, genus Pelophylax, widely distributed in wetland and water environments on every continent; frogs often inhabit rivers, ponds, and rice paddies, mainly active in the grass by the water, and sometimes they can lurk in the water. They are mostly active at night, feeding mainly on insects, and also eat some river snails, snails, small shrimp, small fish, and so on.

Because the insects they eat are mostly agricultural pests, they are also regarded as an animal beneficial to agriculture.

2. How do frogs spend the winter?

Frogs generally overwinter dormant on the bottom of the water, in caves, and in the soil, and they also enter a state of false death, that is, what is usually called hibernation. Because frogs are cold-blooded animals, too low a temperature will freeze them to death, so they hibernate in winter, and when the temperature warms up again the following spring they can become active again.

3. Which pests do frogs eat?

1. Lepidoptera pests: rice leaf roller, armyworm, rice stem borer, rice skipper, corn borer, pink bollworm, rice caseworm, rice looper, rice butterfly, and so on;

2. Hemiptera pests: white-backed planthopper, small brown planthopper, rice black stink bug, brown planthopper, and so on;

3. Coleoptera pests: rice leaf beetle, rice weevil, scarab beetle, ladybug, and so on;

4. Diptera pests: rice leafminer, rice midge, fruit fly, mosquito, and so on.

Frogs are omnivorous animals, of which plant-based food accounts for only about 7% of their diet; animal-based food accounts for about 93% of their diet.