Use phosphate-free detergent when you clean your dishes. Easy!

What else can you do?

• Hop to it and join the Melbourne Frog Census to survey frogs in your local area.
• Make a frog-bog in your school grounds or backyard. This guide should help you get started.
• Get grubby and clean up your local waterways.
• Go home-made and harm-free by making your own natural all purpose cleaner.

The Southern Bell Frog is also known as the Growling Grass Frog due to its long growling call followed by short grunts. One of the largest frogs in Australia it is easily recognisable by the torquoise thighs, brownish/gold blotches on the back and pale green stripe down the back.

You might consider Growling Grass Frogs lazy as they simply sit and wait for prey to pass by, but this ambush method is perfect as there is lots of food usually available and it saves lots of energy. Often seen basking in the sun during the day these guys tend to be diurnal, more active by day.

You can download your own Growling Grass Frog sound here... Cool! MP-3 Audio | M4R Ringtone

• Growling Grass Frogs feed mainly on insects including beetles, termites, cockroaches and moths.
• Any extra croaking you hear from Growling Grass Frogs is likely to be between November and March, breeding season.
• Talk about big families, female Growling Grass Frogs have been known to lay almost 4000 eggs.
• They will hunt and eat other frogs, including younger Growling Grass Frogs.
• They are diurnal and one of only a few frogs to openly bask during the day.

As things change Growling Grass Frogs are finding it difficult to cope More than half of the population have disappeared and the number is still dropping.

Habitat loss, which is removing vital vegetation cover and affecting water quality is the main threat, but recently disease and chemical pollution have also been threatening these guys.

At our Zoos...

• Melbourne Zoo
  
• Werribee Open Range Zoo
  

In the Wild...

• Werribee
  
• Altona