Why Do Frogs Come Out In The Rain?

Frogs are sparsely seen during the Dry Season, but they are suddenly everywhere when it starts to rain. You can find frogs leaping in your backyard, in parks, across roads, and out of water. It is fairly pretty apparent no matter where you live, that rain is a frog’s favorite time to come out.

Frogs come out in the rain because it provides them with the right environment to mate, breed, feed, drink, breathe, travel, and cool off. There’s extra shade, humidity, and moisture when it rains, which prevents dehydration and facilitates ease in movement. Frogs, like all amphibians, enjoy damp weather.

As someone who loves frogs, I’ve taken time to study them and their behavioral patterns which change through the seasons. Frogs are most active during the Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and Rainy seasons in the Southern Hemisphere. When it rains, you often hear frogs calling.

Let’s have a look at the various reasons why frogs are more active whenever it rains.

Rain Creates A Suitable Environment For Frogs

Frogs generally prefer a wet, dark environment. When it rains, it gets cloudy and moist, thus providing frogs with the perfect condition to come out into the open to spring and leap around. They bask in the cool shade provided by the cloud when it rains.

Frogs thrive in humid weather. The reason is that the life cycle of even terrestrial frogs is tied to water. If they stay away from water for too long, they will dry up. Rain is a source of freshwater that keeps frogs hydrated while on land and brings even pond frogs into the open.

Some of their predators are less active when it rains as well, making it safer for frogs to come out of hiding and be out in the open. For example, birds generally take cover in trees when it rains, waiting for the downpour to pass. This allows frogs to come out more into the open with less fear of being eaten by birds.

Frogs Like to Reproduce in The Rain

Rain makes the environment cool and wet, thus creating a conducive opportunity for mating. This is why you hear frogs croaking after rain. The croak of male frogs serves as a call to attract females of the same species. It is an attempt to find a mating partner. Sometimes they croak in choruses or calls and responses.

In some parts of the world, there is not a Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, but a Dry and Rainy season. For frogs that are located in dual-season climates, the Rainy Season is the breeding season. The breeding cycle of these frogs is triggered by rising temperatures, more water, and more food. In addition, rain provides water, thereby facilitating reproduction.

Rain creates optimal conditions for female frogs to lay eggs in fresh pools of water. Often, frogs that live in the Southern Hemisphere prefer ephemeral ponds to lay eggs, which are temporary pools that are created when heavy rainfall occurs to fill a depression in the ground.

Ephemeral ponds are shallow and cannot sustain or accommodate fish. This feature keeps the eggs safe from some of their hungry predators including fish and insects. Rain increases the number of temporary ponds available for eggs to transform and tadpoles to develop.

Frogs Like to Feed in The Rain

When it rains, frogs usually come out of their hiding places not just to bask in the weather, mate, and breed; but also to eat. Food is a significant source of energy for all living things. Therefore, it’s a criterion to eat if you want to remain alive and healthy.

When it rains, frogs aren’t the only ones that come out to enjoy the wetness; earthworms, snails, and slugs crawl out of their hiding places. I can’t tell you the number of worms I saw in the parking lot outside my place the other day during heavy rainfall! There were very long and small worms covering the ground. Worms and other bugs that enjoy the rain are great sources of food for frogs.

Heavy torrents of rain can knock flying bugs and insects out of the air and send them to the ground. Sometimes, straight near the mouth of frogs. Bugs that like the rain provide perfectly sumptuous and nutritious meals for frogs.

Frogs Can Drink in The Rain

Food always goes along with water. Water is essential in a frog’s hydration and survival. Rain provides water for drinking as small puddles are formed in the ground after rainfall. As a result, frogs creep out of crevices and damp places for a drink when it rains.

No matter how long they can last without it, frogs always need water. So it’s imperative for frogs to access freshwater at any time they need it.

Frogs drink through their skin by absorbing moisture in humid air, rain, and water around. Next time you see a frog sitting in a puddle of water, know it’s absorbing water through its drinking patch located beneath its belly.

Frogs Like to Breathe in The Rain

The skin is one of the four ways frogs breathe (the others being nostrils, lungs, and mouth). These multiple breathing channels allow them the luxury of dual habitation. Frogs come out under the rain to absorb humidity and water through their skin to extract oxygen.

This process keeps them alive and moist. They are terrestrial creatures, and most frog species cannot go without water for long periods, lest they die (CTNF).

Rain is Good Travel Weather For Frogs

I have seen frogs travel to different places in the rain. Where they are usually not active during the day, rain makes it safe and conducive for frogs to travel and go to different places. You may notice frogs leaping about on trails, pavements, and roads when it rains.

The reason is that rain increases the moisture content in the air and creates good travel weather for them. Water being all over the place, they feel more safe to go about freely without drying in the sun. Frogs are amphibians and the ambiant temperature influences their own temperature. Rain cools down the hot Summer atmosphere to temperatures they enjoy.

Rain causes humidity to pique while dark clouds provide shade from the hot, dry sun. This is a premium comfort to journey in the cool for frogs. The sun and dry weather limit their movement as they have to burrow into the ground or hide under damp surfaces to prevent dehydration and death. In the rain, frogs can go wherever they want without having to worry about drying out and dying.

Frogs Can Cool Off in The Rain

When rain falls in Summer, frogs come out to enjoy the cooling sensation of the rain on their bodies. The feeling of jumping into puddles of water can be refreshing for frogs.

Instead of staying hidden in a moist, dark area in a bid to conserve energy, they come out to play and croak in the rain where they can absorb oxygen and moisture to keep themselves hydrated.

Rain provides frogs with ample opportunity to come out of their burrowed holes and damp woods. They can enjoy the wet, damp, moist, and cool weather.

Learn More About Frogs And Rain

Did you know that it has rained frogs in some places? I wrote that correctly, I did not mean that it rained water – I mean actual frogs falling from the sky! Learn more about frogs, rain, and water in our blog posts below:

Common Questions About Frogs And Rain

Do frogs come out in the rain? Frogs come out in the rain because it provides them with the right environment to mate, breed, feed, drink, breathe, travel, and cool off. There’s extra shade, humidity, and moisture when it rains, which prevents dehydration and facilitates ease in movement. Frogs, like all amphibians, enjoy damp weather.

Where do frogs come from when it rains? Frogs may come out of ponds, lakes, marshes, swamps, road-side ditches and other damp and wet areas when it rains. Since the environment is wet, anywhere becomes a good place for frogs to roam since there are less predators and they can stay hydrated wherever it is wet.

Does it rain frogs? Generally, frogs weigh only a few ounces, and they sometimes get swept up by waterspouts, strong winds, and other harsh weather conditions, and then fall from the sky once the pressure drops, frequently accompanied by rain.

Where does it rain frogs? It may rain frogs when there is a strong weather event that can pick them up and drop them from the atmosphere like a tornado, hurricane, or twister. This has happened and was documented in Kansas City (1873), Iowa (1882), London (1921), Calgary (1921), and in Serbia in 2005.

Why frogs croak when it rains? Rain makes the environment cool and wet, thus creating a conducive opportunity for mating, this is why you hear frogs croaking after rain. Make frogs croak to call and attract females of the same species. It is an attempt to find a mating partner and reproduce.

Sources

David M. Marsh, Copeia, 2000(4), pp. 1104–1108 Variable Responses to Rainfall by Breeding Tungara Frogs