Frog Spawn

[Loopy]

Lots of croaking, hugging frogs and the first couple of batches of frog spawn in the pond! I don't know how long these fellas have been using the pond as I have only been in the house for 18 months but it's a regular breeding ground for them :)

There will be much garden renovating going on throughout this year and I have learnt that hiding holes such as rocks and ground cover are their favourites. Would love to hear what people do in their gardens to help frogs.

[dougied]

Likewise, we've got loads of spawn in our pond. Don't really do anything to help the frogs, other than just leave them alone. Our garden is pretty much a wildlife garden and we leave the grass around the pond to grow quite long. We've also got lots of rocks and stuff around the edge of it and the frogs use that for cover. Last year we had quite a cold snap just after the frogs had spawned and the pond froze. I think that killed off most of the spawn unfortunately. Lets hope for better weather this year.

[Loopy]

Thanks for the advice. I inherited the pond when we moved in it's surrounded by weed suppressing membrane and gravel. I shall take your advic and get some vegetation and rocks around the pond.

We haven't had as many frogs in the pond this year but I can't remember what time they started arriving last year so I'm guessing there might be more on the way.

[Gilli]

We have had a small natural pond for about 10 years. If you are starting a pond up make sure it is at least 18 inches deep in the middle so that it will not totally freeze in winter. Make sure there is a 'beach style' slope at one end so things can get in and out, and also if anything falls in that shouldn't it has a chance of getting out!

The pond will take care of itself really - just rake out any leaves that fall in winter and make sure any pond weed growing doesn't get too dense but it is needed for the tadpoles to eat! Try and grow something like a water lilly as it gives shade and protection - the more shade you have the clearer the pond water will be. Also pond weed available from pet shops will put oxygen in the water. Every spring I drain off quater of the water and top up with fresh.

[honeysuckle]

We're thinking of putting a pond in our garden too in order to attract more wildlife. It must be lovely to have 'inherited' one:)

[Jenny]

What with our mini-drought and Bambi's hooves, I doubt my manmade pond will survive, let alone the mass of tadpoles. Isn't it just typical that, having made the decision to turn a badly designed wildlife unfriendly manmade pond into a more friendly one, the frogs turn up!

[Olivia]

I have a wildlife garden and pond, this year the frogs produced a lot of spawn, unfortunately each year the goldfish have a good feed and not many tadpoles survive but this year we transfered the spawn into three large tanks and watched them grow. I telephoned Frog Life (a club I belong to) and was told I must feed the tadpoles so they were fed with flaked fish food. As soon as the flakes were put in it was like a frenzy of Piranahs (not sure about that spelling) but they all thrived and when they eventually got their front and back legs we made sure that there were pieces of wood and rock for them to climb on. There were hundreds of them and we then tipped them into the pond near the slope and rocks. They were very tiny but perfectly formed and they all clupped together and then started to eat the pond `moss` that was on the rocks. We were so pleased with all this and then much to our horror large frogs appeared and started to eat them, also Blackbirds kept coming down to the pond, obviously joining in the feast. I am pleased to say many did escape and we have seen a lot now that are quite big, to what they were. We dont cut the grass as they hide there.

[70007]

That may explain why the last time I had a reasonable number of developing tadpoles in my old pond, they seemed to vanish over the space of a few days. I didn't have fish and had never seen any birds I thought were capable of devouring them, but had never considered the adult frogs as responsible.

[Nuthatch]

I didn't realise that adult frogs eat tadpoles either. I'd heard that tadpoles ate other tadpoles - so still learning about frogs and tadpoles!

I'm still seeing baby frogs around the garden, but given the amount of spawn produced I should imagine about 90% of the tadpoles didn't make it.

[Nuthatch]

We have had a small natural pond for about 10 years. If you are starting a pond up make sure it is at least 18 inches deep in the middle so that it will not totally freeze in winter. Make sure there is a 'beach style' slope at one end so things can get in and out, and also if anything falls in that shouldn't it has a chance of getting out!

The pond will take care of itself really - just rake out any leaves that fall in winter and make sure any pond weed growing doesn't get too dense but it is needed for the tadpoles to eat! Try and grow something like a water lilly as it gives shade and protection - the more shade you have the clearer the pond water will be. Also pond weed available from pet shops will put oxygen in the water. Every spring I drain off quater of the water and top up with fresh.

Hi Gilli - do you use tap or rainwater when topping up your pond?