Frogs, Toads And Newts 2012

[Walsall Wood Snow]

You could be right the PIT. However i'm sure I remember reading somewhere that a tadpole who has developed back legs before most of the rest of the shoal (if thats the correct term) usually get eaten by the masses who haven't.

[picog]

Despite loads of frogs and toads around, lots of croaking in the pond, we still have no spawn. Last night I saw two pairs of frogs/toads "coupled" on dry land near the backdoor — definitely one male and one female. I've never seen this before, has anyone else?

Looking back over the last 3 years' records, we have had spawn on either the 12 or 13 March, so it's definitely concerning that nothing has happened yet, despite all the apparent activity. It does seem that we are very short on females — all the ones I see are males.

[frogesque]

Despite loads of frogs and toads around, lots of croaking in the pond, we still have no spawn. Last night I saw two pairs of frogs/toads "coupled" on dry land near the backdoor — definitely one male and one female. I've never seen this before, has anyone else?

Looking back over the last 3 years' records, we have had spawn on either the 12 or 13 March, so it's definitely concerning that nothing has happened yet, despite all the apparent activity. It does seem that we are very short on females — all the ones I see are males.

Have you had a long dry spell? It may be the females are waiting for the right conditions.

We have loads of frogspawn in our pond as has another garden pond I know of but all activity seems to have stoppped now. Seen plenty of them coupled (and even trebled!) in the pond but never on dry land.

[picog]

Have you had a long dry spell? It may be the females are waiting for the right conditions.

We have loads of frogspawn in our pond as has another garden pond I know of but all activity seems to have stoppped now. Seen plenty of them coupled (and even trebled!) in the pond but never on dry land.

It's been dry, but not parched, and recently it's been misty and damp most nights. Last night I quickly counted 10 frogs in the pond, 4 of which were coupled. This morning, still no sign of any spawn — usually we have loads of it, so i really have no idea what is going on this season.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

I want the tadpoles to have the best chance of developing (and for the water to not look manky), and am happy to get a filter/pump for the "pond" but the smallest I can find deal with ponds of up to 1500litres. Mine is going to be 200 litres. I guess you can't over filter the water can you?!

[cold haily windy night]

Only found one frog in our pond this year so far, I went to touch it and it moved .....last year there were 7 dead ones after that 2010/11 winter.

[Purplepixii]

To date I have had 24 clumps of spawn laid. The first 6 I took out of the pond and put in a separate fibreglass pond to be hand-reared (which I do every year). Many of these are now free from the jelly and grazing on it, some look like black dashes, others have distinct head shapes forming!

When they run out of jelly / algae I will once again be boiling lettuce to feed to them. If you've never done this I recommend it - boil the lettuce until it's really soft (almost falling apart) and let it cool then float it on the water. If you listen you can actually hear the mad feeding frenzy as the tiddlypoles start munching on it!!

When they've got limbs forming you can feed them fish food flakes as they become carnivorous although if you want a giggle put floating fish sticks in and watch as the olympic-style event of "pushing the food sticks across the water really fast & going round in circles" takes place! At this point the water level needs reducing or put stones in that break the surface of the water so the froglets can climb out.

Fun stuff aside, it's fascinating to watch them grow up, from tiny little "full stops" to teeny tiny froglets! :wub:

Oh and please submit records to both the Big Spawn Count and your local ARG if possible

Edited March 15, 2012 by Purplepixii

[Crepuscular Ray]

I want the tadpoles to have the best chance of developing (and for the water to not look manky), and am happy to get a filter/pump for the "pond" but the smallest I can find deal with ponds of up to 1500litres. Mine is going to be 200 litres. I guess you can't over filter the water can you?!

If you want the tadpoles to have any algae to eat, perhaps.

[cold haily windy night]

Baby toad with newt....(a pic from last season)

Edited March 15, 2012 by Little Fluffy Clouds

[jethro]

I want the tadpoles to have the best chance of developing (and for the water to not look manky), and am happy to get a filter/pump for the "pond" but the smallest I can find deal with ponds of up to 1500litres. Mine is going to be 200 litres. I guess you can't over filter the water can you?!

Looks fairly gutless, should be perfect if you leave off the fountain attachment:

http://www.1000waterfeatures.co.uk/180lph-solar-water-pump-kit-with-battery-backup-p-11192.html?src=list_img&cPath=1_213_1297

[Osbourne One-Nil]

If you want the tadpoles to have any algae to eat, perhaps.

Oh yes - good point. Perhaps because the pond is in permanent shade it won't be such a problem?

Looks fairly gutless, should be perfect if you leave off the fountain attachment:

http://www.1000water...Path=1_213_1297

Depends if I can get the solar panel into a sunny position, but I guess just a pump would do to oxygenate the water? I don't know how normal pond weed would do in shade.

[frogesque]

I want the tadpoles to have the best chance of developing (and for the water to not look manky), and am happy to get a filter/pump for the "pond" but the smallest I can find deal with ponds of up to 1500litres. Mine is going to be 200 litres. I guess you can't over filter the water can you?!

You could fit a perforated plastic false base in the tank and use an air bubble lift then place 2" of pea gravel on top of the base (as in an aquarium). With the tank in the shade you wouldn't have too much trouble with algae overunning it but you do want some natural food for the taddies. Duckweed will come in with birds drinking the water and you may have to lift out blanket weed occasionally but allow the taddies time to untangle from it and swim free.

Edit: We have had a fair bit of rain today and there are a couple of latecomers croaking away this evening. Not sure if we have any new females though.

Edited March 16, 2012 by frogesque

[cold haily windy night]

Weh-hey!!!! just seen the first return female newt of the season !!!!!

I can spend hours relaxing gazing at the mini universe in our small pond watching the liitle life forms go about their business....love to see the colonies (?) of Daphnea darting about between the Star Wart in the darts of sunshine, the sporadic visitation to the surface of the Whirligig ....just grab a cushion and a stick....

[picog]

Still no spawn! A handful of determined males still croaking their hearts out, and zero takers so far. The pond is quite big (6-7 metres diameter), so there could be spawn I can't see, though historically it's always appeared in the same places.

I really have no idea what has gone so terribly wrong — it has to be the lack of rain — nothing else in the area has changed. There has been a few females (that I've seen), and a few couplings (that I've seen), but nothing has appeared as a result.

[frogesque]

Still no spawn! A handful of determined males still croaking their hearts out, and zero takers so far. The pond is quite big (6-7 metres diameter), so there could be spawn I can't see, though historically it's always appeared in the same places.

I really have no idea what has gone so terribly wrong — it has to be the lack of rain — nothing else in the area has changed. There has been a few females (that I've seen), and a few couplings (that I've seen), but nothing has appeared as a result.

Maybe they've all come here! Spotted a late couple still 'engaged', as it were, in the pond today.

LFC: I too can spend a lot of time just gazing at the pond, there's always something going on and it's so relaxing.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

My spawn's definitely developing and I think one or two might have hatched out and are attached to the jelly. Just got a cheap air pump placed in there and am slowly topping the water level up each day, with a watering can's worth at a time as the water which comes out of the well is pretty damned cold, so I want to do it slowly.

[picog]

Phew! We have our first blob of spawn! I can't believe how late it is, I had really given up hope. Great spot of tadpole watching this spring too.

Edited March 22, 2012 by picog

[frogesque]

Glad you've finally had some activity picog, maybe yours have set a record for 'foreplay'! lol

Our late couple produced a clump of fresh spawn yesterday. Looks odd comparing the tiny dots with the tadpoles in aspic from the first lot. Shouldn't be long before they start swimming freely.

[SteveB]

Our tadpoles have hatched, spotted a few wiggling around yesterday.

Pond was very murky when I got home from work, looked like something had stirred up the silt from the bottom.

Have not seen any newts yet, would really like to have them in the pond. Have plenty of frogs & the odd toad or two, but no newts!

[picog]

Frogs stopped spawning on March 25, and we ended up with about 12 clumps — much less than usual. Plenty of toads about, but haven't seen any spawn. And the newts have started appearing all the time in the pond — crested and common (?). We generally get quite a few baby newts — sort of very large, very fast, lonesome tadpole like creatures.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Looks like the majority of my tadpoles have hatched out over the past couple of days, and are now clinging to the jelly-stuff. Wonder when they'll start swimming about?

[Crepuscular Ray]

When they've finished eating the jelly-stuff and it gets a bit warmer?

[SteveB]

Would cats eat newts, just wondering as we have cats in our garden all the time & I have never seen a newt.

We don't have cats, so I try to scare them as often as I can, but while I am at work or at night they are free to kill anything that moves.

Edited March 30, 2012 by SteveB

[Crepuscular Ray]

They certainly catch frogs, so I don't see why they wouldn't catch newts as well.

"Lion Poo"/"Silent Roar"/"Lion Dung" may help to deter cats from the garden if you want.

On the other hand, factors like the depth of the pond or whether you've got goldfish (which like newts' eggs) can make a difference.

Edited March 30, 2012 by crepuscular ray

[The PIT]

Plenty of cats round our area and they've never bothered the fish. However Herons have wiped most of my fish out on two occasions. Luckily the fish had bred before being eaten so got natural replacements.

Going back to tadpoles well there out an about now I guess my goldfish are enjoying themselves as they're not taking any food this week.