Tadpoles

sparkyley

I don't have a pond, yet my garden has tons of frogs. Does anyone know of a friendly way to make them leave.

ADGS

Start wearing a stripey jumper and affecting a French accent.

val

Well, at least Sparkyley won't have many slugs! I'm still feeding taddies on fishfood and boiled lettuce cubes. And today I was thrilled to see two baby frogs in my container. They are light brown. It's as if they changed overnight.

val

Once they have lost their tails and feel ready, my baby frogs are jumping out of container. There will probably be a grand exodus when it rains.

dorothy

Then do you sort of come across them, under flowerpots or when you're cutting the grass (yuk)? I've been away, so I will have missed the transformation. Do the newts leave at a similar time?

dorothy

I've noticed the newts in my pond are taking out the frogs. They drag them to the bottom and shake them a bit, and drown them. Little froggie legs wiggle a bit, then stop. It's brutal.

sincers

I have frogs!!! Almost overnight they went from being large tadpoles to tiny frogs.

dorothy

I've got loads of miniature frogs hopping about the garden. My view is that they are far too little to go around the garden. Obviously they couldn't wait to get out of the pond. I thought the change was quite slow, I've still got some tadpoles. A friend of mine told me that tadpoles are genetically dodgy, some never turn into frogs and remain as tadpoles, or turn a bit mutant, neither frog nor tadpole. I've been noticing the water snails recently. I think if you have them, it's a sign of good pond health. Mine seem to spend all their time copulating.

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val

Sincers, congratulations on the additions to your pond!
Dorothy, Some tadpoles do not mature until conditions are right. But I was upset to hear what those nasty newts are doing to your baby frogs. I think my newts are too small to do that. We'll never know how many of our little frogs will survive, but they have been given a good start. Left alone, only one in one thousand tadpoles survives.

Emma

Stroud Green is going to be overrun with frogs! Or overhopped. Perhaps cat owners can encourage their cats to go after the excess frogs instead of indulging in bird massacre (but then we will be overrun with BIRDS! WHERE WILL IT END!).

I have enjoyed the tadpole updates though. Any idea what type of frog they are?

Ali

Cat’s murdering Frogs is as unacceptable as birds !

ADGS

But since every frog begins life by murdering its brothers and sisters, isn't that merely just retribution?

Of course, it's not just fratricide. In Australia there are tiny ponds where the only food is lichen too small for the big old frog (one per pond) to eat. So each year they spawn, then let the tadpoles hoover up the lichen in order to become nice plump snacks for their parent. Until such time as the parent dies, and then they can all struggle to be the new boss frog.

val

Aha ADGS! Our frogs didn't start life that way, because we fed them. They only become cannibals if they don't have enough food.These are just common frogs, brownish with patterns or spots, and live on land but breed in water. They make a kind of purring sound in their throats during the breeding season, mostly at night. They are not edible like the greenish water-dwelling frogs. That sounds like frog-farming in Australia, organised by very sly boss frogs.

Ali

Val thought I would let you know that lots of the tadpoles you gave the boys have made it to teenie little frogs which great. Thanks for being so kind to share your brood

val

Ali, Thanks for happy news.

dorothy

No more tadpoles, frogs or even newts, just loads of mosquitos. Getting really bitten legs just putting out the washing. Interesting bites. They come up straight away in big pussey bubble and then leak over a couple of days, leaving dry yellow crusty streaks. Disgusting but weird. Not had insect bites quite like it before.

val

Dorothy: Sympathy re mosquito bites. Maybe global warming accounts for their increase. I had a bite above my eye. Really swollen. Antihistamines.

Ali

Are back in our pond after much  frollicking over the weekend

dorothy

Dam, I've got none, been looking for a while.  I wonder if my family of rats living behind the pond ate the spawn.

Tordie

Just wondering if anyone with a pond who keeps goldfish would like an addition? After 4 years of indoor life, ours is starting to really lose the plot- would like to free her, but not sure how she would survive in the real world!<div><br></div>

krappyrubsnif

Do goldfish have a plot?<br>