Transferring frogspawn

Legacy_user

We have three ponds in the garden of our newish house. Goldfish & frogs in one of them and today saw a huge lump of frogspawn which had appeared overnight. We have removed it to a pond where there are no fish, only frogs. What are the chances of the tadpoles surviving?. I know the fish would have eaten them where they to have developed to tadpoles, hence the move.

sirbrainy

Provided it's well aerated, excellent.

Why not split it up into 3 or 4 and find various new homes?

Might not be frog, could be toad or newt

System

sirbrainy wrote: »

Provided it's well aerated, excellent.

Why not split it up into 3 or 4 and find various new homes?

Might not be frog, could be toad or newt

They are frogs. When we took over the house last year, we were told the two ponds were alive with frogs and so they were, heads sticking out and croaking etc, some wandered from pond to pond. It is our patio pond that has fish only. During the latter part of last year, we introduced six fish to one pond as we hadn't seen frogs all summer, but clearly they have remembered the pond and returned. We can look down into it from the patio and the surface is "alive with movement".

We hardly know anyone in our area so offering the spawn isn't something we're able to do.

Valli

sirbrainy wrote: »

Provided it's well aerated, excellent.

Why not split it up into 3 or 4 and find various new homes?

Might not be frog, could be toad or newt

OP said a lump so it's frogspawn.

Toadspawn and Newtspawn are QUITE DIFFERENT from frogspawn

Primrose

Oh, lucky you ! Absolutely no sign of frogspawn in my mini pond yet. If you've transferred it to a pond where they are no fish, there's a very good chance that your tadpoles will survive, but if you get lots more frogspawn your pond could be overcrowded with tadpoles and some will die of starvation. They eat by sucking on algae and other tiny micro organisms on the bottom of the pond, on the pondweed and on the side of the pond but if there's too many of them they end up eating each other. And if you've got newts, they will also eat tiny tadpoles.

Our small pond can only support a finite number of tadpoles so when they start growing a little bigger I boil up lettuce leaves until they're soft (the old fashioned fleshy butterhead varieties are best) and throw them into the water once a day. Once the tadpoles learn that it's food they will all crowd onto the leaves and strip the leaves of any flesh very quickly. Remove the white stems daily to avoid polluting the pond water. You can also buy small plastic containers of flaked tadpole food from some acquatic centres.

Frogs seem to remember where they were born and often return to the same pond year after year to mate. If your tadpoles make it to adulthood, grow legs, become froglets and start migrating from your pond around mid July, be VERY CAREFUL whenever you mow your lawn. These tiny creatures are only the size of a fingernail and it's so easy for you to run your mower blades over them when they're on your lawn and cut them to pieces (as I found to my dismay the first year we reared tadpoles). Also sadly, the blackbirds and magpies will come down and eat these tiny babies as they make a small tasty snack, so their survival rate to becoming a full adult frog is pretty low.

System

old fashioned round head lettuce's are "webb's".

The area of grass we have doesn't require a mower so that is not a problem. Actually the footprint of our garden is nothing special, but it has been divided into three sections. After descending a few steps, we have what we refer to as the "cottage garden" where it is shrubs,small trees,crazy paving, bamboo,roses,seats, pond beneath conservatory and raised patio pond in a quiet corner.

The second section is the nightmare, or wildlife garden where we really need inspiration. Beyond that is the sun terrace, all things nautical and bamboo.

The previous owner brought cygnets home from a swannery when they needed attention, plus he had bird boxes all over the place which are used. Hence the garden for enjoyment.

sirbrainy

We do tadpole rescue every year on a beach we go to a lot. A stream runs into the sea and when the tide is out we find plenty of stranded tadpoles on their way out to sea and a salty death. We take them back country in plastic bottles and release them in another stream.

jaxx46

Lucky you. I have had "double decker" frogs for about 10 days now but no sign of any frogspawn yet. Have set up a mini pond in hope, as I not only have 2 rescue goldfish in my pond but they had babies late last year so have 2 baby goldfish as well. Am hoping to avoid the fish eating the frogspawn & the froglets attaching themselves to the young fish (fry?)

shegar

No sign of frogspawn here either yet , ive been checking everyday for the past 2 wks now.....................last year we had a huge lump so I devided it in 2 left one lump in wildlife pond and brought the other lump indoors, which soon turned in to tads being nice and warm indoors......
I kept them in for about 3 weeks , when they were really free swimming and getting bigger I tranfered them back into the wildlife pond again.......................

We had so many frogs last year by doing that , that I will do it again this year, plus its fascinating watching them indoors, they grow pretty quick because the water is at a nice temp, I fed them on tiny lettuce bits................................changed the water every 3 days , got the temp the same by bringing a pale in the night before changing from the wildlife pond, so they didnt get a shock which could kill them.........

Valli

flippin heck you soft lot!

My mum and dad are as bad as you - their pond teems with frogs but they have fish which munch them, so they rescue tadpoles too...

she took some to another pond last year and then watched, in horror, as the tadpoles were eaten alive by newts in a feeding frenzy.

Now if you pick the little froglets early in the morning and coat them in chocolate...
Wizzo Quality Assortment

System

shegar wrote: »

No sign of frogspawn here either yet , ive been checking everyday for the past 2 wks now.....................last year we had a huge lump so I devided it in 2 left one lump in wildlife pond and brought the other lump indoors, which soon turned in to tads being nice and warm indoors......
I kept them in for about 3 weeks , when they were really free swimming and getting bigger I tranfered them back into the wildlife pond again.......................

We had so many frogs last year by doing that , that I will do it again this year, plus its fascinating watching them indoors, they grow pretty quick because the water is at a nice temp, I fed them on tiny lettuce bits................................changed the water every 3 days , got the temp the same by bringing a pale in the night before changing from the wildlife pond, so they didnt get a shock which could kill them.........

Now that really is a good idea, especially as you suggest the changing of the water and temp. We have another lump today, so with the grandchildrens help, we might do it.