Nature on Your Doorstep Community

A place to learn, share and inspire others to create a haven for you and for wildlife.

Sign In or Register to join the conversation

Frog spawn

I have frog spawn! i put in my pond late last year, i had frogs but it was to late for spawn.

this is a first for me as i always had koi in my other ponds.

 

Hey farmer, farmer, put away the D.D.T now. Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees, please!

  • Lucky you, I’m not sure I’m going to get any this year. A few days ago I had one lone frog croaking his heart out but I haven’t seen any since.

     

    My pond is about ten years old and I have always had 50+ frogs spawning at this time of the year. Nothing has changed, the pond and water are very healthy so I’m at a loss to know what the problem is.

    Build it and they will come.

  • Hi, this is my first posting on this site! I also have a pond that I've had 10-15 yrs, I forget. I lost 42 frogs this winter, the pond was frozen for over a month, even though I kept breaking the ice. I now have about 20 younger ones in there, but no spawn yet.....I think they may be too young. I also lost all of my pondweed, due to the ice and snow, it's been a hard winter up here in Bonnie Scotland. I'm desperate for some frogspawn for my nursery, I always take some in for the children to watch them grow into frogs.

    best wishes,

    Scotsbluebell

    'A poor life this, if full of care, we have no time to stop and stare....'

  • you just had more snow i think the frogs knew it wasnt right to spawn yet wait till you have warmer weather pond weed well mines fine and some even growing under the ice at one time looks like the pond weed wasnt native 

    perapps it not deep enough need one to two feet of waterat lest and deeper if you can newts like deep ponds but frogs dohnt seem to care except they spawn in the shallows always

    dont keep fish as newts lava dont stand a chance against fish unless the pond is full of wed

    the friedly bid watcher

  • Hi Scotsbluebell

    My pond is not that deep, just over three feet and i think it froze right to the bottom, After it thrawed i was taking a few fallen leafs out of it and some of the last bits of ice and a frog jumped out at me, made me jump, it was alive under the ice, plus all the snails thraw out aswell, i thought  i had lost the lot. I have rams horns and trapdoor snails in my pond, no fish.

    Hey farmer, farmer, put away the D.D.T now. Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees, please!

  • Oh and a update on the frogspaw they are not little black dots any more, they are little wiggleys now, still in they eggs but you can see them moving about the size of a finger nail, can't wait for tadpoles.

    Hey farmer, farmer, put away the D.D.T now. Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees, please!

  • Hi Scotsbluebell

    sorry to hear about your frogs, it's been very hard for the wildlife this year.

     

    Scotsbluebell said:

    Hi, this is my first posting on this site! I also have a pond that I've had 10-15 yrs, I forget. I lost 42 frogs this winter, the pond was frozen for over a month, even though I kept breaking the ice. I now have about 20 younger ones in there, but no spawn yet.....I think they may be too young. I also lost all of my pondweed, due to the ice and snow, it's been a hard winter up here in Bonnie Scotland. I'm desperate for some frogspawn for my nursery, I always take some in for the children to watch them grow into frogs.

    best wishes,

    Scotsbluebell

     

    Hey farmer, farmer, put away the D.D.T now. Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees, please!

  • That is great news Janet as they were hit really badly by the prolonged freeze in some places. I was at one of my local reserves a couple of weeks ago and it has several ponds or varying sizes but there was no sign of spawn whatsoever. Do keep us posted as to how they are doing please. 

    The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.

    The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!

  • my frog spawn have changed to tadpoles now quite pleased as most of the spawn has hatched despite cold wet weather with out much sun

    the friedly bid watcher

  • Hello Janet and everyone

    I am so pleased for you...fantastic. I am sure you will thoroughly enjoy seeing them develop.

    I have had a wildlife pond for about 8 years and luckily always have some frog spawn.

    A few years ago the pond acquired a pair of great diving beetles and they, and their offspring, ate most of that years tadpoles. Now, every year I prepare a tank and 'save' most of my tadpoles. I generally release 200 to 300 baby frogs into the grass around the pond.

    Last year was a bumper year as a friend found some 'wild' tadpoles in danger,  the warm, dry weather was badly affecting their habitat.....the large puddle was rapidly disappearing!  Anyway, I had two large tanks and most of the taddies, mine and the 'wild' ones successfully developed into froglets.

    This year was very poor, I have only seen one or two frogs in the pond but they did manage to produce a small amount of frog spawn. The tadpoles are now happily swimming around in the tank.

    I bought an excellent resource on raising tadpoles from UKsafari.co.uk. It is a large, laminated (extremely useful when messing about with water) card, which gives very detailed information and pictures of  tadpole development, what to feed them at each stage and how and where to release them etc. I have found it to be invaluable. You will need loads of boiled lettuce!!!

    Kind regards Jane.