frogspawn

[pigletwillie]

In the quarry where I work there is an abundance of toads and newts in the settlement ponds surrounding the site. Unfortunatley loads of them end up in the crusher basement and run the risk of being pumped to their deaths into a lagoon. When on shift during the autumn when all the young toad and newtlets make a run for it I rescue them from certain death and either relocate them in the lagoons or bring them home.

Whilst we have always had frog spawn, for the first time we also have loads of toad spawn this year (it comes in strings rather than clumps like frog spawn). I havent found any newt spawn yet but the pond is deep and quite big. Most nights we can see a couple of dozen newts in the water. As the pond is well planted we get lots of young "jumpers" despite there being fish in the pond as well.

I am quite chuffed as three other neighbours have ponds and it looks like we have a new colony being formed.

[Nicos]

That's great! What does newt spawn look like though??

[pigletwillie]

I havent got a clue, can anybody please enlighten us on that one.

[eskymo]

ok - so minced meat - cooked or raw? Can I feed them anything else? bits of ham? cheese? don't generally have a lot on mince at hand.

[Nicos]

i understand it should be raw. Also I wonder if they will eat fish food?

[eskymo]

fish food - good point - maybe they will - that would be an easy solution for me.

[Lesley Jay]

Eskimo try them with some dried Daphnia that should be better than flake fish food.

[pigletwillie]

At school we used to feed the tank of tadpoles on a slice of bacon which was changed every 3-4 days. it was just draped on the edge into the water.

[eskymo]

can i get daphnia from the pet shop?

[Lesley Jay]

Yes Eskimo it is sold in the same size containers as the flake fish food. It is to give fish a varied diet and is tiny insects that live in ponds freeze dried.

[Berr]

So it's prawn cocktail starters now, is it?

[fruit&vegvirgin]

yesterday I mowed our field, and narrowly missed a frog or poss toad. went back after, and she (?) was covered in black eggy things round her back end, some of which she'd spawned onto the grass. I assumed she was a toad coz frogs do it in water, but from the above it seems that toads do too. anyway, today, she's moved on but the spawn is clearly visible in several places on the grass. do I leave it there? I'm assuming she knows what she's doing...

[rauni]

snail trekkers

Nicos that is what I have read much to my Husbands dismay. He is not impressed at all with all the frogs in HIS pond. The garden is full of them every year and we get tons of frog spawn. I didn't know that slugs were like that though. What about snails?

A friend of mine used to collect snails in a paper bag and take them with her when she walked the dog, releasing them far away from her garden, as she couldn't cope with killing them. She became suspicious they were coming back, and decided to settle the debate by painting their shells with Tippex. Sure enough, they turned up again, warpaint and all! She couldn't believe how far they'd come. So, yes, safe to say, snails are like that too.

[fruit&vegvirgin]

god, all this stuff about feeding tadpoles has made me feel just slightly sick somehow!!
anyone know about my frog/toad spawning on the grass?

[Sal]

Ooh, nooo, noooo nooo.

Please don't clear ponds at this time of year. Frogs, newts and toads are spawning now and our frog spawn has already hatched. If you clear the pond now you may risk upsetting the chemical balance of the pond water not to mention acidentally draining out some of the smaller tadpoles, frogspawn and any newt efts (newt tadpoles) or eggs - which can get layed on dead leaves at the bottom of your pond. Best wait until November, December or January. Basically wait until the colder time of year when frogs, newts and toads are hibernating until you clean out your pond. Tadpoles will actually eat some of the algae in your pond when they are small so it may get a spring clean when your tadpoles hatch.

If you've not got any spawn or tadpoles I can put some in an envelope and post you some, we've got loads! -joke-