Frogspawn question

[Guest]

I just wondered if anyone knew if you only get frogspawn in ponds where there is flowing water (i.e. pumped)

I have frogs but have never had frogspawn. However my pond is full of newts but my MiL has none. I have put it down to her pond is pumped as she also gets frogspawn. Any ideas anyone?

[arpoet]

I know they like slack shallow water. When i had ponds they used to lay it on top of the the plant baskets.
I dont have ponds now but still get frogs. I seem to remember that they return to where they were hatched. There used to be a spawn line where you donate unwanted spawn or get it when you didnt have any.
If there is a local pond, have a look in the shallow muddy bits and take some home.

[Martin H]

I wish I had frogs in my pond. Unfortunately they can't get through my fences to find it.

[Bigmallly]

My pond doesn't have a pump as it is too far from the leccy point but it does have a slow feed & exit from a nearby stream. I have frog spawn in the bottom just waiting to hatch.

[marchogaeth]

We get frogs, toads and newts in our pond which has a flow through. On the mountain, though the frogs just lay their spawn in any wet patch, quite often puddles that will inevitably dry out. If I'm taking any into school, I take it from the puddles on the basis that it's not going to survive.

You probably just need to acquire some and then you'll have frogs for ever more. I suspect a lot has to do with the environment round the pond since they don't actually spend much time in the water over the whole year.

[Verinda]

I know they like slack shallow water. When i had ponds they used to lay it on top of the the plant baskets.
I dont have ponds now but still get frogs. I seem to remember that they return to where they were hatched. There used to be a spawn line where you donate unwanted spawn or get it when you didnt have any.
If there is a local pond, have a look in the shallow muddy bits and take some home.

I think it's against the law to move frogspawn? My ponds are full of frogspawn and I do not have a pump. There's loads of frogs around at the moment, lots of splashing of disappearing frogs whenever I go near the pond

I am keeping my frog eating hens in their run at the moment!!

[Guest]

There is a wildlife act where you are not to remove plants or animals from their natural habit or harm them in anyway. Its more detailed than that but you get the jist.

Thank you for all your posts, least I can now put it down to one of those things

[Two_Sheds]

Our school pond (still, no pump) was always overrun with frogs and spawn. Not many tadpoles though: the newts ate them

[marchogaeth]

There is a wildlife act where you are not to remove plants or animals from their natural habit or harm them in anyway. Its more detailed than that but you get the jist.

Thank you for all your posts, least I can now put it down to one of those things

And rightly so but there is a get out if you are rescuing from a threatened habitat. When we redid our school pond last year we took on stock from three places where local wildlife experts had been brought in to save as much as possible before development took place.

[hamamelis]

One very big problem with moving frogs and frogspawn in that there are several serious diseases that are spreading through the population, and moving them can spread them to new areas.

One to really note is chytridiomycosis, also known as chytrid fungus, which may not harm tadpoles, or show any signs, until they turn into frogs, but islinked to the decline or disappearance of 30% of the world's amphibian species over the last 20 years. Your perfectly healthy looking tadpoles, moved in from another area, could kill all your local frogs.


Moving them round the garden won't make any difference to that if the daft things decide to lay in a bucket instead of the pond, but even rescuing some from a puddle can be a big problem if the puddle's in an infected area.

[weed]

my very small pond with no flow has frog spawn but just a small amount about the size of a grapefruit

[muddled]

Frogs don't need pumps or anything else other than a little bit of water and an accomodating 'friend' to produce spawn!

Lots of things like to eat frogspawn though...newts, fish, dragonfly larvae assorted birds, bugs and beasties. Once you get some to hatch, they come back each year. I had twelve huge frogs in my teeny, stagnant pond this morning....croaking loudly and being extremely friendly!!!

Chickens, I should point out, lurve baby froglets....fighting over them in a feeding frenzy as they exit the pond in early summer.

[seasprout]

A newts favourite food is frogspawn, that's where your spawn is going.

[Guest]

A newts favourite food is frogspawn, that's where your spawn is going.

Yes, I think that is a safe bet. When I cleaned the pond I moved at least 20 newts and I have no doubt there were a lot more.

[weed]

Frogs don't need pumps or anything else other than a little bit of water and an accomodating 'friend' to produce spawn!

Lots of things like to eat frogspawn though...newts, fish, dragonfly larvae assorted birds, bugs and beasties. Once you get some to hatch, they come back each year. I had twelve huge frogs in my teeny, stagnant pond this morning....croaking loudly and being extremely friendly!!!

Chickens, I should point out, lurve baby froglets....fighting over them in a feeding frenzy as they exit the pond in early summer.

just looked this morning mine has gone gutted now looking for newts but i have never seen them in there before