frogspawn in my pond

[yvette]

I am so excited I just had to share that i have frogspawn in my garden pond - I only made the pond last summer, and as March came and went with no sign of any spawn I thought we would not be getting any this year. It seems the frogs were waiting for some slightly warmer weather. I am hoping for some ferocious slug-eating frogs in a few months time!

[becks77]

That's brilliant, hope you get plenty of froglets that like eating tasty slugs!

[MKG]

My usual advice for frog lovers ...

Set your lawn mower a bit higher than you normally would. You will soon have zillions of one centimetre froglets all over the place (they love hiding in the grass). They can crouch pretty low, but resetting your mower gives them a fighting chance of keeping their legs.

And don't panic when they disappear from your pond - that's absolutely normal, and they'll be found in all the damp crevices around the place (hunting those slugs). They'll be back in the water when it matters next year.

Mike

Oh - nearly forgot. If you come across a really friendly one (and you will) don't pick it up for more than a few seconds unless it's happily staying on your open hand. To a frog, a human hand is uncomfortably hot.

[shiela_robins]

congratulations on your frog spawns... does that sound like were little 8 year old boys!

they are a great way of taking care of those nasty slugs!

[yvette]

Thanks for sharing my enthusiasm and for the helpful tips - but my frogspawn seems to have disappeared and I don't think it hatched, I think the magpies ate it....

[Merry]

Oh no! Are you sure?
I can`t imagine a magpie standing pondside and fishing frogspawn out.
The devils!
We`ve got spawn in our garden pond and maggies nesting nearby but they`ve not been near the pond.
(Actually, it`s started to hatch into taddies.)

[pelmetman]

I find it hard to believe that Magpies would eat them all. Have you looked around the edge of your pond as this is where the tadpoles can usually be seen.

Sue

[MKG]

It does disappear - when it hatches. Not much will eat all of the frogspawn (would you? ). But young tadpoles are tiny, tiny, tiny - sometimes you only know they're there because you see little disturbances on the surface. But, as Pelmetman says, keep your eyes on the edge of your pond, especially on sunny days. As the tadpoles grow, they'll start to congregate there.

Survival rate is low anyway - but think about it. If a half-dozen frogs survive you have good slug protection. And next year they'll do it all over again. They're tough little buggers.

Mike