Frogspawn all gone :(

[jimmyshoes]

Well our spawn has now officially gone to the big duck pond in the sky. Everything seemed to be developing nicely in our tiny 3ft pond, the round balls had started to elongate and were starting to develop tails, then suddenly the jelly seemed to start deteriorating.
Within a few days only a tiny clump remained and the jelly was no longer thick and gelatinous, but rather watery and the developing tadpoles seemed to be floating around freely rather than safe inside the spawn.
After this the remaining clump disappeared and the pond became rather cloudy. I assume this is due to the remnants of the spawn starting to decompose.
In my previous post I mentioned that I suspected something was eating the spawn, can anyone suggest if this is still the most likely cause of what happened or could it be a problem with the water chemistry or some kind of infestation in the pond?
We've had the pond for 3 years now. The first year we got some spawn from a friend and it was very successful. The second year we were given some more but this sank without trace (I suspected it was killed by frost) Now for the first time this year we had spawn that was naturally laid and it's failed.
I don't want this to happen again and if needs be I'll dig out the pond and put in a bigger one with a proper filter ready for next year!!!

Kenny

[Kayleigh]

I have a pond with no filter but lots of plants. You can see it on this thread. Have you got fish or newts or any other predator in the pond? The spawn does deteriorate and the tadpoles just look like a mass of black blobs. I have tadpoles in my barrel and the black bird was picking them off so we covered it with net. My water went cloudy too. I put some tadpoles in an old fish tank in the greenhouse they are growing well. There was also some in the pond but there are fewer every time I look. I saw a large dragonfly nymph today and what with the newts mine don't stand a chance in the pond. Maybe next year you could save some until they get a bit bigger.

I found Toad spawn yesterday. Nothing seems to eat that apart from the water boatmen .

Wildlife Gardening Works !!!

[jimmyshoes]

Hi Kayleigh,

Thanks for your reply. Our pond is really tiny (as is our garden) so no fish in it. Also never seen a newt in it. I have seen what I thought were damselfly larvae trying to eat the tadpoles when we had our successful spawning.
I know the jelly does break up and the tadpoles eat it, but the developing tadpoles were still little more than dots. I remember with the healthy batch that when they got proper tails the spawn resembled a blob of jelly surrounded by tadpoles but it didn't last long enough to get to that stage.
I think next time I will do what you suggest and move some to a tank/bucket so it's protected until it gets a chance to develop more. Do you give them any food at this point or is the jelly enough to sustain them? Our first brood seemed to like the odd bit of cucumber or pinch of fish flakes.
I still blame the hedgehogs as the disappearance of the spawn seemed to coincide with our first hog sightings!

Thanks again

Kenny

[Kayleigh]

Damselfly nymphs and dragonfly nymphs will eat it but it does sound like the hog ate it. Did it turn white at all as the frost may have killed some. It turns white if it's dead. I feed mine about two weeks after they hatch as they feed on algae, blanket weed and plants. They come to the top and feed when you put flaked fish food in. If they don't eat the food then its too early to feed them. Mine are on slugs and snails now, they are little eating machines.

[jimmyshoes]

A noticed a few that hadn't started to develop along with the others and turned white. I put this down to not being fertilised or as you say, killed by frost but it was literally only the odd one here and there.
By the way, do you get toad spawn? We've had the odd toad in our pond but no spawn. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen toad spawn!

Kenny

[Wild-Woman]

Originally Posted by jimmyshoes

A noticed a few that hadn't started to develop along with the others and turned white. I put this down to not being fertilised or as you say, killed by frost but it was literally only the odd one here and there.
By the way, do you get toad spawn? We've had the odd toad in our pond but no spawn. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen toad spawn!

Kenny

I think you'll find toadspawn attached to leaf litter at the bottom of the pond.
You might find that a few of your taddies suvived and will go on to develop into nice little froglets. Keep us posted.
Ps. Don't get disheartened with your pond, after all it will be supporting all sorts of other wildlife-I think you would be surprised at just how much. The invertebrates will be as happy as Larry I bet.

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by jimmyshoes

A noticed a few that hadn't started to develop along with the others and turned white. I put this down to not being fertilised or as you say, killed by frost but it was literally only the odd one here and there.
By the way, do you get toad spawn? We've had the odd toad in our pond but no spawn. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen toad spawn!

Kenny

Yes we do get Toad spawn mine is near the top of the pond its wrapped around the water plants, Its hard to see. Its in two long rows not in clumps like frog spawn. We only get frog spawn in the Barrel not in the pond. I bet they know somehow the newts will eat it all. There are 10 newts that we have seen so I don't know how many there really are. Not counting the baby newts from last year.

[BUMPKIN]

Our cat is partial to spawn, tadpoles and baby frogs. She was a stray that lived off the pond and old habits die hard. I've seen her hook the spawn and tadpoles out of the water on weed and then eat what she has managed to catch. She laps baby frogs up with one flick of the tongue and seems to swallow whole.

This year seems to be far better than most due to the fact that the spawn sank to the bottom and tadpoles are free ranging both due to lack of weed. I've seen her try and fish out the tadpoles with her paw but so far she has been unsuccessful.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was a hedgehog but I guess that is more natural than a cat.

Perhaps next year you if you start to have the same problem you could leave catfood out for the hedgehog and tempt it away from the pond.

[jimmyshoes]

Stop the press!!! Saw two frogs locked together in the pond last night... perhaps we might have a second coming (so to speak...)
Will keep you all updated

Kenny

[Krewella]

Ooooo good luck.