dead frogs

[Trishos]

I was so relieved to read your info about dead frogs. I've just finished fishing 6 dead females full of unlaid eggs and 3 dead males out of my pond. We had a sudden cold snap here in Germany about a week ago, so I assume they were caught unawares when the pond refroze. I just hope not all of them were killed but there is no sign of spawn. Is it possible that more frogs may still come and lay? And what about the toads, do they lay later than frogs?
Thanks everso for your help.

[Jono Hudson]

Sorry to hear of your dead frogs... Of course I refer to my paragraph about just making sure that they are actually dead before you dispose of them, as they can go back into a kind of torpor (temporary hibernation) during cold snaps. If you are not sure, just leave them. If they are still there unmoved in a day or two - especially if the weather warms up a little, then at least they will have had the benefit of doubt.

It is not unknown for frogs to spawn this late in the season - especially after lingering cold weather. The spawn in my own pond appeared a whole month later this year than it did last year, due to the snow and icy weather we had in the UK that lasted well into February. Though the further towards the end of March we get, the less likely this will be.

Toads can spawn at the same time as frogs (February to March), but my own experience is that toad spawn usually appears after the frog spawn - mid to end of March. Toad spawn looks like clear "strings" with zigzags of little black dots.

There is loads of information on the Froglife website at:
Froglife - conserving native frogs, toads, newts, lizards, snakes

Hope this helps.

Thanks

Jono

[weirdwolf]

Originally Posted by Jason Green

To prevent the build-up of ice, try using floating plastic balls - they're supposed to work.

I've found that in the cold weather we had that balls just freeze into place in the ice and are difficult to free.
Instead I got a cheap plastic tub and cut a hole in the bottom and added some polystyrene that I had lying about to get it floating correctly.Then I cut a hole in the top and used a bit of old plastic pipe to make a sort of chimney to help the air circulate. Pop the top on the box and float it into your pond like a small and incredibly ugly plastic toy boat.
It doesn't matter if it freezes in place because the cut out section of the box tends to stay unfrozen. Even in the coldest weather last winter it only had a very thin skin of ice in it, which was easily dealt with by popping off the top removing the ice and putting the top back on again.

[Trishos]

Further to my sad letter at the end of March, I finally dug well over 50 very dead frogs and toads out of my little pond, some of them full of spawn. It's taken me till now to get the water clean, having it tested regularly by the friendly chap in my local 'pond' shop. I introduced some frog spawn into the pond but only one tadpole seems to reached adulthood, the rest having being eaten by toads, who I saw sunning themselves with a big smile on their faces where the baby tadpoles had disappeared. The pond is now being visited by more frogs and toads and I'm hoping that they will settle in. My only question, how best to stop this disaster happening again? Floating things on the top of the ice hasn't helped at all. Any ideas, bearing in mind that the part of Germany I live in is near the Dutch border and no colder than the North of England?
Thanks everso.