vanishing toad spawn - why?

[Adam Biran]

There is a small pond in my London garden in which toads spawn annually. Some years there are hundreds of young toads, but other years the spawn vanishes and nothing hatches. This has happened 3 times in 9 years. Why? And is there anything I could or should do about it?
Thanks,
A

[dampflippers]

Mmmm yummy yummy!
Lots of things eat frogspawn! Foxes, cats, fish etc

[Kayleigh]

Toad spawn apparently tastes horrible could it be frost that kills it..
Have you noticed it turn white this will indecate is it dead..
Can the toadletts get out of the water as they will drown if they cant.

We need more info on this to discover what is happening..

[Adam Biran]

Thanks for the responses.
Pond has no fish. There are cats and foxes around - but as Kayleigh mentioned I thought toad spawn was nasty.
On successful years the toadlets get out of the pond no problem - putting most of the garden out of bounds to avoid treading on them. On failure years the spawn (lots of it) never hatches.
Frost is a possibility - but last year was not so cold - I didn't notice the spawn turn white - but could be I wasn't in the garden often enough.

[Kayleigh]

Another possibility is water quality you can get sticks that tell the ph levels ect they come in a tub of about 100 from aquatic shops or it you take a water sample in to them they will test it for you..
Have you got lots of oxygenating plants in the pond..

Have you got a filter or fountain as these can kill wildlife.

[Hedge Witch]

Hi Adam, I was interested by your question, and there are some good suggestions as to what may be happening.

I have no experience with toad spawn, but I did a search on WAB search, and the following post by RLH is intriguing, if nothing else:

Our garden pond is, unfortunately, home to an increasing population of flatworms. Whilst they do not seem to harm the frogs, newts or toads, they do find frog spawn to be a delicacy and can munch their way through the average 12-15 cm clump of spawn in a few days. I wish I could find a way to get rid of them.

I think flatworms are so cute (well I am a little odd ), but I never knew they did this

PS A quick Google search suggests that they also eat toad spawn.

[ashby_1963]

I had some toads breed for the first time last year in my pond.
The spawn disappeared and I only ever saw one toadlet. I don't know for sure but I strongly suspect the six Orfe that live there - they are only about eight inches long but seem to prefer live food to anything I've tried to tempt them with.
I have now cordoned off an area of pond with fine mesh and I'll move the spawn there as soon as I see it and, hopefully, this will work.

Paul

[lucas]

We've got a smallish pond in central london too.It's full of newts and frogs.There are toads in the garden but,so far,none have spawned in the pond.The only way we can save spawn from being eaten by the newts (who are voracious!)is to transfer it immediately it is laid into a 'creche'(i.e bucket minus newts!) by the side of the pond then transfer taddies back when they are bigger.
I am quite sure that newts would eat toadspawn too(though maybe not in preference to frogspawn).I wonder,however,whether your toadspawn just isnt fertilized some years...?
Would like to hear more from anyone about toadspawn in small urban ponds...
lucas

[Hedge Witch]

Originally Posted by lucas

We've got a smallish pond in central london too.It's full of newts and frogs.There are toads in the garden but,so far,none have spawned in the pond.The only way we can save spawn from being eaten by the newts (who are voracious!)is to transfer it immediately it is laid into a 'creche'(i.e bucket minus newts!) by the side of the pond then transfer taddies back when they are bigger.
I am quite sure that newts would eat toadspawn too(though maybe not in preference to frogspawn).I wonder,however,whether your toadspawn just isnt fertilized some years...?
Would like to hear more from anyone about toadspawn in small urban ponds...
lucas

Interesting question Lucas. I was always under the impression that toads prefer larger ponds for breeding, but I would be interested in hearing other people's experiences.

[lucas]

We want to find out:

1) How small a pond and in what sort of weed toads will breed and
2) Whether newts eat frog and toadspawn and,if so,which they 'prefer'

Please send in your observations! thanks, lucas