dead frogs britains freeze

trouble · #1 (**permalink**) 10-01-2010, 08:45 PM

I am sad to report that our frogs perished with the sub zero temperatures due to thick ice forming over the pond, despite efforts to keep air circulating, using the floating ball method, melting with hot water,etc.we have fitted a pump now, to help keep the water flowing and help prevent it freezing over so quickly in future. I had 5 dead frogs and two barely alive, which [rightly or wrongly] I took from the frozen pond and deposited the two poorly frogs on top of my compost heap, warmest place in the garden, but, they did'nt survive the night-should I have left them in the pond?

Red Squirrel · #2 (**permalink**) 10-01-2010, 08:59 PM

I don't think it would have made any difference trouble. They sound like poorly frogs to me. You tried that was the main thing.

trouble · #3 (**permalink**) 10-01-2010, 09:01 PM

it is so comforting to know there are many others out there who care, I love this site! thanks for kind words, it has been a stressful few days, I can tell you.

Dogghound · #4 (**permalink**) 10-01-2010, 09:16 PM

How long has the pond been froze? are there any physical marks on these frogs? how big/deep is the pond? In future I would leave the frogs in the pond, if you left them ontop of the compost heap frost will have caused greater damage to them. These are likely to be male frogs which normally hibernate underwater, they could have been in a state of hibernation. Were they definately dead?

tom00_uk · #5 (**permalink**) 10-01-2010, 11:13 PM

keep the pump off the bottom, this is the warmest bit of the pond at this time of year due to the odd properties of water,

a slight disturbance of the coldest water can keep the ice away, but you don't want to increase the depth to which the water freezes.

our ponds been frozen now for a while, made no attempt to open a hole as im letting nature take its course

Tobyh · #6 (**permalink**) 11-01-2010, 12:05 PM

I had been wondering about this too as it's my pond's first winter. I wasn't sure if making a hole was for the benefit of the birds (bird bath available anyway) or for the creatures in the pond.

I figured that they manage in the wild so perhaps my attempts to keep a hole open would just cause other issues I wasn't aware of.

TobyH

Paul mabbott · #7 (**permalink**) 11-01-2010, 02:43 PM

I think the general view is that you should just leave the pond alone - stirring it up could do a lot of damage.
e.g. BBC - Earth News - Big freeze and ice is 'good for pond life'

Wild-Woman · #8 (**permalink**) 11-01-2010, 09:34 PM

Interesting article Paul. It would make sense to leave a pond alone, after all nature hasn't had something or someone going around making air holes in them for millions of years, so left to nature, the pond will thaw slowly, giving the creatures within it time to re-adjust.

galanthus · #9 (**permalink**) 11-01-2010, 09:43 PM

How distressing for you

My waterfall was repaired last week because I was worried about the pond being under constant ice, however , it also serves a purpose in that the birds bathe on the shelves and drink water from there. I need to remove the snow that's building up as I hadn't realised how green it still was until the pump was being repaired. It was amazing to watch the crustaceans and leeches etc still alive under the ice tho, how resilient are our creatures

trouble · #10 (**permalink**) 18-01-2010, 09:45 PM

Just read the BBC site that Paul recommended about the pro's and cons of interfering with frozen ponds, thing is, when a pond has got some silt at the bottom[as mine has] the toxins overwhelmed my frogs, I was upset about the death toll-but, pleased to report that one frog survived, found alive in my compost bin yesterday, under the lid, placed him at the side of the pond in the sun and he was gone when I checked 5 minutes later, his future,-up to Nature.