Help - frogspawn being eaten!

[Saria88]

We've just had some frogspawn laid in our pond but the newts are starting to eat it, should we take it out and keep it seperate until the tadpoles have developed? I've been told that frogspawn usually dies if you take it out but don't know how true that is - any help? Thanks

[Elean0r]

I suppose the newts are hungry, if you take the frogspawn out they won't have much else to eat. I've often wondered if that's part of the evolutionary thing, they lay their eggs later than frogs, after they've feasted on tadpoles and fattened themselves up a bit after hibernation.

If it was mine, and there was a lot of spawn I'd leave it, but if there isn't much I'd take some inside in a bucket of pond water and wait until the tadpoles have lost their gills and are moving about a bit more quickly, then I'd put them back into the pond.

If you use a bucket or a plastic box to scoop it out of the pond as a whole clump it should be okay, although a few bits might break off.

[Saria88]

Thanks for the reply. I did wonder the same thing, though we've had the newts for the past 3 years or so and never had frog spawn before so I suppose there must be something else they're eating - what else do newts eat??

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Saria88

Thanks for the reply. I did wonder the same thing, though we've had the newts for the past 3 years or so and never had frog spawn before so I suppose there must be something else they're eating - what else do newts eat??

They are general carnivores so other than amphibian young they will feed on a variety of invertebrates in the pond such as insects + their immature stages, worms, etc.

[Suzybrook]

apologies for going slightly off topic, but thought i'd ask it here

Does anyone know roughly the precentage survival rate for spawn making it through to the adult stage?? I usually start with a huge amount of spawn that hatches, seeing lots of tadpoles for a couple of weeks. It then dramatically reduces over a couple of weeks and then numbers seem to stabalise more. I am only going by casual observations i make of my pond every year

thanks

[toadpole]

i was told many years ago from a valued wildlife source .... that out of all the frogspawn laid in a pond ,only 3-5 tadpoles ever reach maturity ,and become full sized frogs .....seems really sad but i myself have only seen 2or3 of the previous yrs babies come back into my pond or garden .at any year !!...i have seen 2 of last yrs little froglets so far this yr ...both at spawning time ...too young to do anything ...but the lure to breed brought them back to the pond ....so you would think if loads and loads survived you would see many more ...especially at this time ......would be interesting reading other peoples views on this ...Marion

[Suzybrook]

Thanks Marion

i suppose the consolation is theres nothing intrinsically wrong with my pond set up, probably nature taking its usual course

[toadpole]

Most definately and up until today i had not seen ANY evidence of last years toad babies and found one little ''yearling'' this afternoon ...he is the same one that seemed to survive all of last summer through to the autumn ,under an old oak log i was given and he was a different colour to all the others being very red !! and in fact that was the name i gave him (i name all my regular wildlife) ...''little red '' my daughter took a few pics so i will get her to put it on here soon ... finding him has really made my day ! Marion