Frogs Mating....Problem??

[weeziesmith]

Hello,

I've been searching all over the internet to find an answer to my question and have failed, so I'm hoping someone here will be able to help.

I have 6 pairs of frogs mating in my pond at the moment, but so far no frog spawn, 2 pairs of these frogs have been "locked" together for well over 4 days now. Is this normal? Or is there something wrong?

I'm not sure how long mating should last, but 4 days with no results seems a very long time!


weeziesmith

[Kymba]

When Frogs mate, the male frog tends to clasp the female underneath in an embrace called amplexus. He literally climbs on her back, reaches his arms around her "waist", either just in front of the hind legs, just behind the front legs, or even around the head. Amplexus can last several days! Usually, it occurs in the water, though some species, like the bufos on the right mate on land or even in trees!
While in the amplexus position, the male frog fertilizes the eggs as they get are laid. Frogs tend to lay eggs single eggs in masses, whereas toads usually lay eggs in long chains.

[weeziesmith]

Thanks for that, I was just worried that it was going on too long and there was no spawn. These are your run of the mill Common Frogs (no surprises there!) I had heard that they can get a bit carried away/aggresive during mating and the female is killed, I don't won't my pond turning into a slaughter house! Also I didn't saw the frogs mating last year, come to think of it nor the year before that, the spawn just appeared overnight. It struck me as a little odd that they are mating for so long and producing nothing. Oh well I shall keep an eye on them!

[nightshade]

If you can examine the amplexus pair see if the female is still alive,
quite often the male will drown her and just hang on.
This selfish grip has also killed a number of my goldfish.
The other frogs may also be males if there is no spawn by now
Froglife - conserving native frogs, toads, newts, lizards, snakes

[weeziesmith]

Oh dear, that's not good. I have had a look at all the pairs but it is impossible to see if the females are still alive, would you recommend I take them out and check or should I just leave them?

[Paul mabbott]

It's been going on for weeks in our pond ... without spawn. Doesn't worry me too much. I suspect that the weather is warm enough to get them going but not warm enough to complete the job ....

Originally Posted by weeziesmith

Hello,

I've been searching all over the internet to find an answer to my question and have failed, so I'm hoping someone here will be able to help.

I have 6 pairs of frogs mating in my pond at the moment, but so far no frog spawn, 2 pairs of these frogs have been "locked" together for well over 4 days now. Is this normal? Or is there something wrong?

I'm not sure how long mating should last, but 4 days with no results seems a very long time!


weeziesmith

[solus]

Originally Posted by weeziesmith

Oh dear, that's not good. I have had a look at all the pairs but it is impossible to see if the females are still alive, would you recommend I take them out and check or should I just leave them?

Leave 'em be - it's nature! Just fish out any corpses you find later on.

[weeziesmith]

Hmmmmm A lot of things can come under the banner of it's nature. I'm sure many species would now be extinct if we'd left it to nature, dropping dead is nature....why bother with hospitals? Unless of course you believe we are supremely important and the animals aren't. I think we have a duty to help if we can.

[BUMPKIN]

We had a least ten paris in our pond this year and all managed to come out of the mating/spawning unscathed. Fortunately there were enough females to go round.

A few years ago I had to rescue one poor female/male whos front leg had been ripped off. She/he was very weak but after some rest and after the activity had ceased I returned the frog to the pond where it seemed fine for a while and then I never saw it again.

[meditek]

I totally agree with Solus. Just because humans take a couple of minutes doesn't mean that frogs have to! Leave them to their fun because they have a darn sight better idea of what they are up to than any observer. There is far too much human interference in the natural order of things. Interference that only looks at one or two parameters when there are thousands to be considered. Plus, of course, the ones we don't even know about.