Topic: frog advise please..

[gunnerbee]

i have lots of frogs in my garden but no pond for them also have some lizardy type things and a couple of toads, i have stacked a huge log pile by the back door where they like to hide but when it comes to spawning time they always lay the spawn in old planters or water filled buckets which i have scattererd about and the spawn never seems to survive which is a shame as i love tadpoles, so  what is eating them and how can i provide an enviroment in which they are to survive? they lay in old buckets of water with these wiggly type things that float on the top, then dissapear on the bottom when you tap the side, is it these that are killing the spawn, excuse my ignorance and thanks in advance for any replies

[star]

Hiya Gunnerbee,

I think the squiggly things are mosquito larvae, they are small and dissapear downwards when disturbed.
I doubt they will cause the disapearance of spawn, but a bucket may not be the right environment. They will have no food....you can feed them with mince tied in an onion net. But then you must make an escape route available, by putting in bricks or wood so the froglets can climb out.

Better still, can you not afford a small space for a pond? My garden is tiny, but I have managed to squeeze one in.

Good luck gunnerbee, it is lovely to have wildlife in our gardens. BTW the lizard things are newts.....

http://www.herpconstrust.org.uk/animals/uk-amphibs.htm

I dont know if this link will help, or you can google to find out lots about wildlife ponds and amphibians

[gunnerbee]

Hi star, yes i have room for a small pond but dont know the first thing about ponds and i dont have any electric in my garden to run all the pumps etc you need to run it. btw is that cooked mince or raw??

[Baccy Man]

You don't need pumps, filters etc.. for a wildlife pond only if you want to keep fish, even then it would depend on the type of fish wether they were necessary. Just make it a minimum of 2' deep so that any overwintering plants & animals can survive & make sure there is a gentle slope on at least one side so things can get in & out easily.

It is raw mince for tadpoles.