Where to find frogspawn?

[caroline7758]

I want to put some frogspawn in my small pond. My message on freecycle has been rejected as we are not allowed to offer animals  ::). I was wondering if there are any rules/laws about taking frogspawn from ponds in parks etc?

[caroline7758]

[Toadspawn]

You would be better asking a person you know with a pond where frogs regularly spawn if you could have some and then ignore the 'rules'.

The official guides state that any tadpoles hatching from spawn should be returned to the original pond before they turn into frogs. This should reduce the risk of spread of disease.

Where are you in nthe UK? If you are anywhere near Chepstow in S E Wales you can have some from my pond when it appears.

[caroline7758]

Thanks, but I'm in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire (as shown below my avatar! ;))

[green lily]

As far as I can tell all the frogs in my pond died this year. We cleared 20-30 out. I shall wait hopefully for spawn to appear from' nowhere' as it did when we first dug the pond. However we may have to wait a bit while the area is repopulated by frogs from much bigger water courses than ours. As you are up the road in Tadcaster I suggest you wait and let nature take its course. Hopefully some pretty hardy types will find your pond and do their thing.IMO better than moving stuff from one pond to another. But I'm sure there will be quite a shortage up here after such a cold December.Keep you fingers crossed and hopefully you'll be lucky. :)

[oliveoyl_25]

Be patient... my pond was barren yesterday, but today, it had 2 big clumps of spawn in it.

I'm in Lincolnshire and it got down to -10 here in December, some little froggies clearly survived  ;D

[Uncle_Filthster]

I wont bore you with all the technicalities but there are wildlife laws concerning the sale and taking of amphibians, including eggs.
Great crested newts and Natterjack toads are fully protected by law.  It is illegal to even shine a torch into the pond as it disturbs them.

Common toad and frog are only really protected from sales.  However, it is illegal to take them without permission from the landowner and it isn't recommended anyway as there is a big risk of spreading diseases such as red leg.

Amphibians are incredibly mobile and forage over a large range and will search out new ponds.  It is not unknown for them to travel a couple of miles from their orginal breeding pond (GCN breeding ponds are protected by a surrounding 500m of habitat because of this).

Amphibians basically form a metapopulation which is a group of areas of suitable ponds, foraging habitat and hibernacula where the breeding population in individual ponds will vary from year to year depending on conditions.  If a population is wiped out for some reason it will usually be recolonised by the neighbouring ponds in the metapopulation so if they aren't present one year they will likely be there next year, at least to check it out.  Because of this, if there are any suitable ponds in your area in nearby gardens etc (or even hibernating amphibians) they will colonise the pond naturally within a few years.

One thing to remember is amphibians and fish in ponds don't mix.  Fish will hammer frogspawn and newt eggs and tadpoles so you will end up with a very low population of them but lots of toads as toads and their growth phases are slightly poisonous and generally not eaten