Topic: newt/frogs

[izzy]

i don't really know whether this belongs here... im sorry if ive got it wrong!

ok, i have a mental age of about 5. so i went up to the local lake/pond and collected a ton of frogspawn. i'd researched and researched on them so i knew everything to do, and tonight i popped outside to see how they were getting on. i noticed something which looked a little like a frogspawn but was like an all black egg. so i was like, mmmaaayyybbbeee its a newt? so, i hopped onto the tinternet and clicked on google images and typed in "newt eggs". bingo. thats what it is! so ive got about 30 tadpoles and one newt egg. i have no idea about the care of newts so im a bit scared. will it survive? should i seperate it? i need to research.... eep. im really happy and all, but slightly scared. anyone know anything about frogs or newts? if you do i would be delighted and grateful to hear from you!! please help.

and now i think about it, i might have more, not eggs but newt-tadpole things? what do they look like? i would be so grateful if someone could post a picture?

thanks,  ;)

[Margaret]

Hello Izzie and welcome! I have to say it is not the best idea to get spawn from the wild because you don't know what disease or unwelcome beasties you may also inherit.But anyway.Now you have got it i will endeavour to explain the difference.Everyone knows what tadpoles look like and I do hope that you have a nice mature pond to raise them in.Lots of plants and insects for them to eat.If not,then why not? You will not have any luck otherwise.

The newts will look like tiny fish,except thier gills are feathery to begin with.They should be ok as they are quite tough cookies,but again need plenty to eat,mainly tiny insect life.Either buy some live daphnia and tip into the pond,or feed a little flake fish food each day.

[izzy]

thank you margaret for the advice! yes, we do have a pond, which i will let them into when they are froglets. but we do have a dog so i usually rear the tadpoles away and put them in as froglets! i'm off out now to check on them!

[Margaret]

Hi Izzy.I too have a dog.What is the difference? They will do much better and be much happier in the pond.If you are that worried why not  try just a few away from the pond and let the rest grow naturally.I am a great believer in letting nature doing what it is best at without too much interfernce.

[quinny]

Hi Izzy - I did the same,  I've got a bucket full of spawn maturing as we speak.  I do have a few resident frogs but they haven't produced the goods.  I also had couple of toads - ditto. 

On the newt side of things you get some called Palmates (I think) and ones call the smooth newt.  If the ones that you've got the spawn for turn out to be great crested newts - don't tell anyone as they are a protected species - you'll end up in the jail!!!

I'm led to believe that newts are like toads - if they are born in your patch of water they return year after year to their birthing place to breed - excellente!  I looked in my pond the other night and I had 5 or 6 newts getting frisky.  Brilliant so it is.

Cheers for now...

[in my wellies]

Our frogs have been busy. I have two ponds, one with goldfish which eat all the spawn and one without. Guess where the frogs always put the spawn!! Yes, in the goldfish pool. So every year I move most of it to the other one where it does quite well. The newts are in both and they are ferosious (sp) eaters of the spawn and tadpoles, sometimes grabbing three or more  tadpoles at a time. There most newts we saw one evening was 26 in a pool 4ft x 5 ft all after the poor tadpoles, however, enough survive as I'm always finding frogs in the garden.

I have found several toads of different sizes. Where do they breed? What would the eggs look like?

[quinny]

The common toad eats the same food and behaves in much the same way as the common frog, although it tends to walk rather than hop.  The eggs are laid in long strings attached to water plants.  It breeds in still and slow-moving waters but occupies all kinds of habitats outside breeding season, often far from the breeding site.

Courtesy of Collins "Garden Wildlife" nature guide.

[in my wellies]

Then I have toad eggs too! One of the plants had tipped up so I had to get it out and re-sit it. There were two strings of jelly like eggs on some leaves. I thought they were perhaps snails so I left them under the water, the plant is a bit tipped up but never mind - I like toads. A very large one has lived in my green house for at least four years. I can recognise him/her as he/she has a red bump on the shoulder, perhaps an old wound, hope to see him this year.
Thank you

[izzy]

thank you so much everyone for all my advice!  ;D

can some newt expert please show me a picture of an egg? so i definatley know it is that, and also a picture of a newt tadpole. or do they look the same as frogs?  ???

thanks!  :)

[in my wellies]

I don't know how to do pictures but if you search google 'images' there are some lovely pictures
eg
www.offwell.free-online.co.uk/ Pond/FOLDER01/N...
and
ww.offwell.free-online.co.uk/ Pond/FOLDER01/n...
[ More results from www.offwell.free-online.co.uk ]

I hope these work

[izzy]

thank you!

the egg (the inside bit) has gone a bit more grey now...  :-\