Frogs or no Frogs?

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So here’s the dilemma,

In Ontario Canada it has always been said that if you build a pond it’s just a matter of time before the frogs will come. This was true for my first pond build north of the city and the same for the pond I built at my parents place on the outskirts of the city. When we built our pond in the city the frogs never came. I put a few in with some tadpoles, but they never stayed. They would reach a point in the season where it seemed they wanted a mate and hopped right out of the yard.

Green frog populations are on the decline, and my wife (cityponder) does not think we should be taking tadpoles and putting them in the pond if they are not going to survive. To put things into perspective, we are very much in the city. We have a strip of park behind us, then its 14 lanes of freeway. Kim has read that the frogs can’t hear each other to mate because the sound of the freeway is similar to their sounds. On top of that there are cats, racoons, and all kinds of other hazards for these little green guys in the City. I will never forget Kim’s face when she was doing some weeding at the end of the yard when a frog (1 of 2) left the pond and hopped towards her. She stood still and the frog hopped right through her legs and out of the yard, never to come back.

The pond was young when we introduced frogs. I also know the first few we tried were males, when we did have a female (from tadpole) it took too long for her to get interested in him, and he left, and never came back. I guess that’s the problem I have too; If they leave (and they do cuz that’s what frogs do) they will die. But if we ever got ahead of the game... a few generations they would be all over the place... but if they were all over the place they would venture into the school yard into the hands of school kids, or some other hazard.

Ugh... what to do?

Would you add more tadpoles?
 

DrCase

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I had a bull frog move in once for a few weeks then he was gone
 

Mmathis

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I would. But only if they were a native frog, and only if they weren't protected or endangered for your area. I'd be sure to start with enough tadpoles to assure a good mix of males & females (and to make up for natural losses). And I'd be sure I was offering them the physical environment and foods they favor. At least if some survived, even if they left your pond, they could still be out there, making more little froggies, so you could eventually see more in the future!
 

sissy

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I had 2 bullfrogs and took them both away .It is just part of the eco system to survive or not to survive ,the food chain .My fish just love tasty tadpoles .Also aggie and bert like to kill frogs ,they must be tasty too .Yummy frogs legs :razz:
 
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Oh man, I hope I get some bullfrogs again once I finish my remodel of my pond! When I took the pond apart (The small one in my Sig) I found a good size 4-5'' Bull frog under one of the rocks, no telling how long he has had a home in that pond, hope he comes back!
 
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I had a similar dilemma with my old pond, not only with frogs, but the turtles too. They would never have found their way to our pond on their own, so we had to do our own stocking. The frogs and turtles, that we stocked our backyard pond with, came from (well stocked) natural ponds that were many miles away. One thing you have to keep in mind is, even in nature the number of frogs and turtles that survive their first year was very low, so if you can get 1 out of 10 to survive in your pond you are probably doing about as good as nature can do. Get 2 in 10 to survive and you've done better than nature. Probably only about 1 in 100 tadpoles ever survive to be adult frogs.
We had quite a few turtles wander away, and just as many frogs that just disappeared. We even had one turtle, whom we already had for some time, that went walkabout for about a month. I just happen to come home one day just in time to see him climb back into the pond. The next day we were hand feeding him again like he never left. Where exactly he went for that month I'll never know, but you could tell he didn't have an easy time of it, his shell had some nicks and scratches and was pretty dried out looking. It was that same turtle though that was the only one to stick around. We had one frog that also stuck around after all the others left. So we ended up with one faithful frog, and one faithful turtle, which was just fine for the size of the pond.
Our new pond is built within a court yard with walls all around preventing their accidental, or intentional, escape, so we don't have to worry about that so much, but we still have to keep an eye out that we don't step on them in the people area. We did have one frog casualty though. The frogs liked to hang out next to the sliding glass door at night, because bugs got attracted to the light and end up falling down at the bottom of the door where the frogs would quickly pick them off. One evening I opened that door without checking and a frog, who was hanging out right on the sill of the door, got pinched in between the sliding doors. Not good. :disappointed_anim:

I'd give frogs another try, you have a great looking pond there, eventually you'll end up with one or two frogs who'll appreciate it. Maybe you just need to find the right type?
 
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EH, I love having frogs in our pond and singing away right outside our door, But, we all have frogs that just showed up. We all live in places where frogs don't have habitat fragmentation (the we that have posted so far). Are there any frogs in your area at all? I have the impression from things you have written that where you live is a bit like this:

toronto.jpg

* random google maps screen capture of somewhere in Toronto along the 401

If you don't have frogs in your community, and don't have a place for frogs to hop around and kibbitz with other frogs in the neighborhood, I don't think you could really create enough of a small froggie Eco-environment to sustain your own isolated herd. I would be right there with your wife crying my eyes out over giving some tadpole a false chance. but, it is only a choice you can make. If you want to try to find out more, try researching on your local frog name along with terms like habitat and habitat fragmentation, see if you can find out where they have a chance of population recovery.
 

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I'm frog heaven wish I could send you some .I want less of them .
 

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sissy said:
I'm frog heaven wish I could send you some .I want less of them .
I wish you could too. I love frogs but I am sure that where we live is hostile to frogs and toad and possibly snakes. We don't see any of them, I grew up further north in a more rural community and frogs, toads and snakes were very previlant in my backyard. I don't think they like the noise from the highway.
 

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The ones I have just came on their own but we are out in the country but when I lived in the city we had frogs come around the back yard and into peoples ponds there. If I were you I'd do the tadpole thing. Get a bunch and hope some stick around as Mucky said most frogs out in the wild don't survive so they may have a better chance at your pond.
 

sissy

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yep most frogs will stay where there is water and safety .As long as they have bugs they need nothing else .Actually I spilled my fish food and the frogs came and I watched them eat every bit of it .
 
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Ok, I have a question, dont the turtles try to eat your fish? We have koi that will only be a year old this spring but we would love a turtle, is that possible?
 
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Before ordering another batch of tadpoles, research the variety. Bull frogs for example can be very territorial... Because we didnt want them eating baby fish, we evict them (take them else where) but when they were in residence, all we ever had at any one time were two... a female living in our main pond (surface area roughly 11x18) and one boy in the other pond (rough surface area of 8 x 18) .. after each eviction, it would only be a matter of a day or two, before someone else moved in...
 
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Jason said:
Oh man, I hope I get some bullfrogs again once I finish my remodel of my pond! When I took the pond apart (The small one in my Sig) I found a good size 4-5'' Bull frog under one of the rocks, no telling how long he has had a home in that pond, hope he comes back!
If your last guy came on his own, I would have to think another will find your new pond. (lucky you).
 

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