Frog pond maintenance

[qdfrisco]

I've had a 100 gallon pond, with 30 gallon header and 15-20 gallon spillover....for probably 20 years. First was made with liners and I added koi. Over the years, I've had to replace the pond or portions due to mice eating through the bottom. I know have all preformed (still about 100 gallons with header and spillover). Haff of the pond is below ground and half above...no runoff (except if or when birds crap on the rocks and it gets in the water).

I started with koi, and over the years...frogs came (believe they are green frogs) many frogs. I love them. As time went on, the fish became more complicated, die off, etc...so I finally gave the last 2 I had away...now it's a FROG pond only.

My waterfall started with the fish. I run a very small pump, just up to the header and overflow.....since the frogs came, I kept all 3 portions...and the waterfall. No chemicals, just clean the small filter for the pump. And, I clean out excess algae. Since I've turned it into a frog pond only, I no longer clean the bottom as I'd heard they need that for winter. And, that has worked for many years.

Winter, I disconnect the pump to the header, and start a 'bubbler', just enough to oxygenate the water. I also have a deicer so the water top never freezes solid.
Every year in the spring, I have a lot of frogs....10...to 15, possibly even 20. This has been every year for at least 6-10 years. This year, I started with the normal 10-15 frogs, but over the past few months, seems almost all disappeared, although I finally seen a baby the other day. Could it be I actually need to clean the bottom?

 

[Lin]

Hello and Welcome. I had a frog pond and after a couple of years the 2 Bull Frogs and a number of Toads just disappeared.

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!

 

[qdfrisco]

Thank you everyone. I'm thinking it's possibly these couple of feral cats that have been hanging around, recently I've caught them actually inside my fenced in yard. Working on trapping them since it's actually the guy across the Avenue from me housing them. This morning right after a huge thunderstorm, I found a baby frog dead...on my patio, quite the distance from the pond...and no marks on him as to why. I know the storm wouldn't hurt him. Maybe one of those cats was 'playing' with him....really makes me mad.

Still wondering if there's any other maintenance I need to do for the pond since it's for frogs.

 

[Lin]

Thank you everyone. I'm thinking it's possibly these couple of feral cats that have been hanging around, recently I've caught them actually inside my fenced in yard. Working on trapping them since it's actually the guy across the Avenue from me housing them. This morning right after a huge thunderstorm, I found a baby frog dead...on my patio, quite the distance from the pond...and no marks on him as to why. I know the storm wouldn't hurt him. Maybe one of those cats was 'playing' with him....really makes me mad.

Still wondering if there's any other maintenance I need to do for the pond since it's for frogs.

Usually cats only mess with a frog once. Frogs give off a bitter taste slime coat and it is very unpleasant to a cat.

 

[AlyssaFish]

There could always be something larger going on than just your little pond. For example, there could be construction going on in a nearby location that is normally important in their life cycle, forcing them to go elsewhere. Or maybe one of your neighbors made a bigger pond. Or maybe a disease has struck the local population.

If what you've been doing has worked for years, it seems unlikely to me that it would stop now unless something is different. I don't know. Sorry I am not of more help.

 

[qdfrisco]

I agree with a cat only messing with a TOAD once, but I believe they will continue on frogs. I have 2 cats and a dog, I let them out every morning...and of course I'm supervising. The past few years, my one cat would go through the tall grass around the pond 'looking' for them. Until he caught one, I guess I was stupid, thinking they stayed in the pond (go figure). I stopped him before he could kill it, but that hasn't stopped him. So now it's a routine to WATCH him and shew him away from the pond. I've been trying to figure out ANYTHING that is different. Unaware of any local construction, and don't think anyone around has ponds, but there is a wetland (small) in the woods across the street. Possibly they are going there since we've had so much rain...which increases the water source. The main thing that has changed, are the feral cats, which I've been working on trapping. I also feed the birds, and these cats have not only been going for the birds in my front yard, but have been crapping all around. Recently, I've found one in my yard several times when I've gone out in the morning, so now I have to make sure they aren't in my yard...by going through all my tall plants...BEFORE I can let my cats out. Don't need a fight and injury.

All that said, and possibly nothing is actually 'wrong' with the way I'm doing things (which is why I was so shocked of the disappearance of 'most' of the frogs....I'm still seeing a few little ones). Does anyone know. when you have a preformed pond, water appears to look good with normal circulation. Plenty of algae (not overwhelming). I do have a large rock in the bottom with lots of holes which was put in to give them places on the bottom to hide and overwinter. Should I 'ever' clean out the whole bottom? Thanks ALL!

 

[Lin]

Mother Nature may be taking some action all on her own to keep natural balance in order. Too many Frogs, Toads ,etc. might not be good in backyard eco systems.

 

[Mmathis]

@qdfrisco Just to weigh in, here. Sometimes Mother Nature has a reason that we don’t necessarily understand. If you have a water test kit, you might want to check some levels on your pond, as well as being sure that no contaminates are getting into the water. Frogs and toads are called “bio-indicators,” in that they are very sensitive to changes in their environment. Even though you don’t have fish, there could be something going on in the pond that you aren’t seeing, or, it could be that somewhere, someone else has a pond that the frogs and toads are liking better than yours. We have gone through lean years, or so we thought, when all of a sudden, amphibious life just explodes....then goes away — and the cycle continues.

And it wouldn’t hurt to clean out the debris at the bottom of the pond. That’s where I would start, along with examining the water. As far as critters go in the ruling-out phase — my vote goes to snakes.

I would love to see pictures of your pond! I have often wanted to add a “wildlife“ feature, but haven’t seen enough examples to know what to shoot for (I am a visual person, so I have to see something, where verbal descriptions are useless...). For now, we are between ponds, but a small feature might be doable. It would definitely need water movement as our state bird is the mosquito , and yours sounds interesting!

 

[qdfrisco]

Well, been quite busy and not responding (sorry about that)....but the few little frogs I've seen, are now growing up...so maybe the large ones just moved on. Just so weird to have them (and many), year after year....to all of a sudden see none. My yard is fenced in, and my dog is out quite often. Either way, attached is just a couple shots of my 'very old' pond. I have a large sun screen net over it, it really helps with the heat from the sun (not to mention light debris from bushes). Thanks everyone for their comments.

 

[j.w]

Looks very nice!

 

[addy1]

Welcome to the forum, nice pond!