Grow up tank

[brokensword]

Thank you; it's a great source of both peace and photo ops!

I'd be careful now that the cold weather HAS set in. I think the frog would need more than a day to acclimate, but you can google to double check how much of a hazard that process might have become. I'd take a thermometer and check the actual water temp of your sister's pond. In ground means water at the bottom is warmer alright (which is where the frog would hibernate) but there's usually a transition period. Might be safer now to keep her indoors, but please do the terrarium/soil thing. I think your aq size is okay but need the actual land area. Esp if you're going to feed crickets. JMO.


some pickerel frog links;

http://wildlifeofct.com/pickerel frog.html
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/frogs/frogwinter.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickerel_frog

 

[JamieB]

I did look up the frogs. She looks more like the southern leopard frog, but the page said they are all south of here, and the pickerel is all suppose to be east of here. But then again, we had a weasel get all our ducks, and they weren’t supposed to be here either. So...
I’ll go get some dirt for her tomorrow, and fill a coffee can half full, trim the sides down, and see if I can find a board to half cover the big aquarium. Add in a few plant pots with a few plants that like wet roots, some water. I won’t have any filtration for that aquarium, I don’t have a second working filter, and no outlet available.

 

[brokensword]

you shouldn't need a filter; I know I didn't; that's what the plants are for. You have fish in your water but mine was shallow and had pennywort in it. Even if crickets did drown, eventually the plants took care of any problem. In your case, it might be an issue, so keep a lookout for floaters (drowned crickets). If you have plants across some of the surface, the crickets will use them to escape, usually, so it's not dire if they do fall in. Instead of the floating turtle shelf (or you could just turn it into a soil shelf with some ingenuity), I'd have a platform for the dirt and some plantings.

I do like the look of your frog; when I released my two smaller leopards in the middle of the next summer, they must have found a way to escape (still had slight creases in my screened in pondhouse; fixed that finally this last summer) and I never saw them again. Then, I only had one green frog (very large), so the two would not have overpopulated my pond, but now I have 7 greens and worry if I were to add leopards again, there wouldn't be enough bugs for them all. Once June gets here, I put the screen top back over and no bugs really can get in/out, though I suppose there's smaller entrances they can find but the frogs and turtles and snakes can't. It was when I saw three garter snakes actually INSIDE this past summer that I got serious about closing down anything smaller than a quarter inch. Wasn't worried about the fish but I didn't want to lose any of the frogs, either. Funny the lengths we'll go to for our pets, isn't it??

I know where I can find more leopards and I gotta admit, since seeing yours, makes me wish I had one like that at my pond, too. Soooooo, you may have passed on your koi addiction in the form of frogs, to me! Heh, wonder if I bought about a hundred or so crickets and let them loose, if they'd naturalize and breed, enough so I could GET another frog..or two!

 

[JamieB]

Crickets are easy, buy a bunch, put a space for them with sandy soil so they can breed. Feed them some oranges every once in a while. I found that out when we had a lizard back when I was a kid. We started out with wild caught crickets, and put them in a tote with air holes, put 2-3 inches of sand on bottom, a water fish, some random greens and such, bits of fruit on occasion, but they loved oranges. I forget where I read that oranges are a perfect meal for them. I told hubby I needed to make a lid for the small tank, and a board to put it on, he accused me of just wanting to keep the frog. I’m not going to keep it, it’s a big eater, I need it wild to do it’s job! But yeah, over winter, I think I’ll keep it. I’ll be setting up the little aquarium tomorrow, and he’s going to make me a lid. Then it may get moved to the coolest room in the house, to keep her metabolism low.

 

[JamieB]

Sitting here, trying to recall where I learned about crickets. Thinking over all the pets we had. Birds, cats, dogs, fish, pot belly pigs for a shirt bit, lizards, tarantulas, my brother got a snake after I was moved out, but I baby sat it for a few months. We used to hand feed wild skunks, and Mom used to take us to the dump in Minnesota to watch the Bears. I had a turtle, till he escaped to chase after a wild female we saved. She was big! I’m thinking I may have learned about crickets for the tarantulas. And I never did get a horse like all little girls dream of! But my sister has goats.

 

[brokensword]

Crickets are easy, buy a bunch, put a space for them with sandy soil so they can breed. Feed them some oranges every once in a while. I found that out when we had a lizard back when I was a kid. We started out with wild caught crickets, and put them in a tote with air holes, put 2-3 inches of sand on bottom, a water fish, some random greens and such, bits of fruit on occasion, but they loved oranges. I forget where I read that oranges are a perfect meal for them. I told hubby I needed to make a lid for the small tank, and a board to put it on, he accused me of just wanting to keep the frog. I’m not going to keep it, it’s a big eater, I need it wild to do it’s job! But yeah, over winter, I think I’ll keep it. I’ll be setting up the little aquarium tomorrow, and he’s going to make me a lid. Then it may get moved to the coolest room in the house, to keep her metabolism low.

Be careful re the temp for the frog. I'm not totally an expert here but from having turtles, I think it may be similar re their metabolism. That is, if you keep it in an 'in-between' temp, it can't either prepare for hibernation nor thrive. PIck one. Since you're keeping it inside, I'd not lower the temp less than 60 F, though again, I'm not sure the 'trigger' point for frogs. For my painted turtles, it was 70. Lower than that and they wouldn't eat well. Just a thought.

 

[JamieB]

I’ve never had frogs, I was reading they start hibernating at around 55. According to my toes, the wash room is plenty cold! With The lid hubby will make me tomorrow, I can put it in the back room for a day or two to chill it slowly, then the wash room. I don’t know if they hibernate in water or dirt, so I’ll give it options, and see what it does. I think I may go deeper than just a few inches, like I first thought. Full soil bottom with leaves to hide in, water will make that mud. Apparently some do hibernate in mud at pond bottoms. A container of dry dirt if it prefers. I think that’ll work.

 

[JamieB]

Has anyone tried a filter like this?

 

[JamieB]

We’ve had above freezing temps during the day most of this week, so I found a good spot and kicked the frog out! Good luck froggy! On another note, the bog iris I put in the grow up tank has taken off! The tallest is at least 2’ tall. The fish are growing, with scales now visible. I don’t know if I’m feeding them enough or what, cause they haven’t grown as fast as I thought they would. I figure with the plants in there, feeding them once a day would be enough.

 

[mrsclem]

I have a 75 gallon preform pond in my front yard. We had a large bullfrog in there this fall. The pond froze solid for over 3 weeks. When it thawed, not only is the bullfrog still alive but he has a friend!

 

[JamieB]

Well I’m down to 6. I think I added water from the bucket from town, not from the pond. About to do a big change on it. Tap is very close to what we already had, ( lol, nitrates are slightly higher than in the planted aquarium, but still low) so... time to clean the tank out. I caught all 6 survivors by hand, just cupped my hand around them, and used suction from a jar as it’s being filled with the rim only partially submerged to catch and move them. No net, minimal human contact. Put them in the smaller aquarium with a bit of water so I can clean out the big one. I figure 75% water change, let it come to temp, them put them and plants back in. Cross your fingers I don’t kill them all!

 

[sissy]

Had to laugh at first glance that log looked like a gator

 

[JamieB]

Just finished cleaning their tank, yep, I’ve only got 6 left. Thought maybe I’d find one hidden. Found it dead. Just poured them back in, with room temp well water. It was more of a 60% change, letting water settle from the bit of dirt on the bottom before I snap a new pic.

 

[JamieB]

And I need to get the well water tested. All the little fish are dead. Something somehow in the water killed them all.

 

[sissy]

I know here when a pump is put in a well they shock the well with chlorine tablets and tell you not to drink the water for awhile .Usually 5 to 7 days .You should also leave it running for awhile to clear it and then before using you should test the water