Where did my frogs go?

[joesandy1822]

Since we installed our pond 3 summers ago, we have always had a lot of frogs. My husband and I get a kick out of them, and we actually go out some nights with flashlights counting them all. Last summer we counted almost 20 one night. We started off this summer with a typical number, but over the past several weeks the numbers have decreased. And now all of a sudden, there are none. Nothing has changed in the pond except our installing a UV clarifier, but the decline of frogs started well before that. I have not seen any herons or sign of racoons. The fish are thriving, and the plants are fine. It's just the frogs that have disappeared. This has never happened before. Anybody have any ideas?

Thanks,

Sandy

 

[Dave 54]

Frogs are falling foul of a virus in South America and other places like Europe and the UK , I'm wondering if you may have the same problem in your area they tend to go bright red then their limbs start to rot , have you seen anything like that around your way at all ?
I know that in the UK we have to report it to DEFRA

Dave

 

[sissy]

I hate frogs I have way to many .Lots of babies hopping around the pond for weeks that I have been catching and giving away .

 

[max384]

I have the same problem Sandy. Except my frogs never showed back up this year after the winter. I've always had tons of frogs, but they just dropped off the face of the planet this year. Not a single frog.

Dave, I hope this virus isn't what's caused the disappearance of my frogs...

 

[Tula]

I had a couple in my pond this spring when they were "courting".....they've since hopped away

 

[CometKeith]

I had two frogs last year, both dissapeared for a while and only one came back. One of my neighbors recently told me he found a frog in a window well and put it in a nearby gold course.My other frog dissapeared this year so now I have none. I have had a lot of tadpoles over the years that dissapeared. Now the kicker.... I belong to an informal local beer club. I recently found out that a few of the members have small ponds and guess what? There have been a lot of frogs at their ponds and we all live in a very urban area so there is only one logical explanation to where they came from!

 

[Lisak1]

We had several dozen frogs this spring... and one large bullfrog. He dined on all the smaller frogs and then moved on. Now we see several small frogs again. It's the ebb and tide of life around here.

 

[addy1]

Mine come in droves to mate, then the numbers dwindle, but still frogs here and there. Mainly in the fishless ponds. I am still finding tons of frog eggs, they are having fun

 

[joesandy1822]

Well, I'm happy to say that we have several frogs again. I never found any mangled or diseased bodies, so I doubt it was the virus that got them. I'd rather just believe that, as somebody else mentioned above, it is the ebb and flow of wildlife. They do as they please, when they please. I guess each year will be different. Last year, in the summer evenings, my hubby and I would get a kick out of going out with flashlights and counting them all! We must have been quite a sight to the neighbors. Hey, you gotta have some fun, right? Anyhow, one night we counted nearly 20, and they weren't confined to the pond area. We found them hunting all over the yard.

I guess we just have to "go with the flow" and not stress about it. I do enjoy them. I was shocked to see that some folk really dislike them.

Thanks for sharing, everybody!

Sandy

 

[snoozer]

I always seem to have frogs in the pond. If i am sitting outside at dusk, I watch as they all come out of the pond and head into the flower gardens near the house. Must be more bugs there for dinner.

 

[addy1]

They are croaking at night, I have one green frog sitting in the deck pond, saw a bunch of small just morphed ones in the small ponds. Large ones here and there.

"Although found in a variety of habitats, the green frog is most commonly found in pond or marsh habitats, especially in those free of fish."
The males of this species are territorial, and in May and June utilize breeding calls to attract females. Females may lay approximately 3000 eggs. Emerging tadpoles are quite large and easily visible in shallow water. The larval stage is relatively long, with the tadpoles over-wintering and metamorphosing the next year."

 

[Tula]

I found a small frog in our pool the other day....scooped him out and placed him in the pond

 

[Dave 54]

This is a warning from Exeter University that that a virus carried by goldfish is a zoonosis and has skipped species and could threaten frogs who at the moment are facing a bleak furure as you can see :-

http://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/featurednews/title_454662_en.html

Dave

 

[Tiny Termite]

Have you recently had a thunder storm? A couple of weeks ago we had a storm and I noticed all the frogs leaving the pond, the funny thing was they all left in the same direction, but within a couple of day's they all returned.