Winterization specific to froggies

[thewebscaper]

Hello! I am thrilled to have found this forum!

I currently have one pond (2nd is in planning stages!). The entire purpose of this pond was to provide a loving home for frogs. (long but cute story). The pond is kidney shaped, approx 220 gallons, 7 feet by 3 feet x 1.5 feet at deepest. I constructed the pond at the end of summer 2007, but really got it going last summer.

As mentioned, the purpose of the pond was to be a home to frogs. I have no fish, but I do have bunches of lilies, hydrangia, parrot's feather, and irises. This spring, when I opened my pond and began to clean out the muck on the bottom, know the extreme dismay I went through as I plucked out dozens of deceased frogs from the debris. Shame on me for not doing my research.

I know now from doing some reading that I killed my frogs by letting my pond freeze over, apparently I trapped gasses under the ice and they died (if this is not correct, let me know - but that seems to be what I'm finding). So I will do whatever it takes this year to not kill my frogs!

My question is - will adding a de-icer be all that I need to do to keep them safe this year? I am not sure, since everything I'm reading is all fish-focused, never frog-focused. Is there anything else anyone can advise me about winterizing a frog/plant pond?

Thanks in advance!

Kym

 

[stroppy]

not sure, buti think like a fish pond you just make sure you leave a hole in ice a pan of hot water hold it on ice till it melts ..

 

[thewebscaper]

Thanks for the reply! But, hmm, not sure if that method would work for me - here in PA, the pond won't necessarily be frozen solid all winter, but there will be peroids of weeks when it's frozen, I'd probably be outside 6x a day boring a hole through the ice...

I figured I'd need to purchase an electric de-icer with a thermostat, which I'm fine with doing... but again, just want to make sure that's enough to keep the frogs alive.

Kym

 

[Airic]

Frogs hibernate in burrows or bury themselves in mud to insulate themselves durring winter. With no place to dig in your pond I doubt that they will survive the cold.

 

[thewebscaper]

Hi Airic,

Well, that's what I thought last year, which is why I didn't do any winterization. I figured they wouldn't even try to overwinter in the pond, but I was wrong. There were literally dozens of them that tried. There was a decent amount of mud, muck, leaves, and other debris on the bottom when I cleaned it out in the spring - I'd say a good couple of inches. I think that's what they tried to hibernate in... is that not enough?

If the muck isn't enough for them, would the frogs be dumb enough to try to hibernate down there in the first place?

I read elsewhere on this forum that you can put a container of mud on the floor of the pond for frogs, but that it "wasn't necessary". But if it is, I would do that.

Kym

 

[Airic]

No expert on frogs but it sounds like they tried but, the environment was close but not quite ideal. I don't think they come up for air during the winter so, I'm not sure what a deicer will provide. Maybe to release gasses that get trapped. I don't know if they hang out on the bottom in the mud or along the sides in the mud. I would thing they need to breathe a little and that’s why I think they are along the edge but, really don't know. As a kid I recall digging the edge of ponds and seeing them when looking for salamanders in the spring.

 

[Airic]

No expert on frogs but it sounds like they tried but, the environment was close but not quite ideal. I don't think they come up for air during the winter so, I'm not sure what a deicer will provide. Maybe to release gasses that get trapped. I don't know if they hang out on the bottom in the mud or along the sides in the mud. I would thing they need to breathe a little and that’s why I think they are along the edge but, really don't know. As a kid I recall digging the edge of ponds and seeing them when looking for salamanders in the spring.

 

[chilligirl]

Your best bet would be to contact your local fish and wildflife and ask. Various species of native frog are endagered all over North America because they're so sensitive to pollutants, climate change, and development. If you explain you've built a small pond local/native frogs are using and that you want to make it friendly to them all year round, they should be able to give you some advice.

 

[DrDave]

I once had a tree frog that liked to hang out by my pond. I never found him. I could call my answering machine at night, that had a listen in feature and hear the frog outside through the walls of my home.

 

[koikeepr]

I have a series of frogs that inhabit my pond. I have tons of tadpoles every year. I certainly don't have muck in my pond for them to hibernate, but they figure it out and hibernate in the dirt around the pond area. The frogs that hang out around your pond are native to your area and would do perfectly fine even without your pond. You are just providing a lovely spring/summer shangri-la for them.

Frogs don't stay in water in the winter, they hibernate under mud/dirt/leaf piles/holes in the ground. They will usually stay nearby to the pond tho. I have done digging in the late fall around my pond to fix things here and there, and I will accidentally bump into a slumbering frog.

Let nature do what nature does. I guarantee you your frogs will be back next year.

 

[leeannecastro]

I keep a hole in my ice with a cheap air bubbler from PetCo. I have been told that turtles and frogs can over-winter in a pond as long as it does not completely freeze over for more than a few days.

 

[thewebscaper]

Thank you everyone for the input! I hadn't thought of contacting local wildlife agencies - sure can't hurt.

I did read on some amphibian websites that frogs will stay in the water over the winter - even saw some pictures taken of them hibernating. I didn't know that last year - obviously - which is how I let them die. (Silly frogs, shouldn't they know that they can't make it under ice? )

I'll give it a shot... and hopefully post in the spring that I have lots of sleepy but living frogs when I clean out the pond!

Kym

 

[thewebscaper]

I once had a tree frog that liked to hang out by my pond. I never found him. I could call my answering machine at night, that had a listen in feature and hear the frog outside through the walls of my home.

DrDave - I love my tree frogs!! The frogs in my pond are mostly green frogs, but I have a good number of tree frogs that hang out near the house. For the past three years I've had a tree frog that lived on my deck, bathed in my flower pot bases, and snacked on bugs at the light at night. She's female, so she doesn't sing - but lots of boys in the woods to seranade us. She got injured earlier this year, crushed front and back foot , so I made her a little habitat complete with a bowl for a pond and planted ferns and flowers to shelter her. It wasn't enclosed, so she could come and go as she pleased. She disappeared then for a month, and now there's a tree frog back, sleeping in her usual spot, but her feet are totally healed - I can't seem to find any info on the web whether or not serious injuries to frog legs can heal. I'd swear it's her though.

And now in the past week and a half, I have a baby baby tree frog - literally no bigger than my thumbnail - who comes to my porch every night and hangs out catching bugs there.

Yes, I love my froggies...

Kym

Here's Deck Frog (yes, that's her name)

 

[ctrgojo]

awww!! what a cutie!! :toothy12: I hope my tadpoles we added this year will stick around after they grow up

 

[thewebscaper]

awww!! what a cutie!! :toothy12: I hope my tadpoles we added this year will stick around after they grow up

Thanks!

You know, it's interesting. I get tons of tadpoles - from my frogs, and I also tend to rescue tadpoles from other places (house next door is abandoned in foreclosure. They have a pool, drained, but tons of frogs inhabited it, so I rescued like 600 tadpoles from there... LOL). I swear the frogs eat their own tadpoles, because I don't end up with thousands of frogs. And a lot of them that do make it to froghood decide they don't like my pond and move away (phooey them!). But lots stay too. Give yours good environment - good shade/hiding plants around the pond, and they'll stay. Mine also like the spotlight I use at night to light up the waterfall - they learned it's a bug magnet! I have a huge huge frog who benefitted from the late night snack bar

Here's how I have plants around mine. They particularly like the day lilies (two of them on opposite ends of the pond).

Kym