Hello all. I am delighted to have found this forum and Robyn's site...what a wealth of information. Just wanted to say thanks Robyn, for sharing your knowledge of frogs with us.

So here's my deal. I have a bullfrog that I bought as a tadpole and he has lived in my pond (Bethesda, MD) and overwintered for 5 years. At one time we had three, but one got caught in some fishing line that I had used to tie up a plant, (learned a lesson there) and one got stuck in the shed last Memorial Day weekend (learned another lesson). So we were left with bud, my beloved frog, and about a dozen koi. Our pond is about 1000 gallons, and we've had ponds for about 8 years.
Around the beginning of May I decided maybe bud could use some company. So we went to my friends house near Mt Airy that has a natural pond and caught two frogs, brought em home, all is well. I got pictures of them and even a night-shot video of all three frogs, Bud, Mr. Green Jeans and Sprawl. (Yes, I can tell them apart).

Of course I don't see all three together, but I've been keeping a close eye on them, spotting them with a spotlight at nite to check and see who's there. About 2 weeks after, I stop seeing bud, then Mr. Green Jeans. For a few more days I saw sprawl and now for the last week, no frogs at all.

I wonder if the new frogs taught bud that there was life beyond the little pond he was born in and went off to find their previous, bigger pond. Or did the three of them fight? Since keeping such a close eye on the pond I discovered that two fish are gone, but that could have been any time after we cleaned it out approx Apr 28.
(After we cleaned it out, the fish hid under the milk crates that we put the plants on, so I wasn't seeing very much of them). So a predator is an option. There is a cat that roams the area but wouldn't he have gotten bud a long time ago?

I have searched for the bodies but haven't found anything. I'd like to go catch a few more frogs this weekend, but fear them suffering the same fate.

Anyone have thoughts, suggestions? Get more, or no? Not sure I can handle being the reason a few more frogs go away.

Sorry for the rambling, but here at least it seems that youns (I am originally from Johnstown PA) understand how attached you can become to a frog. :)


Thanks for listening!

Mary Anne

I've found frogs to be pretty transient. The bullfrogs, green frogs, and pickeral frogs at my ponds come and go. They move from one of my ponds to another and then off property to who knows where. Some leave and never return. Others come back. I'm not as good at telling them apart though since we have so many.

You may never know if the frogs just left, are hiding, or someone ate them. I've tried to get used to simply not knowing the details of the lives of all the animals in my care.

If the three frogs were all adult male bullfrogs, they could have faught in which case one could have driven off the others. Were all the frogs bullfrogs?

My cat can catch and kill green frogs but hasn't gotten large bullfrogs.

I suggest adding tadpoles to your pond instead of adults. Adults moved from someplace else will defiinitely wander off. Frogs that morph out of your pond are more likely to stay. Plus, you'd have more of them so when many were lost to predators, wandering off, etc., you'd still have some.

My green frogs are breeding now. I haven't found any eggs yet but there should be some soon. When/if I get some, you are welcome to come get some. I live closer to you than Mt. Airy.

Thanks Robyn, that is really sweet of you to offer up eggs. I may take you up on that as I think the green frogs would be a better size for our pond anyway, but I guess I would be frustrated at the length of time it may take to have a full grown frog. (Hubby say I have no patience whatsoever :) )

Yes, they were all bullfrogs. Two pics are below.

I just don't know where they would go. I live in a pretty dense development near Montgomery mall, and I don't know of any ponds within blocks of my house. Hopefully they are out there gallivanting though.

The problem we had in the past with the tadpoles is they swim through the bottom drain, up the 3 in pvc pipe and into the first filter. Then we have to fish them out and put them back in.

Bud and Mr. Green Jeans:




Mr. Green Jeans:

Great pictures, MaryAnne. and welcome to the forum.

Find any more pond uses for your clothes (I saw the thread about your black knee-hi socks); anything for new clothes eehhh?

I'm with ya though; I used a nylon once (not mine, found it in the back seat, just kidding), wrapped it around my auto-filler to keep the debris out of the float. Too funny!!!

Welcome MaryAnne

That's a real close up of a bullfrog!

Bottom drains can be problematic for those of us with eclectic ponds because they do suck up small animals and plants. I could never deal with a bottom drain. I'd be fishing out insect larvae and worms! The bottom drains are best used with bare ponds that only have larger fish. Is there a way you could make a grate over the bottom drain to at least keep out the larger tadpoles? Either way, I suggest raising tadpoles in tub ponds next to the main pond. The fish will eat most frog eggs and smaller tadpoles which is the main reason. You would also have better control over the situation. Once they turn into frogs, the tadpoles could then go to the main pond, the tub pond, or wander off as they are wont to do. Frogs won't spend as much time near the bottom drain except over the winter when the drain if often turned off. I don't know if you turn yours off in the winter or not.

I get your joke MaryAnne. The question is, am I a 0 or a 1?

Robyn, you are definitely a "1" !! :P

The bottom drain is not so bad for us as the tadpoles go wholesale into what I call 'the black swirly thing' where we fish them out. Water comes in the bottom, floats up through brushes, and there is a net where it goes into the next filter.

We actually have two ponds, one overflows into the other, creating a waterful. Our plan had been to keep the tadpoles in the upper pond, but they chose the water slide and ended up in the big pond.

The new plan is to keep them in some sort of big basket in the upper pond. Like we keep the hyacinths in cause the fish eat the roots, only bigger. We shall see. Though I did gently bring up the idea of another smaller, frog bog kind of pond...depends on hubby's mood. :) He's usually pretty good though. One evening I saw Bud seeming to have trouble getting out of the pond, and told hubby 'you have to build a frog ledge for him tomorrow!! Which he did. :)

Glad you enjoyed the pics. I think I'm entering the close up in the Montgomery County Fair. :)

MA

The caption for that huge frog head should be, "Vote for me, or I'll eat you!"

You don't have to "build" a frog pond. Any old non-toxic container will work like plastic storage tubs, kiddie pools, livestock waterers, and so on. I use 20 gallon Lerio pond plant "pots" which I think they stopped selling. My frogs use the above ground tub ponds as well as the ones in ground. If you plan on raising tadpoles just the once, something temporary is fine. If you want something for them to use every year, then ask your hubby to pull out the shovel again.

We 'acquired' three new frogs last nite...one big bullfrog, one little bullfrog, one tiny frog that looks like it may have just morphed from tadpole, and a surprise: Two tadpoles got in somehow...so all is well in my frog world for now. :)
MA

Magically appearing tadpoles? Those are extra special! None of these frogs were the ones you had before? As I said, frogs tend to be transient with some leaving and others appearing.

Oh no, sorry to mislead, we went back to my friends house and caught these. :) All is well so far, but we're going to get some crickets today.