Elderly cat breathing difficulties when purring

[xChicken04x]

Hi all, we put a large pond in our garden about four years ago. On the first year we got LOADS of frogspawn, literally a quarter of the pond was frogspawn, and it all hatched in to lots of little tadpoles. The next year we got some more, but it some how dissapeared . And the same thing kept happening for two more years. We have loads different kinds of newts in the pond. I recon they are the culprits. Well this year its not happening The poor frogs are probably wondering what is happening to their sprogs. So we are going to get a large plastic box and scoop it all out with pond water and pond weed and leave it in their till it hatches and have their back legs, just to give the poor things a chance. I'm not particually keen on frogs my self, but still.....

 

Anyway, just thought I would share my plans.

 

xx

[Snowy]

Do you have fish? Would they eat the frogspawn? We have fish - not sure if they do eat it though - we still seem to get loads

[xChicken04x]

Nope we don't have fish in there .

Not 100% sure its the newts, but that's my best bet.

 

xx

[Tessa the Duchess]

We have a pond and we get loads of frogspawn. Would love to get some newts, where did you get yours from?

 

Tessa

[xChicken04x]

We have a pond and we get loads of frogspawn. Would love to get some newts, where did you get yours from?

 

Tessa

 

Ummm, they just sort of arrived They are wild ones, we didn't buy them or anything. I recomend that blanket weed stuff, apparently they love that as it provides shade and they can hide under it whilst hunting for food.

 

xx

[Tessa the Duchess]

Ummm, they just sort of arrived They are wild ones, we didn't buy them or anything. I recomend that blanket weed stuff, apparently they love that as it provides shade and they can hide under it whilst hunting for food.

xx

 

Oh, well maybe we don't have wild newts in London Spent a very laborious time draining and re-lining the pond last year to get rid of blanket weed, so maybe I can live without newts

 

Tessa

[Egluntyne]

Won't they just eat them anyway.....legs or no legs?

[Guest]

well done for trying to save the frogs! Let's hope that with legs, they have a better chance of getting away. Maybe let them get quite big before you release them?

[xChicken04x]

Won't they just eat them anyway.....legs or no legs?

 

Don't know Hadn't thought that far ahead. It doesn't matter how long they stay there for. I was thinking of putting them in a bigger container as they get bigger, then when they are quite big, I will put a big boulder in there so they can crawl on it and leave when they want . I just want to give them a better chance this year.

 

xx

[Egluntyne]

Sounds like a good idea.

[craftyhunnypie]

Well, this year..I'm also not going to let it happen! Because Spring is almost here (well after todays weather) & my Mk2 eglu + 3 chooks now live in frog area, because the cube is in the old area! So I will have to go into frog area every day to do my chooks. No way am I letting those horrid froggies control me & my chooks & put the fear of god into me! This year, I plan war! I am getting a sealed in water butt - instead of a dolly tub, for collecting the water off the garage roof, so the froggies can't get in! I am not having a water feature in my garden this year, instead I will buy chicken ornaments & solar lights!

If I spot one frog this year, I will first scream, then run in & put my crocs wellies on, then let the girls out to get it!!!!

Christian, how are you going to handle the froggies this year?

 

Emma.x

[Christian]

There is no such thing as frogs

[craftyhunnypie]

I suppose Kermit was just a puppet???

 

Emma.x

[Egluntyne]

There is no such thing as frogs

 

I had one jump up my trouser leg once. Just a little one.

 

I don't know which of us was more surprised!

[Christian]

I'm sure I have mentioned the time that a frog sensed my fear and suckered itself to my bare foot. No amount of shaking and kicking my foot in the air would make it budge

 

I still have sleepless nights. Evil creatures.

[Egluntyne]

You won't have like those pretty little red and blue ones that David Attenborough was talking about the other day then?

[little chickadee]

Watch out for your chickens. Our 4 all fought over a frog just after we had got them. I couldn't believe it, but later found out that chickens frequently eat frogs (and mice )

[Eyren]

We have frogs and lizards on our allotment, so I have left a wild area to encourage them to stay. The more slugs they eat, the better!

 

We have loads different kinds of newts in the pond. I recon they are the culprits.

 

You're probably right - newts are carnivorous and will eat other smaller amphibians if the food supply is low. If there's nothing much else in the pond to eat, you can't blame them - and newts are becoming rare, so it's a good idea to keep them if you can. I found this suggestion online:

 

"If you'd like to feed them, buy a bag of daphnia, brine shrimp or bloodworm from your local tropical fish shop and put that in the pond."

 

If you do that as well as raising the frog tadpoles in a separate tank until they're big enough to fend for themselves, you'll be giving our beleaguered amphibian population a real boost!

 

Also, forgive me if I'm teaching my grandmother to suck eggs here, but are you sure it's all frogspawn? Newtspawn looks similar but is formed into "ropes" like a necklace. Just checking...

[lisa33]

 

Also, forgive me if I'm teaching my grandmother to suck eggs here, but are you sure it's all frogspawn? Newtspawn looks similar but is formed into "ropes" like a necklace. Just checking...

 

I thought that but last year found out that newt spawn is wrapped up in leaves, only one or two on each leaf.

 

Toad spawn is laid in ribbons.

 

I had to investigate as a pond in the common near us had loads of toad spawn which i had never seen before. It also had nexts swimming in it so I thought it was newt spawn.

 

I keep walking past it to see if they are back this year. It'll be 'proper' spring when I start finding spawn.

[Lesley]

I'm sure I have mentioned the time that a frog sensed my fear and suckered itself to my bare foot. No amount of shaking and kicking my foot in the air would make it budge

 

I still have sleepless nights. Evil creatures.

 

So..... what are you even doing visiting this thread????

[xChicken04x]

Thank you all for your suggestions .

I'm pretty sure all of the spawn is frogspawn. The poor frogs have been surrounding the stuff in hope of it not getting killed. If it was newtspawn, do you think they would eat their own young ? For the past few weeks I've been seeing loads of tiny newts in the pond.....they must be starting early this year. Before I went to scoop some blanket weed out and got 2 baby newts in there, so I had to put it back, it was a really good scoop too .

The chooks wont be a problem, they are at the other end of the garden and they don't free-range atleast not untill our garden is more secure.

 

xx

[Eyren]

I thought that but last year found out that newt spawn is wrapped up in leaves, only one or two on each leaf.

 

Toad spawn is laid in ribbons.

 

I knew toad spawn was laid in ribbons but I wasn't sure about newt spawn and I don't have access to my freshwater biology guides here at work so I googled. Should have checked more sources!

[lisa33]

I thought that but last year found out that newt spawn is wrapped up in leaves, only one or two on each leaf.

 

Toad spawn is laid in ribbons.

 

I knew toad spawn was laid in ribbons but I wasn't sure about newt spawn and I don't have access to my freshwater biology guides here at work so I googled. Should have checked more sources!

 

I had to double check in case I got it round the wrong way. I'm good at doing that.

[Christian]

I'm sure I have mentioned the time that a frog sensed my fear and suckered itself to my bare foot. No amount of shaking and kicking my foot in the air would make it budge

 

I still have sleepless nights. Evil creatures.

 

So..... what are you even doing visiting this thread????

 

I got OH to check there were no pictures and i'm trying to overcome my fear!

[Egluntyne]

David Attenborough is on again Christian!! It has got Golden frogs this week!

 

I'll see if I can find a picture for you!