Karen1 Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 I've just noticed there are frogs in my pond - I've counted 8 of them. They've laid millions of eggs! As this is the first time I've had a garden, I don't know what to expect. Will I end up with a garden full of frogs, and do chickens eat little frogs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trish Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 No experience myself but from what I've read on this forum and others chickens will definatley eat young frogs, older ones too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen1 Posted March 20, 2005 Author Share Posted March 20, 2005 I know frogs are supposed to be good for the garden because they eat slugs, but I don't want to be overrun with them! I suppose if the chickens eat them, that will keep the numbers down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 You won't be over run Karen! The majority of the frogspawn won't hatch - blackbirds eat it and a lot of it dries out in the sun. The froglets that hatch out will get picked off by the garden birds and only a few will make it - that's why they lay so much frogspawn. Chickens do eat froglets and bigger frogs and it's not nice to watch. We netted off our pond to stop the girls having a massacre. The frogs that survive will disappear into your garden and those of your neighbours and won't be a problem. They really are gardeners friends because they eat snails and slug. They are lovely creatures. I do all I can to encourage them into my garden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen1 Posted March 21, 2005 Author Share Posted March 21, 2005 Thanks Kate - that's stopped me worrying. I do think that frogs are very cute, and I love the idea of having some in my garden, but I just imagined thousands of them hatching out! Being a townie who's never had a garden before, I'm a complete novice when it comes to things like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 No worries, Karen . We all have to learn sometime! Just wait until you spot your first little froglet on a stone! You could fit 2 onto the top of a pencil! They are adorable and so perfect - miniature frogs! We have 11 frogs at the moment (ones that I can count anyway - they hide!) and loads of frogspawn. In a few weeks, the black dots will turn into little commas inside the frogspawn. A few days later, you will be able to see the tails start to move and the commas will wriggle round inside the egg! They will get bigger and bigger and you'll start to see the body shape change into a tadpole. Not long after that, the eggs rupture and the little tadpoles swim out. Your pond will have loads of little wriggly chaps swimming round in it but most of them will get picked off by hungry blackbirds taking the opportunity of free food for their young which hatch around the same time. Eventually you'll realise the tadpoles have disappeared - that's the time to watch for micro frogs on the plants and stones round the pond edges - it's a magical time! They they'll just disappear and you'll come across them in the garden under leaves, hiding behind pots etc. Can you tell I'm smitten with frogs . I love to carefully scoop a frog out of the pond and sit with it on my hand - they are so cool, not slimy at all, and their little fingers are just lovely. Suddenly they leap up into the air and splashdown in the pond again - smashing ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen1 Posted March 21, 2005 Author Share Posted March 21, 2005 That sounds brilliant - I can't wait for them to hatch One question, though. I have a net over the pond to keep the goldfish safe. The net is stretched across the pond, just below the surface of the water. The big frogs hop around on top of the net, and there is a small gap where a plant grows at the side of the pond. Do you think it will be ok leaving the net there? I don't want the new froglets to get trapped under it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 The little froglets should be able to get out easily. If the frogs have managed to lay frogspawn underneath the net, that means they can get through it - it's remarkable how small a hole a frog can actually get through! I've watched them squeeze through knotholes in the fence and they seem to dislocate their shoulders and hips in order to squeeze through - remarkable creatures! Talking of nets, our neighbour had a kingfisher get stuck in their net! Boxing Day last year, he brought it round to me in a cardboard box to look after until it was well enough to fly off. It was cold and shocked from trying to escape but within half an hour, it flew out of the garden. A wonderful experience to get close to an amazingly beautiful little bird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen1 Posted March 21, 2005 Author Share Posted March 21, 2005 I'm so glad the kingfisher was ok. It must have been wonderful to see one so close up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Karen - re frogs and froglets - don't mow your lawn as it becomes dusk - you get green splatty bits everywhere from the frogs who are just coming out for their evening banquet of slugs I had an acquaintance who regularly did this and thought it was amusing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trish Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Bizarre that anyone with a garden would be so mean to frogs They do no harm at all and are great to have in the garden because of the slugs etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Oh, but then they used to buy slug pellets by the hundredweight - there's no telling some people Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Hmmmm - that sort of thing makes me VERY cross . We have neighbours like that - must use a job lot of slug pellets on their garden judging by the blue flowerbeds. Poor frogs - and toads and newts too. We had 2 regular toads in the pond up until a couple of years ago and we've not seen them since. They were gorgeous - I liked them best of all. Nigel the Newt is an occasional visitor - unfortunately he's rather Common and isn't of the Great Crested variety! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 I don't have any frogs in my pond I have 5 healthy and one not so healthy fish I don't think I would want to be overun with frogs as the murderous little beasts I allow to rule the place (cats) would just bring them into the house and squish them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trish Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 One of our cats had to go and live indoors with my Mum permenatly because of slug pellets. She started having funny do's where her back end seemed drunk and out of her control. When the vet looked in to it it was slug pellet poisoning, it was causing temp nerve damage. The problem is cats can become addicted and eventually they will kill themselves. Poor Pippin had already had a run in with warfarine (waking up to a cat bleeding uncontrollably from the mouth is horrid) and obviously has no idea about poisons (she's a bit mentally challenged shall we say, littlest of a litter of 9, I should have known) so she had to become an indoor cat forever, I can't do that here so it was off to my Mum's. Slug pellet users really get me on my high horse There are so many alternatives that wouldn't affect other animals and wildlife they really should be banned. Pippin is very happy with Mum now, but doesn't really know me anymore which is heart breaking as I am very emotionally attached as she turned out to be very ill when we got her and I spent weeks nursing her. She was very small and would spend much of the day riding around up on my shoulder like a tiny black parrot. Ooops sorry bit of a rant there, I am over it honest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Don't worry Trish - things like that make me cross and upset too. We had a baby hedgehog die in front of us from slug pellet poisoning. I found it wandering in the garden during the afternoon - always a bad sign if you see a hedgehog out in daylight, usually there's something serious wrong with it. The little hedgehog was way under the weight they need to be to survive the winter (which is 600g I think) so we brought it into the house and fed it on kitten food. It perked up on the second day and seemed to be doing OK but the third day it was writhing in agony so I rushed it to the vet. It had blood coming out of its mouth and nose so I knew there wasn't really much hope. It died minutes after I arrived at the surgery. The vet said it was slug pellet poisoning and there was nothing we could have done because it was dying before we found it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trish Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Poor baby, Kate. The thing that really upsets me is it's so needless and the things that die are often beneficial for the garden too. People need to think things through, it's no more work just a different attitude that's needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 I've spoken to one of our neighbours who is a slug pellet addict and he'd rather have intact bedding plants than worry about the wildlife which I think is appalling. As you say, there are so many wildlife friendly alternatives but the die hard gardeners just reach for the blue pellets and damn the consequences. Personally I'd rather have a garden bereft of flowers and still have frogs, hedgehogs and toads living healthy happy lives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 I have found quite quickly what will and won't survive the slugs in my garden. If they get hammered by the slugs I don't plant them again and I stick to the things they don't touch with the exception of some lillies which I solve using the clay based slug stop there isn't any need for all the chemicals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Yes, same here. I live by the "Oh well, never mind" motto. If something gets eaten, I replace it with something else. We have a very hardy garden! I protect my seedlings with the coffee grounds and crushed egg shells and if they get munched I put it down to experience and sow some more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 I don't worry really about slug damage either - I do what I can with beer traps and night watches and grandchildren collecting for the chickens. We are self-sufficient in fruit and veg for 6-8 months of the year but obviously not dependant on it if a crop really fails. That has not happened because we encourage all the beneficial mammals, birds and insects etc. As far as I'm concerned everything has a right to live and I just try to contain any serious damage. I don't positively like things like greenfly but I'd rather go on a ladybird hunt to sort them out than resort to chemicals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen1 Posted March 23, 2005 Author Share Posted March 23, 2005 What horrible stories about poisoned cats and hedgehogs I didn't know anything about slug pellets, but on some of them it says on the packet that they're safe for birds and animals. After reading comments on this forum, I didn't want to risk it, so I bought some slugstop - crushed shells sprinkled around my plants shouldn't harm anything The only thing is it's quite expensive, and I don't drink enough coffee to put coffee grounds everywhere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Hi Karen the organic slug pellets are made from a sort of salt which is the ones that are okay for animals (usually white/grey colour) but it disolves very easily and has to be replaced everytime it rains or you water the plants. The slug stop won't be affected by the rain so if you are careful when you hoe and weed you can make it last for ages and when you do dig it in it helps with drainage as it breaks the soil up a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Sounds like good stuff, Louise. I'll keep an eye out for some for our garden. We drink an awful lot of coffee but don't always remember to save it for the garden ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Porridge is a good thing to use to reduce the number of slugs in the garden too. We have so many slugs I keep wondering if there is a slug factory near here!! if you put porridge oats in a slug trap the slugs munch it up and it isn't good for them. .... this is all very well as long as the pups don't find the porridge... I found our youngest dog munching out of the trap.... porridge, slugs and all.... EW... no kisses for that doggie!! Going back a bit....my mum's garden has a pond and LOTS of frogs.... it's fab. Spring evenings, the froggies sing their little frog songs. ....worth wearing shoes to go outside at dusk tho... frogs are NOT nce to step on. (can't be pleasureable for the frog either!!) mum's cat never manages to catch the frogs though... they hop away and I think they may taste nasty to the kitty cuz she's never brought one in. Unlike mice, she's very keen on bringing mum mousey presents! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
