Hi everyone,
What is everyone's thought on letting Bull Frogs live in your pond/garden?
We have become attached to two of them and I just did some research on them and they seem to be labeled as invasive and very big eaters.
Thanks for any input,
Karen
Bull Frogs >> Yes or No?
Not a whole lot you can do to keep them out unless your pond is in a glassed in greenhouse. LOL I have a variety of frogs and toads around and enjoy them a lot. The bullfrogs will dine on any living thing that they can stuff into their mouths though. Someone posted a pic of one eating a bird on one of the threads. The tadpoles do great things for water quality in the spring.
All large frogs or toads have one in built instinct, if they see something wiggle, looks like it fits in their mouth (or they imagine it might) it's good eatings.
Smaller species of amphibians, insects, mammals, birds, it's just another munchy
Bullfrogs eat anything that wiggles that they can fit in their mouth, I can well imagine they would go for small fish making a wiggling movement at the surface in shallow water.
When they see a movement they just throw themselves at it, a bit like a flying dumpster, anything that gets in the way is going to be chewed on... their jaws have very fine teeth making for quite a dastardly grip on whatever they connect with
Something I notice here, allsorts of frogs leap at any movement quite trigger happy... quite often dinging waterlily buds and chewing at them in the pursuit of wiggly fast food.
One way to reduce destructive numbers of bullfrogs is to go skulk about after dark with a flashlight and a large bag. Blinded by light you can sneak up to them slow and steady and grab them round the waist, which renders them quite passive and easy to bag.
After that, what happens to the bag is left to your discretion
Regards, andy
http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l42/adavisus/
At the pond store on Watson Road (St. Louis) they will give you 3 bullfrogs tadpoles for free. So, I got 3 and my daughter got 3. We put them in and they disappeared within a week. I'm thinking that the larger fish had a good meal. It would have been fun to see them turn into a bullfrog. I just love the sound that they make.
I have tons of frogs, but I've yet to see ANY of them eat ANYTHING!!! What gives? I swear they do nothing at all except sit on a rock, in the same exact position, for hours at a time. I've decided that they are the most boring creatures to watch, LOL! (But I enjoy them anyhow)
We once took a whole bunch of tadpoles to release in some slow water at the river. Some misquided frog left them in my horses's watering tough. The tadpoles became dinner for some very quick fish RIGHT before our eyes! Oh well... we had good intentions when we tried to release the tadpoles!!! Does that count? LOL
Songs of Joy
That's very funny and true.
So am I to understand that it is okay to have them or I do not have a choice?
I don't think you have a choice unless you transfer them regularly. Mine so far have not caused any mayhem in the two years I've had my pond. Most of them are smaller, but I do have one larger bullfrog.
From what I have read they are terratorial (sp?) which confuses me because from what I can tell I have two now who I am assuming are mates. I read the females are larger.
Two years is about the time I have had my pond too.
Oh right, I can see myself sitting out at night with a flashlight. NOT! I guess they will have to stay.
NOW, what about the racoon I saw this morning eating out of our feral cat's bowl! LOL, I wanted to create an Urban wildlife habitat.
Our solution to the racoon is to not feed the feral cat till right before we leave for work. That way it will be closer to daylight.
Thanks for your input ... (-:
Karen
I have so many different frogs and toads around my pond. I love them. They eat all kinds of bug and moths and such. I have never considered them to be a nuisance. There is nothing better than sitting outside at night and listening to the symphony of different frogs singing. I listen and try to pick out the different frogs based on their song. They have never eaten my fish or anything they are not supposed to eat. Obviously, with my tropical like jungle and high humidity, there is plenty of food for all. I did have one once that got stuck in a dog food bowl. He jumped in the bowl, ate all the dog food, and got so huge that he couldnt jump out.
Hi Ryliff,
That's funny about the dog bowl ...
It's good to know you have a variety of frogs. I read that these bull frogs have been agressive with other types and eating them. On one government website they are listed among the top 100 invasive critters.
Well, since my goal is to build a wildlife habitat in my yard I guess everyone will just have to get along ... (-:
Thanks for your input ... Karen
Ok, you guys that are NOT getting along??? OUT of the pool... go else where!!! You need to post a sign Kpoore, "Everybody play friendly or make your home somewhere else!!"
That's cute Psych! LOL
Karen
I took all of the pond lilies out of the big pond and was putting them in the kiddie pools to get them cleaned and then put in the nice clean warm water lil blue pools. Well, guess I had a few more lilies than I thought!! I ran up to the garage to get the last of the pools, I turned it over and something UGLY caught my eye, ACKKKKKKKKKKKK, there is was like stuck on the inside of the pool! I reached over and yanked a few tendrils off a vine and touched it! Nothing happend, it had the smallest eyes, wanna see it?? YUCK. DO YA HUH? EEEK
Awwww...It's a toad. We have them everywhere here.
In my HO, any frogs in the landscape is a sure sign of happiness
and health in the environment. Yes, they propagate, but they also
sing! Plant, sow, dunk enough for everyone to eat, catch them for
(ugh) dinner! TeeHee....
Good point Twohawk!
I certainly have a natural pond. It has just had a small pump for the two years I have had it. It's about 6'x4' and full of good bacteria and "stuff".
I do plan (God willing) to enlarge it and may consider a filter ... don't know. I think this year with all the rain we have had that my little pond was cleaned naturally.
We will see ...
Waiting for Fall here ...
Karen
Can't wait for fall to fall upon us, myself. With all my rock,
an inground pond is not for me. I love the sound of water tricklin',
and my goldfish is too big for the tank-so a deep water trough
pond might be the way to go. Maybe bring the fish in for
the coldest part of winter.
If its a goldfish, you can leave him out in the trough all winter. Goldfish hibernate in the winter. Just don't feed when the water temp get down to 50deg.
Goodness Twohawk, how cold does your winter get? I mean when I was in Washington living in zone 5, I just kept a stock tank heater in my water trough /fish pond and I had Koi, shobokun & gold fish, it did not "warm" the water, it just kept it from freezing. I did not lose any fish to winter in several years. As long as the top of the water does not freeze over, it is NOT too cold for your fish. They need the open water so bad gases can not build up under the ice. Maybe I'm wrong... but that was what I was told and it worked for me.
Pat
Oops, i was writing while drsaul was posting! Ditto on the do not feed.
Yes, you are right. I'm glad you mentioned that. I had forgotten about leaving a hole in the ice for gases to escape.
NEVER, never, never "break" a hole in the ice. It will put shock waves thru the ice and can hurt the fish. If you must "open" up the ice. You never to find a gentle way to do it.
my pond has gone down quite a bit this summer. There still is the deep end tho, I think it's about 8 to 12 ft. It has a clay bottom so it should never loose all the water. I had to keep pushing all the waterlilies and plants back toward the deeper water, that kept up for weeks, finally I put all of them in kiddie pools. Now I will have to attach string and just put them way down into the deeper part. When we finally get all the rain and the snow melts next spring I don't know how in the world I will ever get the pots up? The water level goes from one foot right down to the 8 9 ft. level, so when the water comes back it will be 14 16 deep, YIKES, Any suggestions would be great! I have never seen the water level like this ever. This is how low it is now.
Well Rats, thats not the one I had. Maybe this one can show how big.
Twohawk, I would not worry at all about your fish. It gets very cold here in Z5 and last year my little pond was frozen solid on the top for several weeks. I had gotten a heater that is used in stock ponds to keep a hole open in the ice but never got around to actually putting it in. The ice was thick enough where I could walk on the surface for quite a while. I did not expect to have any fish surivive but had quite the crew when it finally thawed this spring.
Well. it does at times get down into the teens here, but only
through the night, and then warms into the 20's during the day.
This type of cold snap usually doesn't last more than a few days
at a time. The stock tank I was referring to is a 75 gallon,
galvanized steel, above ground. Lots of folks around my area
(3-5 in. of soil over limestone) use them in place of in ground
ponds and use a pump to provide movement. They put a couple
goldfish in (mine is a whopper-not a koi) and water plants, and
voila! Ice forms on the top and will stop a trickle-would the fish
be safe in that kind of tank?
I had stock tank, (or horse trough, another name for it), same as you, and it was fine. In winters that were much colder and more sustained, then I made sure the water had an opening by using the stock tank heater.
I'm in Z5 and we just keep the waterfall running in the winter, haven't lost any fish or FROGS in the past 7 years. Plus it sounds really strange to step out in to a snow storm and hear running water.............
In our area there are several pond clubs and almost everyone keeps water running in the winter to keep the pond a little open.
As for the bulfrogs, get rid of them, they eat too many expensive fish, I catch mine with a fish net and take them tp my sister's (she lives on a lake).
I tried keeping the waterfall running, and most of the time that is a GREAT idea, but on a REALLY cold winter I would get a HUGE ice sculpture from the splashing water!
I haven't had any problem with our Bull frogs . . .yet. They just show up from the lake and the ponds near by. This photo is what I'm calling a Bull frog. I have loads more Leopard frogs where I am. I would say I see/find 10 Leopard frogs for every Bull frog I come across.
Yes, darlin. Looks like a bull frog type.
Boy can they jump!
Twohawk, I just re-read what you posted....catch n eat toad, ugh, tee hee, UGH, and I thought I hated eating burned, awful, LIVER for dinner! Boy, it's a good thing that your emamil kitchen table had those big old metal HOLLOW tubular legs, LOLOL Well, whats a person to do when there are no pet dogs in the house, to feed yucky food to?, LOL
We bought 5 bullfrog tadpoles this spring and 3 grew up and stuck around for awhile. I guess ours got bored and left, or were eaten by something else.
I have a question about the frogs..... Where did they go?? Do they hibernate for the winter?? and if so, where? are they down in the bottom of the pond, or are they out in the woods somewhere?
I read somewhere that they bury themselves underground to go dormant. Maybe this is true, maybe it's not?
VERY true, as those of us who have accidently dug up a frozen frog can attest!
A couple of years ago,Cleo, the Bullfrog, scared me when I was digging around for some bulbs in the spring. He had dug a hole in the ground that was covered by leaves and he came up out of the hole just a glaring at me for disturbing his winter sleep. I was so startled, my trowel went flying and I fell backwards and ended up with mud on my face and a wet butt:)))) Now when I dig around in the spring, I keep an eye out for that Froggy.
I will bet that froggie was laughing after his initial anger!!!! LOL....So they arent actually In the pond but in the ground around it???
Well, that froggie has been in both places. I love him dearly but he's always scaring me. Even in the pond, it creeps me out when he comes out of the water,something about his eyes and body language. I hand feed him in the summer months. I have this book on how to get them to do it. You start out with small pieces of red worms stuck on a toothpick. It worked 'cause he got my thumb once with his sticky tongue whilst he captured the squirming worm.Yuck! I just can't resist the thrill of hand feeding him even though he is rather gross with his messy, slimmy, sticky tongue.