Don't have much to offer, but that is so cool! I have one frog in my little pond, a bullfrog I think. I am hoping he (or she) finds a friend and makes babies. I will be watching your post as I hope I will need to know this info soon too!

It is cool. Here's a picture of the parents.

{{gwi:196445}}

You will need to protect them from any pump intake. I place a mesh planting pot in the front of the skimmer opening to keep them from going in. Even if you protect them from a pump intake some tadpoles may still get thru and end up in your filter. I have an open filter so I had to remove the tiny toads from the filter when they reached that stage. They were too small to jump out.

The toads will be incredibly tiny- so watch your step when they leave the pond. And after that you will have to watch for them when doing yardwork less you step on them.

I never noticed a change in water quality when I had tadpoles.

You can see the fish eating the eggs in the bottom pic. If you have any eggs left you should cover them or remove them. I put a clothes basket with small holes over my eggs with a weight on top.

If they're actually eating them I'll be surprised. All my fish spit out toadpoles & don't eat toad eggs. Now frogpoles & frog eggs is another story.

Apparently toads, toadpoles & eggs are supposed to have a nasty taste or something that the fish don't even like.

They didn't eat them, but they did pull them out halfway across the pond. Wish I could've gotten a video of it. Pretty funny. Almost looked like they were going to play tug-o-war.

I will be working on expanding the area outside the pond, landscaping and all that. I will have add alot of 'natural' area so they can live safe. Most of the yard right now is flat lawn.

Great information, Horton. You are a good writer; it's a pleasure to read your posts.
Renee

Thanks, Horton. As always you are a treasure trove of information. I never thought about them all returning. Yikes.

If I choose to move them to another pond, do I just scoop up the eggs into a bucket? There is a pond about 1/8 of a mile from my house. How many would be too many? My pond is right about 900 gallons.

Thanks, Vickie

Hi Vickie!

Your pond is beautiful! Congratulations on the new kids!

I was really admiring the pics of your pond. I'm in the middle of re-designing some waterfall/stream areas and the landscaping around the edges of my pond. From what I can see in your pics, I'm intrigued by the rock work you have in your pond. WOuld you mind posting some more pics of your pond? Or you can pm them to me too if you'd rather.

Thanks!!

Something went wrong! I posted a reply to you Vickie two hours ago and it disappeared!!??
Anyway Vickie, just put the spawn/tadpoles you want to move in a bucket with enough water to stop them drying out and take them to their new home.

Toads are more likely to survive than frogs. They are hardier and with their bitter tasting secretions, they do not have many predators who will try eating them twice.
Frogs (and many other amphibians) on the other hand are in serious trouble all over the world with the loss of their natural breeding areas, chemicals in the water from fertilizers and insecticides, plus the high UV rays coming from the sun, that are damaging their sensitive skin.
"Horton"
P.S.
Thank you both, Vickie and Renee, for your kind comments.
"Horton"

Hi Jenny. I have all kinds of pictures taken from the beginning of the pond build last summer all the way up to just a few minutes ago, so I would be happy to help in any way I can.

It has taken me nearly a year to get the rocks just right for the most part. If there is a certain viewpoint or area that interests you, let me know and I will find the best ones. Are you wanting pics of the waterfall only or all parts of the pond including details? :)

Thanks, Vickie

Hello again. Another question for you. A bunch of the toads eggs have turned white. That's bad, isn't it? If so, what happened and what do I do? Aren't they supposed to stay black? Should I scoop them out to help the pond health?

I hear the toads again tonight. I have my hearing aid turned up full blast and the windows wide open. Last night, during my noctural wanderings, I sat on the deck at 3 am listening to them sing to me while I drank more coffee I did NOT need.

Jenny, watch for your name in the subject line in the gallery section. I am going to start a new thread over there. It will have alot of pictures that I've taken over the past year. I hope I can do your request justice and that the information you want and need is there. I am leaving for 2 weeks tomorrow and didn't want you to think I'd forgotten about you. I am already experiencing 'pond withdrawals.

Hi Horton, thank for your help. Are you warming up yet?

Be back soon, Vickie

Miss Vickie, the white ones are done, you could try to take them out, if you can separate them from the black ones and dispose of them into the trash. Or just leave them to decompose, there is always some spawn that does not get fertilized and turns white.

We are sitting, temperature wise, in the low 60's F at present. We did have a couple of crazy 78/80F days last week, so we took off our mucklucks,removed the insulated trousers and ran around in our thermal underwear for a couple of hours.LOL
"Horton"

Thanks Vickie for the pics!

I'm interested in it all! I so did not want the rock necklace look around my pond but somehow I ended up with it anyway! LOL

I'm just trying to look at as many ponds and their edging, waterfalls, you name it, etc for ways to expand/improve my landscaping to help my pond look a bit more natural.

Thanks again and enjoy your two weeks away. I hope you have lots of babies waiting for you in your pond when you return!

Oh Horton, you are so funny. I've got the picture in my mind. LOL. We had such a rare cold winter that I told one of the girls at work that when the temps hit 50 I'd wear a bikini and I'm cold-natured enough as it is. It is sad to lose some, but that is nature doing her thing. Thank you.

Jenny, I am glad you enjoyed them. I did the same thing and poured through hundreds of pictures. The thing I liked best is every pond is different and as is their flair for ponding. And I have gotten so much great advice. I had really been really picky about the rocks I wanted, like just certain colors, shapes, whatnot. While I am far from finishhed, I am happy with the looks of it so far. I think the best thing you can do to avoid the necklace look, is to vary the sizes of the rocks. You will get the necklace look when you first start out, but it will go away when you start stacking. Now I am lookiing for inspiration for landscaping OUTSIDE the pond myself.

You all have a wonderful day.

I am back from vacation and I think I have a million tadpoles. Ain't it grand. Pond did fine while I was gone, but I sure missed it. I have 2 buds getting ready to come up on my waterlily. They will be my first. I'm excited. I did lose my blue rush, but it didn't look very happy when I left. And, my WH are awful again this year. They were a bust last year, and looks like it will be the same this year too. Oh well, can't win them all. :)

I have a fountain that sits on a concrete patio. Tadpoles have happily been growing in it...I cook lettuce then freeze it and add it as needed for food. Now that some are beginning to look like frogs, does anyone know how I can help them safely jump out of the pond and not get killed when they land on concrete? It is about a 3 foot drop. Hmmmmm

You've resurrected an old thread here, but I wanted to reassure you that your frogs will easily jump three feet without harming themselves. They are born to jump... And land!

Thanks!