Thank you Fetters. Really good post. Quite timely for us as DH has suggested putting in a garden pond. My first question was, "What about the mosquitoes?" I was intrigued by the mention of Lemon Eucalyptus. E maculata sounded somewhat familiar so I assumed we call it something else down here. I googled it and this is what I found. E maculata is known as Spotted Gum or Honey Gum (good for bees). E citriodora is known as Lemon-Scented Gum. And there is a hybrid E maculata citriodora. Recently these particular gums have been reclassified from Eucalyptus to Corymbia (useful to know in case the nurseries change the labels). I debated whether to mention the next bit. In some areas they are getting a reputation as an invasive weed. It's hard to know when such a reputation is truly warranted. (I have some birch trees, which are most definately not indigenous to my area, and I do get seedlings coming up, but after all these years my birches haven't taken over the nearby bushland. Or is that because they have no chance against the Patterson's Curse, which was once an introduced garden flower.) I suppose all I can say is do some research if you're thinking of planting one. Perhaps conditions in the areas of the US where they are grown are such that they are happy enough to grow okay but not so happy that they get out of control. And the good news is if you change your mind after you've planted one, it apparently makes really good timber. Hello OzOrganic. Sorry to hear about your landlord issue. Don't get me started on that subject. Hope you find a solution soon.

buyorsell - are you saying gambusia CAN"T eat the frog eggs? Nature may suddenly be taking care of my need to find new homes for my goldfish because for the first time yesterday morning I found pieces of a goldfish lying in the weeds beside my pond. I guess it must be a predator bird because a raccoon would probably would have just gulped down the whole thing. ? Obviously something got scared away before it finished its fish breakfast. I have a tightly fenced pond area and I KNOW there never have been any bullfrogs in it, or pesticides, and I still lost all the tree frogs that were here. Guess it must have been the goldfish eating the eggs after all. The tree farmer on the north side of me rides around with his tank of poison and sprays all of his land, including beside the creek. He doesn't believe in leaving anything for natural critters, just has row after row of holiday trees growing on bare dirt. Possibly the disappearance of frogs in the creek is because of his ignorance, and many other people using chemicals too near the water too. Seen the pesticide/herbicide aisles in the big box stores lately? Makes me sick. i think nancym may be cleaning her pond yearly because she has koi and for both reasons it isn't a natural pond.

As long as they use "breather plastic bags" designed for fish transport, I had excellent luck getting Tadpoles on line with 100% shipping survival via priority mail, 3x last spring and early summer. One order was lost for 2-3 days (5-6 day total shipping duration) and they still arrived happy. Plan on about $1 per Tadpole. Agree ... DO NOT buy or locally catch and move Bullfrogs!! I've had them before from a nearby lake and they do very well, but eat anything that they can get into their greedy mouth, including other frogs, fish, bats, snakes, small birds. Theyre born desperately hungry! Mine have grown from 2.5" to full 6 to 8" mature size in one summer! DNR will hate you, because they roam and often get out. They successfully track water can go a couple miles to find a new area to invade. If you like big and beautiful, look instead for Leopard Frogs. They are native to much of US but are getting rare due to loss of habitat and Bullfrog predation*. How can a Frog Person not like this green beauty? Semiaquatic frogs like Leopards and Bullfrogs will jump all over your yard at night (so must seal fence excape areas!) They quickly learn where the pond safety zone is and can take a series of rapid leaps across your yard or greenhouse and disappear under water. Mine can do this the moment I open a sllding door to go outside. If you are trying to introduce frogs from a wild gathered egg cluster(s) note that the clusters might be salamanders instead! Frog eggs within the cluster mass look like little rounded clear jelly spheres, especially visible when the cluster tears open. Whereas salamander egg clusters look like a jelly mass with no visible clear spheres inside, just the growing amphibians. When they tear open, no clear rounded spheres are evident. Both animal embryos within the eggs mass look rounded at first and then enlarge over time. Near to hatching time salamanders embryos elongate and show an arrowhead shaped head with little gills zones on the sides of their neck. It amazes me that a frog or slender little 5-6" salamader can lay a 3-4"+ diameter egg mass. The masses are not large when laid but swell afterwards. When ready to hatch, enzymes are released to largely dissolve the gel, almost in unison, releasing the babies to roam. * WARNING do not put small tadpoles or tiny frogs into ponds with Goldfish of any size. Unless there is a ton of water vegetation to hide in for instance along shallow pond margins, the fish can eat them about as fast as you eat popcorn (and at $1 per amphibian kernal). Even with cover the fish will hunt them constantly. Instead use a 5 gallon tub to the side or partially submerged, partially shaded from hot sun, and a wire cover to stop raccoon, bird or adult frog attacks. Hatched Tadpoles of any kind grow fast and very healhy when using a pond fish food. Suggest floating a few Goldfish or Koi food pellets, which they nibble on as these softens. A few 'Tads often gather around each floating pellet. Thus, you get to see the 'Tads better and little food is lost or spoils. This also helps indicate when to add more food. Make sure to also have some fine leaved pond weeds therein to hide in and nibble on. 'Tads can mouth breathe if the oxygen gets too low in the container water. However, if there is prolonged or marked frantic gulping for air, spread the 'Tads between additional containers. It is warmer in a bucket than in a pond. Avoid full sun locations unless the bucket is inset deeply into the pond or ground. Obviously, do not add 'Tads to your pond until they are large enough to NOT fit into the mouth of your largest fish! If they do not mature into adults the first year in a cooler climate they will overwinter on the pond bottom and finish their cycle the next year. If the pond can potentially ice over, use waterfall flow or small fishtank air bubbler to stir the surface and keep an open zone for air exchange. Otherwise decaying plant matter consumes the oxygen, and excess carbon dioxide and ammonia fumes can build up, killing 'Tads and fish. Much like goldfish, 'Tads will hunt out mosquito larvae in buckets or ponds. In ponds I suggest having 3-4 of the same frog species in hopes of getting a breeding pair so that the cycle maintains. Frogs can live several years and overwinter well. But for a Frog pond to stay "frogged" you are going to need a fenced yard with board blockage to 2-3' high and enough yard and vegatation to support the insect and earthworm levels needed to support the mature frog population. Fish in the pond are important to stop over tadpole = future frog population. In our yard, we keep a lotus tub with lotus to the side of the pond without fish. This is so we can put in egg clusters there when frog populations are low. If you live near a lake or bog lands and hear frogs in mating season, don't fully board fence your yard. Just BUILD IT (the pond) AND THEY WILL COME. Treefrog populations are especially mobile to the right habitat. The above is A LOT of detail and several years experience working to get frogs established in our yards at two different locations. Based on hard won experience it can take years to get right, and is easy with the right match of mostly the right habitat and then frog species. Bullfrogs are easiest but don't do it unless they surround your yard anyway. Local Toad species might work better if you don't have enough cool leafy forage zones for Semiaquatic Frogs. They still need 'Tad growth ponds to sustain.

Toads eat bugs, and bugs are attracted to light, water, and hiding places. Toads, and most other frogs, also mate & lay eggs in water. The water needs to be a pond, ditch, or deep puddle, with a going mini-ecology, so that the tadpoles have something to eat & places to hide. (A saucer of water is not sufficient.) I can nearly always find a toad or two at night, waiting for dinner under the porch light. Thick, fine foliage is only a few inches away, and the automatic sprinklers keep the ground moist for both the frogs and bugs. The toads just wait for a flying bug to land on the foliage or the concrete below the light. Put in a small garden pond with a little rock waterfall, and let it run for a summer. Plant ferns or other fine foliage around it. Pretty soon you'll find that birds have brought frog eggs (stuck to their feet), and you'll get tadpoles.. and frogs. The waterfall provides aeration that is often absent in a still garden pond. Aeration is the key to beneficial organisms starting a viable ecology in the pond. Algae growing on the waterfall rocks also provides feed to microorganisms that feed the tapoles, as well as snails & other pond critters. Of course, the perfect environment for frogs is also the perfect environment for snakes.. who feed on frogs. Most snakes are very reclusive, and you may have a half-dozen small snakes in your yard and go for years without ever seeing one. (I haven't mentioned that to my wife.) Snakes also eat small rodents, which is a feature that keeps them on my "good critter" list. On warm summer nights in the south, following a rain, toads and other small frogs go noisily berserk in their mating frenzies. Drive out into the country after a rain has followed a couple-of-weeks dry spell. The ditches will be full of frogs and long sticky strings of frog eggs. The country-ditch ecology will not miss a zip-bag full of eggs, from among the billions of frog eggs that are laid in a damp summer night. (Wear high boots, and make lots of noise walking.. snakes will hear you coming & nearly all snakes will leave the immediate area if they "hear" a human.) Here is a link that might be useful: Lone Star Chapter, American Hibiscus Society