OOh.. That is horrible. I would put out a trap and turn the cats over to animal control. They will furnish the trap if you call them. Glenda

Oh Koijoi.....I'm so sorry!

So sorry about King!

Awww... sorry about King.

Long live the King in our memories! I'm sorry for your loss, Jenny. :(

Brenda

I'm sorry for the loss of your froggie but it is much more likely a raccoon caught him than a cat.

I'm sorry as well to hear about that. I agree with Buyorself888 - it was much more likely a raccoon that did that than a cat. Eating only half his body tends to be a calling card that raccoons leave behind..
~Mike

My cat does that .... not this year yet.

But he only eats part of the birds he catches (except the babies) ... last year he didn't eat the whole frogs, only parts, one he was eating the foot off of.

King was a handsome fellow. I'm so sorry for his tragic loss. Did he leave any Princes and Princesses to carry on his legacy?

Sorry about King the frog. I've grown almost as attached to my frogs as I am to my fish.
Jill

Thanks all for your sympathies. It just isn't the same sitting out by the pond now in the evening. He was my entertainment.

I thought about raccoons, even though I have never seen them I have seen their muddy paw prints on the liner. I have seen skunks and possums in the yard, but never raccoons. I put bleach in my garbage bags and used to set them outside the side door for my son to carry to the tree lawn when he gets in from work. He got tired of cleaning up garbage when he got home, so now we leave them in the kitchen till morning. I just assumed it was stray cats.

As far as I know King was a loner. He had no queen. So I don't think there are princes or princesses in the pond to carry on his legacy. Although he appeared out of nowhere so he could have had a few one-night-stands I didn't know about. My pond never ceases to amaze me, maybe I will hear little "ribbits" in the spring.

Jenny

He was a beauty. RIP, Prince.

Might have been a skunk.

I DETEST raccoons! There's one been spraying my perennials. If I ever catch that thing I'll ring it's neck. Last year they just about ate up all my little frogs. I'd find them upside down near the pond, partially eaten.

Dear Jenny,

Very sorry about King. This is the frog that waited for you to turn the floodlight on yes? The pic shows him at his prime. What a cutie! His life was short but very good I am sure. RIP King.

Warmest Regards,
Lisa

I drove home late one night and a raccoon was in one of my front ponds and he didn't even blink when I got out of the car and made two calls complaining about him.....

I've only seen them twice in over ten years of having ponds but they visit almost every night.

The fish pond is electrified, the frogs have to fend for themselves in the lily ponds.

In our suburban setting, my small (to me at least) yard has frequent visits by the local raccoons and other critters. This year I think we may have 6 or 7 regulars not counting the babies. Our neighbors would have fits if they knew what lived right in among them. Recently I saw a coyote a few blocks away from our house. I have no doubt it's hunting area will soon include our neighborhood since the shopping center and new building at the University will have to push it this way.
Buy or sell, who do you call to complain to? In most cases, unless there is a possibility of animal attacks, you are pretty much on your own. There are a couple of guys here making a living trapping and moving critters and they don't come cheap.
As for the cats and their terrorizing of the neighborhood, I wish one of them lived near me. I lose major money, sweat and aches and pains each year due to the excess of rabbits, chippers and squirrels and mice and voles and moles who wreak havoc in my yard and garden. With leash laws for cats and a few residents who don't see the connection between cute cuddly bunnies and the ravening hoards of critters competing for territory that will feed them I would love to have a control predator in the area. Since we have impacted the areas where they would live with lawns and patios etc. there are too many critters competing for the same assets. Often, they become a problem unless Mother Nature steps in with starvation and disease shared by the entire animal population and that is not pretty. Sometimes we change the rules. We leave food out for our pets or don't cover the garbage and we then become aware of our animal neighbors who don't go by the same rules as our pets. Since we are supplying a glut of food, we soon have a glut of critters. The critters who go along with the rule changes and become pets often lose their protective caution and become the first on the list of the predator's menu.
I have a great deal of respect for the Vets and animal rehabbers who spend their lives and resources dealing with the critters who have been damaged or orphaned through accident or attack. They have to resist their instincts to make a pet out of their patient and remember that it is a wild animal that will, if possible, be released back into the wild. I don't think I could make that kind of effort and emotional commitment and not be devastated when the time came to give it back to Mother Nature. (I have had to do it on occasion and it was terrible to have to let it go.) Then, if the animal cannot be rehabbed they have to find that animal a safe home or make a commitment to care for it the rest of it's natural life or in some sad cases, put it down.
I didn't start this to preach. Sorry. I intended to simply commiserate with you for your loss. We do become so attached. Now I have to go wait outside for the raccoons who have trashed my pond 3 times in the past week. I hope my yelling and cane waving and the water hose does it's job. They have me worn to a frazzle. Sandy

There is one alternative to countering the raccoons that invade favoried ponds. Establish a trash pond made out of an old bathtub or other large container that can handle lots of abuse-a heavy plastic laundry tub. Sink it into the ground way out in the back behind bushes where animals might feel safer. Add water, throw in some extra floating plants-from cleaning out your favored ponds, and get $5 worth of feeder goldfish (30-50 fish) and dummp them in the trash pond. Then teach the animals that they expect being hassled if they mess with your favored ponds but let them do their thing with the trash pond. It requires a constant rebuttal at your favored ponds for a while until they get the connection and once having done so will tend to go to the trash ponds and leave your favored ones alone. Sometimes adding light on the scene when repealing from the favored ponds will provide a secondary reimforcer to where not to visit and use a light on at night near the favored ponds as that secondary signal to the animal of where not to visit. Remember they are mammals and basically not all that different from humans-only the nature of the flesh limits their perspective which is trainable if not teachable.

Great. now you make me want frogs in my pond even more. That is such a handsome frog. I can relate, I played a frog for a theatre production of alice in wonderland.

Is there a certain season to get tadpoles or is it too late?

I called my husband and a friend to complain about the brazen raccoon. Not some government agency. :)

I opened up the garage door and went in to get my camera and the noise my camera makes when it turns on scared him away while my car driving up and me talking on the phone and then opening the electric garage door didn't bother him a bit.....

Sorry about your frog:-( He's was a handsome fellow and King was a fitting name.

Sandy - if you have coyotes you won't have to worry long about loose cats, rabbits and the like.

Comettose, if you read my post you should have noticed I said we have leash laws for cats here. The ones that do go out don't seem to stay out very long due to the abundance of large dogs that get out too often even with a fence surrounding every house, and the critters like the raccoons that have no fear of man or beast due to the unknown animal lovers who have been hand feeding them. That is a disaster waiting to happen.
We had coyotes in Wisconsin and while they are facinating, they are opportunists that will grab anything they can and if they have lost their fear of people might even make a try for an infant(or so I have heard)if there is a pack running together. I kept looking for a rabbit population in our woods and thought the hawks were keeping the population down until I saw the coyotes. Here is hoping they decide to go toward the farms instead of into more populated areas.
I have been trying to develop a frog population here for several years and haven't managed to keep even one. I am sure it is because every one here uses so many chemicals on their yards. I do miss them and their mating songs.

koijoyii, all this talk about frogs has made me want one, so yesterday I was at my sisters and there were 3 little frogs in her basement window well. I was able to get one in a jar and now he's somewhere in my pond! I can't find him but I have a feeling he's doing fine. I just love free stuff.