I find that odd. I have hundreds of frogs and thousands of tadpoles in the spring. None of them die off, my guess is something got in the water and contaminated it. Test the water.

I didn't have any frogs last year but 2 years ago I started winter with 7 frogs in my 600ish gallon pond. That winter the temps went up and down-so much that a few of the frogs would come out of hibernation and sit by the pond. A few days later it would be freezing again. All but one of the 7 died-probably because of not being able to adjust to the rapidly changing temps. They did not all die at once-you can tell the dead ones because they get a whiteish cast.

Possibly some leaves left at the bottom (or some type of mat) may help protect the frog. Heating the pond, though expensive, might also work.

I only have one bullfrog this year and may just give it an eviction notice so it can bury in mud instead of trying to tough it out in my pond this winter. I won't have to worry about it dying unseen and contaminating the water for the fish (which winter just fine.)

Folks with bigger ponds have fewer frog deaths because the larger volume of water changes temperature slower.

Thanks all for the responses!

I just have one question for riverspots ... how does one "evict" frogs? These guys are so elusive and agile! It would be great if we could move them to the large nearby drainage area for the winter, but I can't imaging trying to catch them!

We also have a baby BullFrog in our above ground 24' round pool converted to a pond. One section is dug into the side of a hill. I am not sure this baby BullFrog will survive this coming winter. He is so small and yes, very illusive. We sank some clay pipes in the area that is dug into the hill. We also will have a mini-tote box heater going to keep the air hole so desparately needed and a back-up stock tank deicer. But I am very worried about our baby "Bully". We have 6 more BullFrog Tadpoles in the pond/pool and have only seen one sunning itself on a Water Hyacinth. Our Goldfish survived last winter with the stock tank deicer going, but we also did not have the Baby Bull Frog and a Green Frog. We know the Green Frog is able to get out of the pond/pool but I doubt baby "Bully" knows or will be able to. He is only a couple of inches long...but jumps as soon as he sees you have spotted him. :( And if we were able to catch him, I truly do not know what to do with him. :(

Shoestring Ponder,
CyndiMO

The easiest way to catch a frog is at night with a flash light. Just shine the light on them and stick the net right in front of them. They practically jump right into it. A leaf net works best because it's deep enough to contain them pretty well.

The attached link is pretty good. It explains exactly how frogs make it through the winter. They simply sit in the bottom of the pond until warmer weather. According to the article, a bunch of leaves in the bottom will help the frogs survive, but a pile of leaves in the pond is not good at all for the fish. As leaves decompose, they release ammonia into the pond and affect water quality. So a fish pond and a frog pond can't really be managed the same way.

Here is a link that might be useful: how frogs survive the winter

I found 7 dead frogs in my pond last winter/spring. My pond is deep (in the center) and probably has enough stuff (at least from overturned plant containers) to burrow into, so maybe it was temperature flucuations that tempted them out of hibernation too early. I found them at different times when I was inspecting the pond, so they didn't all die at the same time.

Great link about wintering frogs! Thanks ccoombs!

And thanks to everyone else who responded. I now have a much better understanding of frogs! :-)

Instead of leaves (I just left them in last year for Froggie) this winter I'm going to add several pieces of synthetic cotton batting left over from the filter. Gives him a non-biodegradable place to burrow.