I have a Koi pond with green frogs that sing beautifully but miss the sound of bull frogs. Problem is... Bull frogs eat fish.

Wow Gary: What a gem! Hmmm let me see, maybe if you have tadpoles I could swipe a few. lol Here is how you post a pic in your thread. 1. On Photobucket click on "share" directly above your picture (in between edit and delete). 2. When the screen changes click on the "get the link code." Third tab on the top of the screen (between send email and send to phone). 3. Select "HTML for websites & blogs". 4. Click on the very first address under "HTML for websites & blogs". The one that says Full size. 5. When the entire HTML address is highlighted right click on it and select "copy" from the drop down menu. 6. When you go back to the pond forum start a new message. In the message area right click and select paste from the drop down menu. This should place the link to your picture into the message area of your thread. You will see the HTML address until you click preview message. Once you have clicked preview message your thread should appear including the picture. Once you see the preview of your thread you can make changes by scrolling back down to the message area right above the "preview message" button. To make it easier for me I copy all my HTML links into a word document then select and copy all the links at one time to paste into my thread. Try practicing with some pics. Create a post called "practice" in the gallery to see if you can get the hang of it. Posters have done this in the past and nobody seemed to mind as long as it's in the gallery and not discussions or conversations. Would love to see more of your pics of frogs, pond, plants. Good Luck! Jenny

I think expecting frogs to control mosquitos is kind of like expecting cats to control roaches... they might catch on one occassion, but in general the bugs are too small and numerous for the frogs to either pay them much attention or make much of an impact. From what I've read, the BIGGEST thing for adult mosquito control is dragonflies (which, unfortunately, the frogs are far more likely to eat, lol, but then the habitat that is inviting to the frogs is also inviting to the dragonflies, so I guess that's a tradeoff). Some say bats also catch mosquitos. I don't know... skeeters seem like a might tiny meal to me for anything much bigger than another bug or a small fish, which WILL eat one that lights on the water, and will, of course, eat all the larvae they can, assuming you have enough small fish to keep up with the larvae. At any rate, amphibians are VERY threatened in our modern environment, so I'd certainly encourage as many as I could... They're all gonna eat SOMETHING you don't want, even if some occassionally DO also eat things you also DO want. Let's just hope the dreaded CANE TOADS (Bufo marinus) don't make their way this far north... Mostly known as a pest species in Australia, they're also quite prevalent in South Florida, where they eat ALL the other frogs, and anything else they can (they get even bigger than bullfrogs). Like most toads, cane toads excrete poison from glands behind their eyes. But in the case of cane toads, it's quite toxic and has killed a good number of dogs and cats unfortunate enough to tangle with one of them. From what I understand, they're still limited to South Florida in the east coast, so I don't think they're any concern here, yet. If you ever see a really BIG, ugly toad, though (as big or bigger than a bullfrog) be wary. I don't know if they can survive in our colder climate, but that doesn't mean somebody won't bring one some with them some summer and let them loose, so it's always possible even if they're not winter hardy that we could encounter one in the warm weather, thanks for someone who thought they were "neat," or who had nefarious intentions akin to bioterrorism (I know that's a bit of a stretch, but then people can do some REALLY STRANGE THINGS). Our own bullfrogs, which are quite native east of the Mississippi, are NOT native out west, yet were imported out there at some point during this century by various people for whatever reason(s) (nobody seems to know the full story behind this). At any rate, they've gotten loose in the ecosystem in some west-coast areas and are decimating the local amphibians just about as badly as the cane toads do in South Florida. Things just DON'T BELONG out of place, in the wild. Happy Hoppin'! Jeff

Actually, Dragonstone, since bullfrogs are native to this entire area of the country, I don't concern myself with the possibility of them hopping off and doing damage somewhere else. If they were a non-native species, I likely wouldn't be able to buy them here, as they HAVE done considerable damage to some ecosystems out west, where they were imported. Also, roughly 100 yards from my ponds in 2 different directions are natural creeks -- a medium-sized creek to the south and a small one to the west that empties into that one. Both of those creeks could, and probably SHOULD be natural homes for bullfrogs, already, yet I've never heard the characteristic sound they make, likely because we've done enough environmental damage this close to the city to denigrate the environment and make it un-frog-friendly. At any rate, if any of my male frogs had made it to one of those creeks, I'd likely have STILL heard them, since their "jug-o-rum" call can supposedly be heard for a quarter mile or more, and I've yet to hear it coming from those creeks. Also, as far as I know, I'm the first and only person in my neighborhood to "catch" the man-made ponding "bug" so far. As far as I can see when I drive around the neighborhood, nobody else has put in a water garden to date, although many have made compliments on mine... So no, that's not a concern to me, but it was good of you to think of it. Also, bullfrogs DO NOT "destroy ponds." Even where they're doing damage to the ecosystem, the worst they do is eat all the other native amphibians and take their place in the ecosystem, which is why many other folks who have water gardens and like keeping smaller pond frogs, such as pickerel frogs, leopard frogs or green frogs, will catch any bullfrogs they have and relocate them to a lake somewhere, because given enough time, all they'll have left is bullfrogs. Happy Croakin'! :) Jeff