I also have a frog that appeared as a baby last spring and as of today, 12-30-12, he is still there. it is a small round plastic tub that holds about 5 gallons of water and is about10 inches deep. I have a heater that has kept the water right at 40 degrees. The other tanks that make up the garden have frozen. This is a green frog, don't think it is a bull frog. I have gotten frogs from somewhere over the past few years. This past summer,I had 3. The other two smarter ones left but this one stayed. This pond has a lot of dead leaves on the bottom and also a thick patch of green moss that is still alive and just barley pokes out above the water. I saw "Fred" just a few minutes ago with his head and nose up out of the water so I know he is not hibernating. I bought some aquarium frog pellets in case he should eat since he is active but I bet that was a waste of money. I feel better buying it anyway. Wonder if he will make it over the winter....if he does I wonder what effect not hibernating over the winter will have on him. There is absolutely no other water I know of around me, it is a mystery each year where these come from....several have been itty bitty but some come back a couple years then I don't see them anymore and a baby takes its place. I am attaching a picture from today Am I fighting a losing battle?

I was under the impression that frogs/toads are insect eaters. Any chance that your friend's buds are collateral damage? I have loads of toads in the yard and the greenhouse is occupied by frogs, and I've never lost anything other than bugs to them. Can't wait to see the photos and fing out more...a mystery for sure. Perhaps she can capture and humanely relocate it to a better environment. Kristi

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.

Rita, Hopefully your frog is hiding somewhere around your stocktank! Your setup with the rocks etc is perfect for him, so I bet he will. He probably liked your daylily tray because the water was a little warmer than the freshly filled pond. They are such fun to have in the yard.. always cute little surprises when the frogs are in the flowers, and a nice but startling surprise when you come across a toad in an unexpected spot. Happyjacq--What an odd looking little critter your tree frog is! We have nothing like him in my area... my treefrogs are similar to Bj's. He is adorable! A frog helping me figure out a NOID daylily. Almost like "Where's Waldo!" at the bottom of a natural creek that runs through my rose garden. We had hundreds of tiny toads the spring before last. I had several in resident toads in my greenhouse last winter.. they like the water and especially like snuggling my light transformer like this when it gets really chilly. We have frogs galore, and toads as well. We have a lot of natural springs in our area, and I have one small decorative pond and a large one that is about 30 foot in diameter, so they are very happy in our world. Julie