@ Cazz1, I was wondering why a three year old thread was resurrected, lol. Mr Bullfrog may well be your Prince;) But you should know he absolutely will eat your fish and even small birds. Yes, nature is grand and I've loved and hand-fed many a bullfrog in my day. Once upon a time there was one who would follow my dad & I around the yard while we worked. He was hilarious and ate crickets out of our hands (aptly named Prince for anyone who's interested). That said, in the years since I've had a garden pond, I relocate them if they take up residence. My fishies are my pets and they do not coexist well, sadly. I don't doubt your new friend has won your heart. But if you allow him to stay, prepare yourself to deal with the natural food chain. Your handsome prince is a predator in that environment. blessings,

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

I'm curious about how you make a cheap pond in your backyard? I'd like to make one in my yard. If you could, please e-mail me at DavidCappola@aim.com And if there are any natural ponds or lakes near you, you would probably have a lot of luck finding tadpoles or frogs there. This is the time of year when they are first born and very abundant.

It looks well worth a bit of pampering...I don't know of many with that clean of a background and red eye and edge. This is one of my wife's favorite color combos on daylilies. She just got this one, so I hope it makes it through the winter!