Frogs took over my pre formed pond

Not sure if any of my fathead minnows are left but at least 7 frogs are now in the pond along with tadpoles. I believe the big frog is back in the pond after leaving. All the other frogs are small. Plant is parrots feather. Funny thing is I live in uplands away from any water frog marsh or stream.

Here is a pic from today:

Edited by Gambusia, 15 September 2010 - 02:00 PM.

well frogs i guess arent really pests, although i think they could very easily make meals out of the fathead minnows

We had frogs come to our small backyard pond as well. Luckily it only had a few goldfish in it and they are large enough not to get eaten. It's amazing how far frogs will travel to get to a new water hole.

I found frogs peeking out of my duckweed covered buckets of Daphnia a month ago. It was quite a surprise!

Now how on earth do frogs know there's water in a tall container they can't see into? Treefrogs I understand, but all these greenfrogs, bullfrogs, even occasional leopard frogs that appear suddenly in 12 to 16 inch tall above-ground tubs and pools, 1/4 mile or more from any other suitable habitat. Do leaves decaying in water have a distinct smell (different from decay in soil)? Or do they follow the dragonflies and mosquitoes?

I too am surprised and wonder... I have southern leopards that get into 100 gallon stock tanks sitting on the ground and other containers (really they are trash cans growing water lettuce and sometimes guppies) that are almost 3 feet tall. And I have seen then sitting in there in the evenings... as well as the variety of tadpoles (obviously different species... probably some other tree frogs, I hear and see those all the time as well).

Thats a good question.

We have spring peepers around on the trees and bushes plus toads. I believe these frogs are green frogs. This pond freezes solid in the winter as I live in the mountains of NC. I remove any fish remaining in the fall

There is an intermittent very small spring fed stream on the other side of my neighbor's property to our left but any frogs in there would have to cross 200 yards of unmowed tall fescue and green foxtail uphill and about 50 yards of mowed grass uphill too. Plus during a drought sometimes that stream goes dry.

Not sure what I should do with these frogs when the weather turns. Maybe they will disperse naturally

Edited by Gambusia, 17 September 2010 - 11:26 AM.

Here's a theory: gray treefrogs always seem to show up first in my containers, so maybe the ground-dwelling Rana species (green, bull, leopard) follow the calls of treefrogs. Once one male has found a new pool worth singing about, others follow the call.

Greenfrogs overwinter OK in my shallow wading pool that freezes a few inches thick. As long as it doesnt freeze to the bottom or become anaerobic I guess they're OK under ice.

leopard frogs actually hunt away from water, so its not uncommon to find them far from water

Now how on earth do frogs know there's water in a tall container they can't see into? Treefrogs I understand, but all these greenfrogs, bullfrogs, even occasional leopard frogs that appear suddenly in 12 to 16 inch tall above-ground tubs and pools, 1/4 mile or more from any other suitable habitat. Do leaves decaying in water have a distinct smell (different from decay in soil)? Or do they follow the dragonflies and mosquitoes?

The only thing I could think of was that I put a plant in my container pond with frogs eggs in it. Only thing is I found a frog in a pint sized jar that had been full of daphnia. I was shocked! I look into these containers all the time to see how much daphnia I've got and never saw a tadpole. But yesterday I found an inch long stickleback in one. Granted this jar had some pretty serious greenwater in it and was larger- about a gallon....

leopard frogs actually hunt away from water, so its not uncommon to find them far from water

Ah, the frogs in my containers appeared to be leopard frogs. The closest water to me is a small stream about 100 yards away.

I have several small ponds set up in my yard initially for th epurpose of grwoing out fry. On my property I have ~1/4 acre pond full of bull and green frogs - there is MASS migration after and during rain events or anytime the grass is wet. When iwas raising fry in the ponds my and my beer would walk the yard every night with a red flash light, catch all the frogs I could and put them in the ditch accross the street from me. An endless cycle. Makes me want to get a cat....

It sucks because I have (had) plans to build another small pond (I am blessed and cursed with very clayey soils) that I wanted to populated with eastern spotted newts but there is no way they could compete with bull frogs. Can't sped every stinking night catching frogs after all.

I have several small ponds set up in my yard initially for th epurpose of grwoing out fry. On my property I have ~1/4 acre pond full of bull and green frogs - there is MASS migration after and during rain events or anytime the grass is wet. When iwas raising fry in the ponds my and my beer would walk the yard every night with a red flash light, catch all the frogs I could and put them in the ditch accross the street from me. An endless cycle. Makes me want to get a cat....

It sucks because I have (had) plans to build another small pond (I am blessed and cursed with very clayey soils) that I wanted to populated with eastern spotted newts but there is no way they could compete with bull frogs. Can't sped every stinking night catching frogs after all.

At my wife's old job 12 years ago they had a pond that was overrun with frogs so we spent a week catching young bass and sunfish and introduced them to the pond(closed system no chance of migration).What we didn't know was that at least one other person did the same thing. about 6 or 7 tears later they decided to drain the pond and some of the bass were huge and oh yeah they didn't have a frog problem anymore. That wouldn't work for you since you raise fish in your ponds but maybe a non aquatic species of snake like a black racer or hognose would work since they wouldn't be a threat to your fish like a watersnake would.

I have several small ponds set up in my yard initially for th epurpose of grwoing out fry. On my property I have ~1/4 acre pond full of bull and green frogs - there is MASS migration after and during rain events or anytime the grass is wet. When iwas raising fry in the ponds my and my beer would walk the yard every night with a red flash light, catch all the frogs I could and put them in the ditch accross the street from me. An endless cycle. Makes me want to get a cat....

It sucks because I have (had) plans to build another small pond (I am blessed and cursed with very clayey soils) that I wanted to populated with eastern spotted newts but there is no way they could compete with bull frogs. Can't sped every stinking night catching frogs after all.

put up a mesh fence around the pond to keep the frogs from migrating in?

...they had a pond that was overrun with frogs ...

This thread is making me think of the 1972 movie "Frogs" with Sam Elliott. One of the few movies that is actually on my bookshelf.

This thread is making me think of the 1972 movie "Frogs" with Sam Elliott. One of the few movies that is actually on my bookshelf.

I have the same movie, my brother gave it to me because he knows I like animals...still haven't un-shrinkwrapped it .

This thread is making me think of the 1972 movie "Frogs" with Sam Elliott. One of the few movies that is actually on my bookshelf.

What about "Night of the Lupus" ? The one with giant, mutant, man-eating bunny rabbits....

What about "Night of the Lupus" ? The one with giant, mutant, man-eating bunny rabbits....

Not unless Gambusia's pond is being taken over by bunny rabbits...

What about "Night of the Lupus" ? The one with giant, mutant, man-eating bunny rabbits....

lol that reminded me of the killer rabbit off of monty python's holy grail