Frogspawn

Kaldorn

I got some frogspawn from a pond in mayo and brought it up to dublin so i could have frogs in my pond.and tips on high survival rates for my tadpoles?

Chopperdog

Hi Kaldorn,
I dont pretend to be any great expert in this field but I do know that herons and other wading birds have a great affinity for frogspawn.
It will probably be in your best interest to cover the pond with some form of netting or barrier to keep the herons out.
I dont know where you live but if you are a city dweller dont discount the Heron threat as a friend of mine in Rathgar was having his carp taken by them.
Best of luck with the frogs and hope they come good for you !

boneless

I hate to tell you this, but it is illegal to take frog spawn from the 'wild' without a permit from the wildlife service.

If you're asked, you got it from a neighbours pond!!

Survival rate is low... tadpoles are cannibalistic and other predators mentioned above have a great time!!

Alun

Up in the wilds of the Wicklow Mountains I see frogspawn all over the place this time of year that has no hope of turning into tadpoles, let alone frogs, since the stupid blighters lay it in puddles of water on Coillte forest tracks barely an inch deep that will evaporate away as soon as the sun comes out leaving it to dry out. I've always wondered whether it'd be considered bad form by the nature conservation types to 'rescue' some of it and bring it home where at least it'd stand some chance of surviving in some deeper water. What do you think?

boneless

Frogs are a wee bit careless where they copulate!! I am often tempted to rescue spawn too. The ban on taking spawn was due to the dramatic drop of frog population in the 80's, but as far as I can see the numbers are up. There was a scare a couple of years ago too; some type of salmonella infection in the little beasts killed of a lot and it was transferable to humans too if they handled them.

snorlax

I have a whole pile of frog span is my pond and my wheelbarrow (have to move to pond), the tadpoles are about to hatch.

it takes the common frog 3 years to be able to reproduce so if you do get frog spawn be prepared to wait, as mentioned above survival rates are pretty low. often we only get 4/5 frogs surviving each summer. last summer was really bad for some reason as i didn't see any froglets emerging if you take into account the amount of frog span there originally.
frogs love having undergrowth near by to hide in, and a log or two to hibernate under when the winter comes although i'm not 1000%sure on this, i think some can hibernate at the bottom of the pond, so long as you put a ball on top of the water to prevent it fully freezing over.

Archeron

Anyone any idea what is the smallest pond frogs could actually live in? Mine is about 4 foot by 3 foot, and I suspect its too small. Also, would goldfish and frog spawn be a dangerous combination? (for the frogs)

boneless

Archeron wrote:

Anyone any idea what is the smallest pond frogs could actually live in? Mine is about 4 foot by 3 foot, and I suspect its too small. Also, would goldfish and frog spawn be a dangerous combination? (for the frogs)

Thats a good size. I have seen them in smaller ones.

I don't know a thing about goldfish mate!! Unless they are occurring in the wild they don't hold my attention, sorry!!

Archeron

boneless wrote:

I hate to tell you this, but it is illegal to take frog spawn from the 'wild' without a permit from the wildlife service.

If you're asked, you got it from a neighbours pond!!

Survival rate is low... tadpoles are cannibalistic and other predators mentioned above have a great time!!

You mention its illegal, but is it immoral? (Not being smart here) I am not as familliar with wildlife as I would like to be, so would you say its a bad thing to take it, from the frogs perspective? Is it likely to reduce their chances, or put them in danger, or is that just one of "those" laws? I want to make sure I dont endanger them by taking the spawn if, ecologically speaking, its a bad thing to do.

boneless

Archeron wrote:

You mention its illegal, but is it immoral? (Not being smart here) I am not as familliar with wildlife as I would like to be, so would you say its a bad thing to take it, from the frogs perspective? Is it likely to reduce their chances, or put them in danger, or is that just one of "those" laws? I want to make sure I dont endanger them by taking the spawn if, ecologically speaking, its a bad thing to do.

As I said, it was brought in at a time when the frog population was in decline. I think the numbers are back to optimum levels but unfortunately I don't make the rules

I don't think you are going to seriously damage the frog population by taking spawn... it will have as good a chance in your pond as anywhere else. Ergo; I don't think it morally wrong.

The survival rates are low no matter where the beasties reside.

jmkennedyie

Just a thought on improving survival rates...strongly recommend letting your pond fill up with rain water rather than filling it from the tap - I'm sure the flouride / flourine in tap water can't be good for the tadpoles.

Also, maybe worth giving the pond a year or two for the ecology/plants/cover to stabilise and insect/larvae population to colonise? (I heard that getting a bucket of water/mud from a nearby pond/river is a great way of kick starting this process with eggs/seed/etc..)

Re the legalities, if you have a reasonable pond why not give your local wildlife ranger a shout - it may be no problem for genuine folks to get a license, and they may be able to advise on healthy populations from which you can safely remove the spawn.

boneless

jmkennedyie wrote:

Just a thought on improving survival rates...strongly recommend letting your pond fill up with rain water rather than filling it from the tap - I'm sure the flouride / flourine in tap water can't be good for the tadpoles.

Also, maybe worth giving the pond a year or two for the ecology/plants/cover to stabilise and insect/larvae population to colonise? (I heard that getting a bucket of water/mud from a nearby pond/river is a great way of kick starting this process with eggs/seed/etc..)

Re the legalities, if you have a reasonable pond why not give your local wildlife ranger a shout - it may be no problem for genuine folks to get a license, and they may be able to advise on healthy populations from which you can safely remove the spawn.

Good advice about the lake/pond mud!! I rang the Ranger a few years ago about the permit to take spawn and got the advice I gave above... say it came from a pond in a relations or neighbours garden!!