Frogs

bug

We have frogs in our garden.
The cat has taken a liking to them.
the weird thing is that they seem to make a prehistoric noise when the cat corners them. If you have ever heard a rat screech, bring it down about an octave. Its a bizarre noise.
Anyhow when I corner them (mostly to get them out of the patio area and away from the cats) they dont seem to make any noise at all.
Its kid of bizarre really and I cant believe a frog knows the difference between a person and a cat.
any thoughts ?

Kevin_rc_ie

cats kill frogs.
humans don't.

bug

obviously you never had a straw in your mouth when you were a teenager.
I credit you for that. Im very fond of frogs.

tallus

Me too there are several breeding pairs of our native Frog spawning in my garden pond every year despite the unwanted attention of my cat. Never heard them make noise tho, and despite the cat they spawn every year and seem to survive. They are now a protectected species as are all of our native herptofauna so I think the onus is on us to protect them from predators. I have a bit of undergrowth in the back garden that they hide in and the cat hasn't been paying much attention to them at all lately.

bug

they are usually fine. we've had them about ten years now, like yourself, with one or two collections of more spawn in between to vary the gene pool.

they tend to come back to the pond to spawn. There is an overgrown area of the garden especially for them, but it seems when it gets humid or anyway warm they come out onto the patio area.

Yeah its weird alright. Was sitting out the back late saturday night and was alerted to one being confronted by the next door neighbours cat.

maybe they've just figured that if they make some sort of a weird noise we'll come running I do credit them with a hell of alot of intelligence though, theres a whole lot going on behind those beady eyes IMO

Skip

Kevin_rc_ie wrote:

cats kill frogs.
humans don't.

I once killed a frog by accidentally cutting its belly with a spade. I mean I didn't see it die, it walked off without a sound, but I guess it didn't survive the act.

bug

Skip wrote:

I once killed a frog by accidentally cutting its belly with a spade. I mean I didn't see it die, it walked off without a sound, but I guess it didn't survive the act.

Thosands of science students used scalpels, and were told it was ok for years.

You never know maybe it healed and the frogs went off to lead a happy life married and had loads of tadpoles.

Anyhow I have searched the internet and I cant find anything.
The only think I found was on wikipedia stating that some of them have different pitch calls. ie not neccessarily the standard ribbit...

So next time it happens Im going to record it and put it on the web.

astec123

Not to thread hijack but what is the best way to attract frogs to your gardin, we have a nice collection of animals to ours, a few breading tits, a bat and loads of others but no frogs. Any suggestions on how to attract them?

bug

to be honest I dont know how its possible unless you live in an area already populated by frogs. Considering its illegal to take spawn from out doors.

which is a bit odd considering this link http://www.ipcc.ie/prfrogresults09-2003.html
even though the report is out of dateit states that within that period, the frog population was flourishing in garden ponds.... but its "unfortunate"

Theres a link here http://www.ipcc.ie/frogfriendly.html

bit childish but the main points are there.

tallus

astec123 wrote:

Not to thread hijack but what is the best way to attract frogs to your gardin, we have a nice collection of animals to ours, a few breading tits, a bat and loads of others but no frogs. Any suggestions on how to attract them?

Usually they go back to the pond they were spawned in. if you get tadpoles yer sorted.. message me next year in february/march and I'll sort you with a bit of frogspawn :-) I have loads of them in the back garden now.. and once they grow from that you'll have some every year, tho there IS a high mortality rate something close to 90% on tadpoles such a pity they are great creatures

boroughmal

There are loads in france.
Frogs dont live in ponds, most of the time they live in dark wet areas in the garden or valleys, They come out at night and the early morning to eat insects & beetles. I have loads in my back garden especially under the summerhouse, as its about 12" off the floor and is allways damp.
If you want frogs leave a patch of grass overgrown and throw in a few rocks with a bit of plastic under it to catch the moisture.
If you build a pond, they only visit it to dispatch their eggs & fertilize them,they then go back to their habitat.
even in the middle of cities there are frogs that are accustomed to it, after all most houses have bigger areas of garden in front or behind them.