Frogs Only Please.....

[sissy]

I got commercial grade since it 3 acres and my whole front yard slopes down .I hope it lasts .I have had it for over 4 years now ,but mostly use my cheapo little red lawn mower .The big one has no hitch and can under stand why too with that zero turn



a frog and a snail and both about the same size .When will the frog invasion end

 

[CountryEscape]

That's one BIGGGGG Toad, CherryDawg! Wow, neat pic, too.
Sissy, I got commercial since before I was divorced, had about 2 acres, and at least 100 trees I mowed around. Now I have maybe 1.5 acres at most to mow, very few trees, but lots of curves, thanks to my "nothing straight" landscaping style. LOL My former husband put a hitch on my mower, and I pull the lawn sweeper, cart, anything with it. Just have to know how it works to back up. No problems for me! But, then, I pull a horse trailer, and you have to know how to back them up, too.

 

[sissy]

Geeze I can't even back up the little trailer on my lawn mower but i can drive larger box trucks though .Found that out in all my moves from house to house and moving some of the trucks that blocked the loading and unloading dock .But for backing up any kind of cart or trailer look out :dunno:

 

[CountryEscape]

Haha, it comes with practice, Sissy. I never drove the truck and pulled the bumper hitch horse trailer either ... until one year my husband (at the time) said he was not going camping. The kids were devastated, we ALWAYS went camping on holiday weekends in the summer. He said, "So, GO!" So, I did! Learned by doing. Now have a small gooseneck trailer with dressing room/camper. I could never back a hay wagon with a truck, though. Give me a tractor with a ball on the loader in front, and I could do it, though. That really takes practice with those 4 wheel hay wagons. They are really tricky to back up. I always back up my ZTR mower and sweeper or dump cart into the shed where I keep them, so the mower is ready to pull out, that way don't have to move the other items.

 

[sissy]

well mine so far stays in the basement and in the summer my red one and the cart park under the carport with the trucks .The zero turn one stays in the basement I don't thrust people after all the things that have happened here .I paid to much for it to leave it out and since i have double doors down there and the slab and the doors are under the front porch ,much safer .

 

[CountryEscape]

OK, I have a funny story! Did any of you know that frogs make sounds DIFFERENT than their typical croaking sounds? My beagle, Smokey, loves to get the huge bullfrogs in the ditch "at bay", where they can't really get away. There is one, I used to call him the Grand Daddy Bullfrog, but I've not seen him this year, and that frog would just sit there, not afraid of the dog!
So, I hear the beagle barking is "baying" bark. I go to see what's up (last time it was a 'possum), and he's in the culvert by the road ditch. Looked inside and there he is, maybe 3" of water, in the middle, and I can see the head of a large bullfrog. So, I tell Smokey to leave the frog alone. Nope, he's intent on trying to "touch" him with his paw. That bullfrog made a sound that sounded like someone trying to be a pirate and saying "Argggg"! I could not believe it! Smokey tapped him with his paw again (Smokey is pretty afraid of things, so he did it then jumped back LOL), and sure enough, that frog made that groaning argggg sound again! I heard him do it 3 times, and each time he opened his mouth really wide, like he was threatening the DOG that he eat him. What a hoot! I finally convinced Smokey to leave the frog alone. I'd like to see the size of that frog. Was very tempted to crawl into the culvert, it was large enough, but I would have gotten very wet, and who knows what else was in that shallow water in there! I didn't want to get to the middle and find a snake or something. Ground snakes are good, I'm not as brave with water snakes, though.

 

[j.w]

That's funny CE and you sure have lots of interesting creatures lurking around your place. I don't blame you for not going in that culvert!

 

[KeroRocks]

I'm pretty excited. When I first set up my pond I had a friend's son catch four little frogs at a local pond to add to my pond. The frogs stayed and I watched them grow. The other day I noticed that I seemed to have some little frogs. I thought this was odd because I thought the frogs had all grown. Then I started counting, yep the frogs spawned. I have no idea how the frogs managed to spawn with the fish in the pond. There isn't really any protected areas where the fish can't get to. I'm amazed that the fish didn't eat all the eggs/tadpoles but I guess they didn't because there are at least three little frogs.

Pics are here

http://kerorocks.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/new-baby-frogs/

I'm on my iPad so I can't post pics. This blog is public for those who had problems getting to my blog in the intro section.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the frogs for winter. I'm rather attached to them and I don't want to bring them back to the big pond, I also don't want to do the same thing next year now that I have fish that I'm attached to by bringing in frogs from the wild. (there are no water sources nearby for wild life to make it on it's own) I'm too worried about diseases. I'm tryng to decide if I can set up something in my house so they can winter inside. I'm not sure. There is no way they'd survive the winter in the pond. It has a gravel bottom, no mud at the bottom. They'd just freeze

 

[j.w]

Cute frogs. I think your frogs will be ok outside but that's just my opinion. They will go out of your pond and hunker down somewhere. I have found a frog now and then in different places around my yard tucked in a box where my lawn furniture pads go for winter and in the hose reel box etc. They seem to manage to find some cozy place but we don't get as cold as you do. Maybe in your cold area they would come out of the pond and find a muddy place to go down into around your yard and stay there till Spring. Here is a link that I found on what they do:

Where Do Frogs Go In The Winter?

Mammals are endotherms, meaning they maintain a constant body temperature no matter what the environmental conditions are. For example, humans, dogs and cats are mammals. When the weather gets cold, we can still maintain our regular 98.6F body temperature. Some animals cannot do this; they are called ectotherms. The body temperature of ectotherms follows their environment, for example if it is cold outside, their body temperature falls. They must bask in the sun to get warm and cool off in the shade, or under the water. Amphibians, reptiles and insects are ectotherms.
During the spring, you may remember seeing many tadpoles in a pond or stream. Then in the summer the tadpoles grow arms and legs; they turn into a frog. Where exactly do the frogs go in the winter? I don't think anyone has seen a frog jumping around in the frigid winter months, especially in the northern United States. Frogs are ectotherms and because they have to keep themselves warm, the winter would be especially tragic for them. Spring peepers, wood frogs, green frogs and others bury themselves in the mud around a wetland, such as a pond or stream.
The interesting fact about frogs is that because they only bury themselves about an inch deep, some species of frogs actually freeze into a solid state. How do they stay alive, though? Well, they have special components in their body that actually act as antifreeze. Their body converts glycogen into glucose, which keeps the frog alive while it's frozen solid. When the ground becomes warm again in spring, the frogs thaw-out and remain active until winter comes around again!

 

[Shoestring Ponder]

Very informative j.w. Thanks for the insight.

:goldfish:

 

[j.w]

Thanks SP but not like I wrote it or anything.....................I'm not a Frogologist :razz: ............ just got if off the net...............should have said that when I posted but oops forgot

 

[sissy]

your just a little froggie JW .We all know that :razz: :razz:

 

[koiguy1969]

I've been relocating frogs down to the creek down the road for weeks now. theyve varied in sizes, now i've never seen a tadpole in my pond except the ones i bought years ago. that was 4. are they finding their way home? . i cant be positive but i'm thinking some of them are returning because they sure look like ones i relocated. anyways as long as they leave the fry alone, its fine but thats where i keep finding them. in the fry pond. which is now down to 20 or so. theyve been selling pretty good! but i know the frogs must have had their share.

 

[taherrmann4]

Koiguy fish go back where they were released into the rivers and streams it is called imprinting, maybe frogs do to.

 

[koiguy1969]

i know many fish return to their "place of birth" to spawn. like salmon, who can travel 1000s of miles to do so.... so yeah,maybe frogs do have an inate homing sense.