Frogs Only Please.....

[addy1]

I just run an aerator, works for me here

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I just run an aerator, works for me here

does it keep a hole open or just puts air into the water?

 

[addy1]

It keeps the mid portion of the big pond, about 1/3 to 1/2 of it open from ice, last winter. During one really cold week it kept around a 6 foot circle of water open. I have it split also running to the lotus tank (a few fish in there) it kept a foot size hole. This year I need to run a branch to the shubbie tank also, last winter it froze down 7-8 inches, no fish, this year it has fish so I want to keep the ice open. The bubbling and water movement keeps it open.

 

[CountryEscape]

JB, I used the bubbler (have air bubbler on koi pond, water fountain below surface/bubbler on the goldfish pond) to keep water open, once it freezes. Only turn on the heater when/if the ice forms before I turn the bubblers on. Right now, I have stream, waterfall, and both skimmers running and moving water. Tonight may prove too much for them to pull water if it gets as cold as they say, and freezes. Then I will turn on the bubblers, before the ice gets too thick. If the ice forms thick, I use the heater to melt a hole, then shut it off and turn on the bubblers. Good luck! I had bullfrogs on the ledges on the side of the koi pond this spring hibernating just about 12" below the surface, and others were found in the leaves at the bottom when I netted them this spring. They will figure out where to go to hibernate.

 

[studiovette]

December 21 and the froggies are still out.

 

[CountryEscape]

Holy cow, can't imagine frogs being out and about on this the first day of winter for the year 2013! You must be having warmer than normal temps, too. Thanks for sharing the pic.

 

[j.w]

I think some of our frogs like to hibernate in our woodshed. Ran into one guy in there one day and carefully placed him in a nice new spot away from where we were taking it from the pile.

 

[studiovette]

68 degrees here and tomorrow. Then 36 Monday!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

December 21 and the froggies are still out.

Nice! Mine have been under ice for weeks, up to 4" of ice at times. That ice just mostly melted and I saw two of them today at the bottom, still alive and looked healthy. Also saw a lot of dead worms, I'm not sure what thats about, but it can't be great for the pond.

Unfortunately 6" of snow coming tonight, and temps about to drop back to the teens again.
3 more months until decent temps should be returning...just 3 more months.



Although, its only been two months so far and it feels like it's been a LONG time!

 

[j.w]

Those worms are always wandering about and don't think they have eyes to see where they are going and plop in they go to the bottom of our ponds. The fish aren't really eating much now so they sit there and drown and turn to yuck. Not much you can do about it. Not like you can put those little electronic collars on them all w/an invisible fence wire around your pond to keep them from committing hari kari

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Those worms are always wandering about and don't think they have eyes to see where they are going and plop in they go to the bottom of our ponds. The fish aren't really eating much now so they sit there and drown and turn to yuck.

Come to think of it, I notice them all over the bottom of streams in Spring too. Maybe they can sense warmth from the water and aren't smart enough to realize their drowning.. lol

 

[j.w]

Had to go look see how smart a worm really is and man I did not know all this stuff I found out about them.

Earthworms- Five Hearts, But Not Much Of A Brain


With all the talk about earthworms on this site, you might be interested in knowing a little bit about them. Here for your perusal are some interesting and little known facts about earthworms.
Earthworms have five hearts! In close proximity to those hearts, they also possess what are known as calciferous glands, which allow them to process the large amount of calcium contained in a diet that consists largely of soil.


Five hearts but no lungs. That's right, worms breathe directly through their skin. This works fine as long as the worms do not become dried out, as the skin must stay damp in order for oxygen to pass through the skin and be deposited directly into the bloodstream.
Earthworms have brains, in a manner of speaking. The brain is extremely simple, however, and when the brain is removed, the worms appear to behave pretty much the same as they did when they had the brain.
Earthworms cannot see, as they don't have eyes. That simple brain works in combination with sensitive cells located in their skin to help them ascertain changes in ambient light.
Earthworms are 'hermaphroditic', which means they have both male and female sexual organs. Be that as it may, they still apparently do engage in mating, in a very complex scenario too involved to relate here.
Earthworms move through the ground by using their setae, the hairy bristles that emanate from their body. First, they will stretch their body to be long and skinny, stick out their front setae and plant them in the ground. They then scrunch themselves up to be short and fat, pull in the front setae, plant their rear setae in the dirt and push themselves forward, once again becoming long and skinny, and continue on like that. This motion one of the ways that they condition the soil, creating little tunnels where air and moisture can circulate.
It's pretty hard to tell one end of an earthworm from another if you're not familiar with them, but they do have a mouth on one end, located under a flap of skin called the prostomium. The mouth end is called the anterior, and the rear end - you got it- the posterior. As you might expect, worms don't have teeth. They have gizzards, somewhat like poultry. The gizzard helps to grind up whatever the worm eats and send it to the intestine.
You may have heard that you can cut an earthworm in half and both halves will grow back. That's not true. If an earthworm is cut in half, it will usually die. However, it is true that if a third or less of the posterior portion of the worm gets chopped off, the earthworm can usually regrow that portion - but the chopped off posterior will not grow a new head.
You would think earthworms would have been hanging around in the soil since prehistoric times, but earthworms are actually an invasive species in the US. Near as we can tell, they came over from Europe in plants brought by some early settlers in the 1600's. Good thing for our soil that they did!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Those are some weird facts! I didn't know that they're considered invasive. Luckily they don't seem to have too big of an impact on the environment.

 

[addy1]

I had a huge green frog out on top of the ice in the big pond today and a little one in the stream pond jumped in as I walked by. They surprised me!

Neat worm info JW I have a tub of worms eating up all the veggie scraps, they make great ewc. (earth worm compost)

 

[HARO]

Earthworms- Five Hearts, But Not Much Of A Brain

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Earthworms have brains, in a manner of speaking. The brain is extremely simple, however, and when the brain is removed, the worms appear to behave pretty much the same as they did when they had the brain.

I've worked with several people who fit that description!!!! :disappointed_anim:
John