Frogs Only Please.....

[jmajid]

countryescape:
I have now been thinking this is an american bullfrog...?
i have not seen him in probably 4 days now... the water temp has been getting warmer, so i expected to see him sunning himself...
Do the pond frogs eat small goldfish?

 

[addy1]

countryescape:
I have now been thinking this is an american bullfrog...?
i have not seen him in probably 4 days now... the water temp has been getting warmer, so i expected to see him sunning himself...
Do the pond frogs eat small goldfish?

They will eat anything they can catch that fits in their mouths.

 

[jmajid]

addy1: thats what i figured... not good news for any small fish i was planning on introducing then.

 

[Neo]

Is it normal for frogs to remain in the pond all winter? I found Count Frogula (Leopard Frog) yesterday swimming around in there and it was below zero degrees with a froze over pond just last week. I also think he has been surviving on all my baby goldfish from last year because their numbers seemed to have dwindled unless they are just hiding.

I'll try and get a pic of him later unless it's too cold now, it was 60 yesterday and he was happy but today is only 38 and down to 5 again tonight.

 

[CountryEscape]

I think the bullfrogs over winter IN the water. Not positive, but saw several last late winter, in the water, on the bottom, in the muck that collected over the winter. Always net out frogs when I clean the bottom, too.

 

[jmajid]

Not that we have a winter like some, but im pretty sure our lone three legged frog was IN our pond too....and seems to have been none the worse for it.

 

[j.w]

Fish are pretty fast swimmers so I would hope that most would be able to out run the big frogs. How fast can a frog swim? I know when I walk by one they seem to move quite well. Maybe they can just sit up on the low rocks by the pond and when a fish comes close they just slap out that long pink tongue and you know the old saying" The tongue is quicker than the eye"............well that's not exactly how it goes but in frog life it might be :biggrinangelA:

 

[Neo]

Fish are pretty fast swimmers so I would hope that most would be able to out run the big frogs. How fast can a frog swim? I know when I walk by one they seem to move quite well. Maybe they can just sit up on the low rocks by the pond and when a fish comes close they just slap out that long pink tongue and you know the old saying" The tongue is quicker than the eye"............well that's not exactly how it goes but in frog life it might be :biggrinangelA:

Frogs life sayings haha. Is that like the lily pads are always greener in the other pond.

 

[CountryEscape]

Touche', Neo! You and JW are on a roll. :blueflower:
I figure if my frogs eat all my baby fish, so be it. It's called nature, and survival of the fittest, and I'm not trying to raise 200 baby koi or goldfish each year. In fact, this past year, I saw absolutely not even one baby fish in either pond. I'm wondering if the chemicals sprayed killed them, or maybe the weather and timing of egg laying was off last year, and no eggs made it to hatching day. Or, frogs and fish ate all the eggs. Come to think of it, I never really saw a breeding frenzie in either pond either, so maybe they were all dormant on the breeding issue last year. No worries. Still have the 4 baby koi from the previous year, and they were really growing, almost as large as the babies I had bought the year before that! Anxious to see them all again, but will be patient, since I have no choice in the weather pattern descending upon us midwesterners once again the next couple of days.

 

[j.w]

Better for you CE to just get a few babies that make it every few years as like you said things could get way out of control population wise. But if you did get too many too your liking you could always sell or give them away.

Sorry you are getting your butts frozen off up there in the Midwest. Our nights are still cold,down in the 20's but that's not so bad.

 

[addy1]

from the net


Aquatic frogs such as the leopard frog(Rana pipiens) and American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) typically hibernate underwater. A common misconception is that they spend the winter the way aquatic turtles do, dug into the mud at the bottom of a pond or stream. In fact, hibernating frogs would suffocate if they dug into the mud for an extended period of time. A hibernating turtle's metabolism slows down so drastically that it can get by on the mud's meager oxygen supply. Hibernating aquatic frogs, however, must be near oxygen-rich water and spend a good portion of the winter just lying on top of the mud or only partially buried. They may even slowly swim around from time to time.

Terrestrial frogs normally hibernate on land. American toads (Bufo americanus) and other frogs that are good diggers burrow deep into the soil, safely below the frost line. Some frogs, such as the wood frog (Rana sylvatica) and the spring peeper (Hyla crucifer), are not adept at digging and instead seek out deep cracks and crevices in logs or rocks, or just dig down as far as they can in the leaf litter. These hibernacula are not as well protected from frigid weather and may freeze, along with their inhabitants.

And yet the frogs do not die. Why? Antifreeze! True enough, ice crystals form in such places as the body cavity and bladder and under the skin, but a high concentration of glucose in the frog's vital organs prevents freezing. A partially frozen frog will stop breathing, and its heart will stop beating. It will appear quite dead. But when the hibernaculum warms up above freezing, the frog's frozen portions will thaw, and its heart and lungs resume activity--there really is such a thing as the living dead!

 

[CountryEscape]

Wow, Addy, that was the best read for a long time for me about frogs. I always thought the bullfrogs hibernated in the water, saw them last year several time, although a few of them ended up dead when the spring arrived. I think they were on the upper ledges, maybe got stuck behind or between rocks, and then too close to the top and froze solid. But, there are always others to replace them with, so I never worry too much. Thanks for sharing that interesting info. Now we know! :claphands:

 

[addy1]

I don't worry about the frogs, they are given 10 ponds to chose among, bugs, fish, etc to eat, a quiet private resort to live in. Nothing much more I can do to make a good life for them. Up to them to survive the winter.

 

[j.w]

That was very interesting on the frogs addy. Did not know they could come back from the dead..............zombie frogs..............The Hopping Dead.............would make a great movie :biggrinangelA:

 

[koiguy1969]

Fun fact: Frogs were the first land animals with vocal cords ‪#‎talkingfrogs