making safe for toddler

[carrie]

Hello all, I'm hoping to get a little help on how to make my pond safe.
I bought the house a year ago with the pond in situ. It's a raised pond, about 1.5m x 1m, depth I guess about 50cm. It has a waterfall feature at one end.
I'm sorry to say that due to my lack of experience the fish that we inherited with the pond have died over winter but there are still frogs in there.
I have a very sensible 6yr old but a high on life 11mth old and I'm worried obviously about safety.
What I would like to do if its possible, is make the pond shallower. We like the waterfall feature and I'd like to keep the frogs. I was hoping to fill it with large rocks to make one end very shallow, then tapering down to the pump. Then i would place a mesh over the deeper portion beneath the water level. Does this sound like the right thing to do? Or, i was wondering whether to use a plastic crate of some sort to raise the level, then place some rocks above? I wonder if this would be better for wildlife than just filling with rocks?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks, carrie

 

[sissy]

Frogs love to dig into pea gravel .You could use a mix of pea gravel and larger rocks but they may be hard to keep clean

 

[Lisak1]

What about just fencing the pond? Here in the US we have circular pet gates that can expand many feet wide. Then when your toddler is old enough you can just ditch the gate and your pond will remain unaffected. Just a thought!

 

[carrie]

Thanks for your swift responses. Fencing isn't really an option. It's hard to explain but because it's raised and with the position it's in it would look very odd but would also be really difficult to do.

Regards shingle I had thought about that but would it not block the pump?

Thanks

 

[Dave 54]

Hello all, I'm hoping to get a little help on how to make my pond safe.
I bought the house a year ago with the pond in situ. It's a raised pond, about 1.5m x 1m, depth I guess about 50cm. It has a waterfall feature at one end.
I'm sorry to say that due to my lack of experience the fish that we inherited with the pond have died over winter but there are still frogs in there.
I have a very sensible 6yr old but a high on life 11mth old and I'm worried obviously about safety.
What I would like to do if its possible, is make the pond shallower. We like the waterfall feature and I'd like to keep the frogs. I was hoping to fill it with large rocks to make one end very shallow, then tapering down to the pump. Then i would place a mesh over the deeper portion beneath the water level. Does this sound like the right thing to do? Or, i was wondering whether to use a plastic crate of some sort to raise the level, then place some rocks above? I wonder if this would be better for wildlife than just filling with rocks?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks, carrie

Hi Carrie
I thought I might bring this to your attention coming from the UK like ourselves as is the pond safety company :-

http://www.pondsafety.com/

What this system does with very little in the way of changing your existing pond is place a sturdy grill that can support the weight of an adult standing on it but stops the child from getting overly wet should they fall in.
Having the misfortune as a child to fall into a fish pond at a friends home in Newquay aged 6 I know just how very frightening this is and would have been glad of this system back in the day .
They can be fittted just under the water or fitted over the pond and give you that piece of mind needed for children and water

Dave

 

[slick]

Iv also seen that system iv also seen a pond net (black in colour so it doesn't stand out) that can take the weight of a fully grown adult falling onto it,
such a shame that replacing the fish is not an option
I saw the net on the net (thats the Internet)

 

[Priscilla]

I bet the net would be the most cost effective, since its really only temporary.

I have small kids as well. My youngest was 2 when I put the pond in. There was a lot of safety talks and don't go near the pond talk. Fencing wasn't an option for me. My little guy is 3 now and my oldest is 6 they can both stand in the pond now and both swim, so its no longer a worry. Good luck. Please post a picture of what you decide to do.