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Message: [QUOTE="Mucky_Waters, post: 382449, member: 3859"] Yes Tula, they have been over wintering in the pond for the past 6 years, and I've been hand feeding them for as long. They can and do find a certain amount of natural food in the pond area they can find but not really even enough to sustain them, by hand feeding I can ensure that they are getting filled to satisfaction and can build up their fat reserves in preparation for their winter dormancy periods and in the case of my two female frogs, they need those reserves for their egg development. Both of them lay an egg mass that is about two or three times their body size every spring. Exactly how they do that I don't quite understand? As for the turtle, hand feeding is the cleanest way to feed the turtle that I have found. Unlike the fish, or more correctly, because of the fish, I can't just throw food on the surface of the pond for the turtle, although he can and is sometimes able to eat a few of the food pellets thrown on the surface of the water, the fish generally find and consume it all before the turtle can get anywhere near enough. In fact, even the food I hand feed the turtle the fish often steal it literally right out of his mouth, as you can witness in the video the dark-colored koi stealing one of the mealworms out of the mouth of the turtle. Sounds like your frogs have some physical dexterity,,,,, mine can be rather clumsy and a little dense sometimes, but what they lack in adeptness and brains they makeup in tameness and acquiesce. Our frogs generally don't mind being handled, they seem to even like being petted. They'll sometimes even make a sort of light croaking sound when you rub their back or pet them that is similar to the purring that cats make when you pet them. Watch the videos below to see examples of how clumsy they can be when just trying to take worms out of my hand, and the frog purring noise they make when you rub their back. (y) As far as feeding goes, one difference we probably have is my frogs can't leave the confines of my pond area, our pond is inside a walled courtyard area and no turtles or frogs can naturally wander in (or out). The turtle and frogs we have have been placed in the pond by us and we are solely responsible for their care and feeding, and hand feeding is the best way I've found to ensure they get enough. Fortunately, reptiles and amphibians don't really need to be fed every day, they can, and do, gorge one day and then they may not be interested in eating for a week or even in some cases (like come Fall and Winter) for months at a time. But like bears, it's very important I make sure I fatten them up as much as I can before the cold comes and they lose interest in eating so they can survive the months without eating. [MEDIA=youtube]JP5YFX2l6Ak[/MEDIA] [MEDIA=youtube]V-8f3DQ2CBI[/MEDIA] [/QUOTE]

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