Adopted by a frog. Help!!!

[Rosendula]

I have never been interested in having ponds. For most of my adult life I haven't had a garden, and now I have, my garden is so small I didn't think it was worth bothering with. However, I have been adopted by a little frog and I would like to provide him with a nice home. I think he came to me when the only neighbour with a pond moved out, and the new people in the house are the party-all-day-every-Sunday type. They may even have got rid of the pond, I don't know. Anyway, the frog has decided it is living in a mass of nasturtiums and clematis in my garden. The clematis had been climbing up a trellis, but the trellis fell off the wall and is providing the perfect barrier to keep my little girl away from the greenhouse, so it's staying there for a while. However, I'm concerned that when things start to die off, I won't have anywhere nice for the frog to go. So here' my plan:

I have a small part of useless garden next to my greenhouse that Katie can't get near but can see well. I also have an old baby bath which I have been hanging on to until I came up with a use for it. The bath is about 22inches deep, so not quite the recommended 2 feet, but where I live we are on very low ground, and that end of the garden becomes a bog when it rains a lot. So I'm thinking the frog might like the bath sunken into that bit of garden, with some small water plants in it. Do you think this would be a problem to cats?

Over the next few months we are overhauling our front garden, which will include removing a hazelnut shrub. The thickest wood on it is not very thick - I think I could just about wrap my hand around it. Do you think this would be good to make a log pile, or do I need thicker logs?

Right next to the garden where I want to put the 'pond' is my neighbour's garden - just an old-fashioned string fence between us. I couldn't get the pond more than a foot away from the edge of his garden. He's an old man who can't be bothered with gardening, and so pours weed-killer all over the borders once a year. It must be strong stuff he uses, because he only puts it on the once and he doesn't get any weeds all year. He puts it on with a watering can - never sprays it, and I have never had any problems growing weeds in that area of my garden, and it's never been a problem to the cats. But just to check, do you think the pond will be OK being so close?

I know the frog will only do what it wants anyway, but I would like to be a good host. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Thomzo]

The pond sounds perfect. My mother's pond is just a large plastic plant pot and she even has some fish in it.

Your's shouldn't be a problem for cats but a hedgehog might have trouble getting out. Maybe you can put some large stones in so that anything that does fall in can get out.

The neighbour's weedkiller could be a problem though. You only need a drop in a pond and it can be badly affected. Can you put a plank or something between the pond and next door just to stop droplets getting in?

I expect the hazlenut would make a great log pile. If there isn't very much of it you could always start the pile with skip-wood (wood rescued from skips) and then top it off with the hazel to make it look pretty.

Ooooh I can just visualise it now. Have fun.

Zoe

[MKG]

I'd put the large stones in anyway. You may think you've been adopted by a single frog, but I'd bet there are a dozen others in the undergrowth. They'll breed, you'll get froglets, and they have to be able to climb out of the pond at some stage. That's easy for an adult frog, but difficult when you're only a centimetre long.

And if you do get a breeding colony, you can say goodbye to any slug problem you may otherwise have had - frogs are brilliant mollusc assassins.

[Rosendula]

I've started digging over the patch where the pond is to go, and I can get the baby bath about 3 feet from the fence that separates me from my neighbour (my spacial perception has always been terrible). Since I made a start, though, I haven't seen my little friend. I'm worried I might have scared him off when I lifted the nasturtiums to show him to my eldest daughter. Then again to show my son. Er, then again to show my youngest daughter. I haven't seen him since. Will he come back?

[MKG]

A pond is an open invitation. If there are frogs within a few hundred yards, they'll find it. Same goes for newts. And pond skaters, water boatmen, little leeches, all manner of fine things. Yes, he'll be back.

Oh - if you do get frogs, remember to set your lawn mower fairly high so it goes over them.

[Rosendula]

Oh - if you do get frogs, remember to set your lawn mower fairly high so it goes over them.

Thank you. I didn't think of that.

[Rosendula]

I need more help, please

I managed to dig over that end of the garden and half dug a hole for the baby bath. I dropped the bath loosely in the hole until I could continue a couple of days later, but on taking the bath out so I could continue, there was the frog. I had to nudge him out so that I could carry on making the pond for him. I got it finished that day, and didn't see him again for weeks, so I assumed I had frightened him off for good. Then, yesterday, I decided to begin my new project of transforming the front garden into a new veg patch. Guess who I found there! I don't have a pond in the front and certainly don't intend putting one there. The only water he had was the numerous empty crisp packets that had blown in and got stuck under the shrubs and filled up with rain water. So I managed to catch him in a bucket and I took him round to the bath pond. He jumped straight in, and hasn't come out since (unless he came out during the night). That was about 24 hours ago now. I'm trying to leave him in peace, but I'm worried he can't get out. I've put a brick in there, but I'm not sure he can get on it. I had assumed he could swim onto it. What do you think? Am I worrying for nothing? Or does he need me to take him out again and give him some kind of staircase?

[MKG]

Stop Worrying!!!!!

Frogs have been around for a while now, and they sort of know what they're doing. If the water level is near to the top of the bath, the frog can get out. If the level's a bit low, make sure that there's something (brick/stone/etc.) near the surface of the water for the frog to use as an intermediate stage - that might mean two bricks at different levels. On the other hand, you'd be surprised how high frogs can leap out of the water.

The time to really take care is the point at which tadpoles begin to change into the adult form. They're tiny, and it's those tiny things which are eventually going to have to find a way to climb out - but you have plenty of time to think about that.

Oh, and don't worry about your wandering amphibian - they'll wander a couple of hundred yards in search of slugs and still find the way back - all in a single night.

[Rosendula]

Thanks MKG, you've made me feel better

[the.fee.fairy]

We've got a baby bath pond and its surprising how many frogs find their way in! I think i had 8 adult frogs in there last year. This year, i haven't seen any, but we've got a healthy snail population in there.

I've got chunks of wood round the outside as ornamentation and the frogs love the dark damp spaces that they provide.

Not got any water plants in there - has anyone got any suiggestions for baby bath pond water plants?

Here's a pic:

[Rosendula]

My baby bath pond is white, too. You'd think they'd make them in colours that would blend in with the earth, wouldn't you? I like your idea of putting the wood around the edge. I have a log pile next to the pond.

Plants - I had a load of duckweed growing on the surface of a water butt I inherited with my allotment, so I brought some of that home. It spreads really fast and covers the surface, but is easy to remove if it gets excessive. Apparently, the length of the roots can tell you how healthy the water is, but I'd have to look that up again to tell you any more. Under the water, I just got some of the small bunches of plants they sell at the pet shop. I made sure they had little roots showing (they don't always) and thought I'd leave them to see if they planted themselves in the muck at the bottom of the pond. So far, they still appear to be alive, but I haven't investigated too much because I don't want to upset the frog, snails or the 2 fish I put in there. Soft aren't I? Sorry I can't remember the name of the plants, but they were just the normal sort - one grows like feathery strands, the other has leaves. gosh I'm no good at this. But the duckweed works

[MuddyWitch]

Rosie,

Your fog is probably several frogs! They don't actually live in the water, they just feed there & go for a dip to cool off on sunny days. They do over-winter at the bottom, in the sludge, slowing their metabolism right down.

So long as you have some water, long grass or similar cover and avoid chemicals yourself, frogs, toads, newts etc will adopt you.

We made a toad hotel from three pieces of stone when our neighbour dismantled a 70's fireplace. We turned them into a mini dolman & then earth clad it. It's that awfull pink and yellow stuff people liked back then. Maybe frogs are colourblind?

MW

[wolfsong]

hehe, amphibians are funny things.
the slight problem with making baby baths earthy colours is that they, err, have a primary function...
We've got a toad in the strawberry patch ATM, lots of lovely slimy creatures to feed on, we started talking to him, he started coming out and talking back a bit, and now the batty old folks who cook the meals actually stroke him!

[Mrs Moustoir]

We've a toad in our stawberry patch too, as well as a couple of frogs with the "bandit" band across their eyes. They are feasting on the slugs that have crossed Brittany to eat our strawbs (that's how it seems anyway!).

Froads welcome/slugs not!

[Derry]

ive been looking for a photo of our pond set up but i cant find any =/

basically, its 4 cat litter trays sunk into the earth, they have spare roof tiles that act as ramps for the frogpoles to get out, and mices etc, and then theres curved roof tiles that give froggies somewhere to hide. this year is the 3rd year that we've had tadpoles, and we've only had the frogpool for 4 years [it was meant to be a bird bath]

each litter tray is also on bricks, as the frogs & toads like to go under them, and we figured itd give them more room =]

we dont have any plants in them, and we have to clean the water out every other month or so, because it gets stagnant and all green and slimy =[