I found 'her' (I think it is, its a biggie) whilst clearing some weeds. We don't have a pond and neither do our neighbours. I called dh to 'come and see Mr Toad' - I thought it was a toad at first, and he picked it up and put it in the rain filled tupperware, half full of mud and Lord knows what at the back near the shed. We also put a bit of old bookcase shelf in there so she could climb out. I have no idea really if we've done the right thing, but if we'd left her where she was the cats would have had her for sure. Or a fox.
Now we've decided to dig a hole and put the tupperware in it, creating a sort of pond. A keen gardener friend of ours said that just two weeks after making his pond it was teeming with life... "Build it and they will come". Does anyone have any experience of pond life (please Greg, this is not an invitation for you to start a rant) and whether we should go ahead. We have two cats, I don't want to encourage things into the garden just so they can die for their amusement. I'm already regretting building a woodpile to encourage stag beetles - I screamed and ran like a girl the first time I saw one. Also, please forgive my ignorance - can frogs drown? Its just that the piece of wood we put in for it to climb out on is laminated and slippy. We do hope to find something more suitable, maybe some big stones from the garden centre in Crystal Palace, who by the way are having an apple festival tomorrow with free tastings.
We gotta frog.
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Greg Whitehead
- Posts: 474
- Joined: 11 Apr 2005 15:44
- Location: SE26 5RL
Re: We gotta frog.
I tend to find gargling with salt-water helps.Savvy wrote:Does anyone have any experience of pond life (please Greg, this is not an invitation for you to start a rant) and whether we should go ahead.
That written I notice on the attached thread you called someone named sean 'greg' - the lady doth protest too much, methinks...You shouldn't flatter yourself so much. I merely chastised you for the poor advice you gave Sally.
http://sydenham.org.uk/forum/viewtopic. ... 87a9#19940
Moving on, to try and answer your question to some degree might I recommend this site? I have found it useful in the past;
http://www.frog-garden.com/index.html
Aw, thanks Mystie, I hope you enjoy living here. And thanks Greg, that website looks really great - there is loads of info and many links. I can see myself becoming 'the frog woman of Sydenham' at this rate. And to think up till yesterday I knew naff all about them. Please don't start bringing me your injured and lame amphibians just yet though; I still have a lot to learn.
Good for you Savvy, do anything you can to encourage them, although be preparred, when frogs find a place to breed, they will come back year after year.
Don't worry about them drowning (unless you're planning to hold them underwater) they can float, and they are very inventive about finding dry land, bearing in mind they can jump enormous distances relative to their size, so I'm sure a Tuppaware box won't present any problems if it really wants to get out.
As for your cats, I have known them catch frogs and toads, but I find they tend to go for easier prey (cats don't like water) and anyway, it's the natural order of things.
By the way, good for you for providing for Stag beetles; I remember when they were quite a common sight, they're now an endangered species, so keep that woodpile going.
Don't worry about them drowning (unless you're planning to hold them underwater) they can float, and they are very inventive about finding dry land, bearing in mind they can jump enormous distances relative to their size, so I'm sure a Tuppaware box won't present any problems if it really wants to get out.
As for your cats, I have known them catch frogs and toads, but I find they tend to go for easier prey (cats don't like water) and anyway, it's the natural order of things.
By the way, good for you for providing for Stag beetles; I remember when they were quite a common sight, they're now an endangered species, so keep that woodpile going.