Thread: Bullfrogs
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Old 30-08-2006, 10:55 PM posted to alt.garden.pond.chat
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 10
Default Bullfrogs

Jeanne wrote:
I imported a dozen big bullfrog tadpoles from a company. They all looked
fine -- second year tadpoles. Some had hind legs starting. #12 died. As
an experiment, I let #11 out of his protection screen box to see the koi
reaction. They looked him over but didn't pay much attention thereafter.
So, I assumed, it would be ok to let them all out. That was about four weeks
ago. Haven't seen any since. The pond is concrete, about 30 x 40 x 2 feet
and full of string algae, lilies, etc. One center area 6 x 6 is 3 ft deep.
The seven koi are big, well fed, about 25 years old. Any ideas anybody??
Do they hide until dark? Will someday I see some sitting on a lily pad? Do
I start over? Somewhere I read that koi don't like to eat tadpoles but they
are always rooting around in the algae for live food including goldfish
hatches. Could they have gobbled them by mistake? Thanks.....
Bruce Matthews
Monterey



From personal experience...

At a prior home, we built a backyard pond (about 10k gals); the
Bullfrogs showed up all by themselves. Kind of interesting since the
only consistent water supplies were an overflow drainage pond, about 1/2
mile away and the Delaware River, about a mile away...those frogs had to
do some major hopping across several roads to get to my backyard. When
we asked the pond guy, he said that's the way it is, the frogs will come
naturally and stay in a place that suits them. He also said that the
frogs could have come from other backyard ponds.

So, I suppose your frogs could have just hopped away to a neighbor's
pond or other natural water source.

Something you didn't mention was how much edge planting and brush was
beside the pond. Frogs spend more time on land, beside the water
source, than in the water. They need cover to be protected from
predators and the sun, as well as conceal themselves for hunting.

Something to consider:
http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/a...bullfrog.shtml