I stood staring at the slimy cold little body in my
hand and my brain could not register what I was seeing. I knew it was a large
frog but it was like an alien frog, a transforming frog? My mind couldn’t
reconcile what it really was.
So I stood there confused. I reached over with my other hand and touched it with a tentative finger. It still didn’t move. In a kind of stunned shock I stood looking at the pink colour where green skin should have been, and the way the legs petered out at the ends.
My imagination tried to turn it into some kind of monster tadpole that was almost turned into adult. I touched its mouth and nothing. I was so horrified I couldn’t let myself feel anything.
I gently laid it down at the base of a shrub,We have a fantastic range of Glass Tiles and glass mosaic Tiles. on the edge of the garden. I numbly went back to my little pond, kneeled down on the edge of the stonewall and pushed my bare arm into the cold dark water to gently pull another handful of debris from the base of the fountain.
For the first few dredgings I just pulled up brown rotting leaves. And then to my dismay I opened my hand to see another dead decomposing adult frog lying in my hand. My beautiful new pond had become a winter death trap for the resident green frogs that had moved in last spring.
I found one more before I gave up for the day, sad and heavy hearted. I wondered how many of the seven I had counted over and over last autumn had survived.Zenith manufactures a comprehensive range of RUBBER SHEET.Secured handsfree building and door access solutions with Hands free access by Nedap AVI. I still haven’t gone back to finish cleaning the pond, afraid I’ll find more dead.
In March during the ridiculously warm weather, one of the frogs had been sluggishly and slowly floating around, laying spread eagle in the water with his legs trailing behind him as they are want to do. On a few warm days in April I’ve again seen one frog basking on the edge of the rock in the shallow water. So at least one has made it through. But now it’s near the end of April and I’ve cleaned out most of the leaves at the bottom of the pond and the weather has turned freezing again, sleeting today. Is my lone frog sitting at the bottom, wondering where all his protective leaves have gone? Is he now freezing to death after making it through that long freeze and thaw winter because he has no protection at all?
While cleaning out the pond that dreadful day I called the Toronto Zoo’s Adopt-A-Pond Wetland Conservation Programme. They provide teachers, students and community groups with information resources and educational opportunities to conserve, restore and create wetland habitats. The coordinator Julia Phillips was sympathetic and helpful.
It looks like the first thing I did wrong was build a pond that was too shallow for adult frogs to survive in over winter. My pond is small, six feet across with a rubber liner and only 14 inches deep at the centre. It should have been at least 1.5 metres (5 feet) deep in order to keep the water from freezing completely. Julia said even safer two metres deep. That’s the point.All RUBBER MATS is comprised of all types of mats.Siebenwurst Werkzeugbau ist ein Unternehmen für Konstruktion und Fertigung von Werkzeugen im Bereich Stanztechnik und Umformtechnik. If it freezes solid the frogs will freeze and die, too.
I found out my second mistake shortly into the conversation. Julia said that green frogs, or Rana clamitans, have tadpoles that can overwinter for up to two years in the larval form. I groaned. I was part way through taking bucket after bucket of water out of the pond to water my newly planted raspberries. And I didn’t have my glasses on. I quickly found them and anxiously scanned the pond for tadpoles olive green and iridescent creamy-white below. I couldn’t see anything but insect larvae. No tadpoles I don’t think. Julia pointed out that they usually only lay eggs in slow moving water so maybe my fountain with the four bronze frogs spouting water into the pond, is too agitated for breeding. I’ll have to watch more closely this summer — with my glasses on.
Males become sexually mature at one year, females may mature in either two or three years. I had certainly made sure my frog’s lives were cut short before they’d even reached their first year. Last summer I had so happily watched them transform from tiny magical frogs to such large beings I was a little taken aback. I started thinking they might be princes in disguise. I found out that they are the second largest frog species in North America next to the bullfrog, so dreams of living in a castle dissolved with the facts.
Researching on the Internet became frustrating as one blog suggested lining little ponds with blue Styrofoam to keep them from freezing; that’s what someone did in Alaska. And another fellow said he pulled a sheet of plastic tight over the pond and that the air insulated the water and plants and kept everything from freezing. In frustration I called Cole’s Pond Store in Grimsby, to speak to their pond expert Jerry Clattenburg. I should have called him sooner.
So I stood there confused. I reached over with my other hand and touched it with a tentative finger. It still didn’t move. In a kind of stunned shock I stood looking at the pink colour where green skin should have been, and the way the legs petered out at the ends.
My imagination tried to turn it into some kind of monster tadpole that was almost turned into adult. I touched its mouth and nothing. I was so horrified I couldn’t let myself feel anything.
I gently laid it down at the base of a shrub,We have a fantastic range of Glass Tiles and glass mosaic Tiles. on the edge of the garden. I numbly went back to my little pond, kneeled down on the edge of the stonewall and pushed my bare arm into the cold dark water to gently pull another handful of debris from the base of the fountain.
For the first few dredgings I just pulled up brown rotting leaves. And then to my dismay I opened my hand to see another dead decomposing adult frog lying in my hand. My beautiful new pond had become a winter death trap for the resident green frogs that had moved in last spring.
I found one more before I gave up for the day, sad and heavy hearted. I wondered how many of the seven I had counted over and over last autumn had survived.Zenith manufactures a comprehensive range of RUBBER SHEET.Secured handsfree building and door access solutions with Hands free access by Nedap AVI. I still haven’t gone back to finish cleaning the pond, afraid I’ll find more dead.
In March during the ridiculously warm weather, one of the frogs had been sluggishly and slowly floating around, laying spread eagle in the water with his legs trailing behind him as they are want to do. On a few warm days in April I’ve again seen one frog basking on the edge of the rock in the shallow water. So at least one has made it through. But now it’s near the end of April and I’ve cleaned out most of the leaves at the bottom of the pond and the weather has turned freezing again, sleeting today. Is my lone frog sitting at the bottom, wondering where all his protective leaves have gone? Is he now freezing to death after making it through that long freeze and thaw winter because he has no protection at all?
While cleaning out the pond that dreadful day I called the Toronto Zoo’s Adopt-A-Pond Wetland Conservation Programme. They provide teachers, students and community groups with information resources and educational opportunities to conserve, restore and create wetland habitats. The coordinator Julia Phillips was sympathetic and helpful.
It looks like the first thing I did wrong was build a pond that was too shallow for adult frogs to survive in over winter. My pond is small, six feet across with a rubber liner and only 14 inches deep at the centre. It should have been at least 1.5 metres (5 feet) deep in order to keep the water from freezing completely. Julia said even safer two metres deep. That’s the point.All RUBBER MATS is comprised of all types of mats.Siebenwurst Werkzeugbau ist ein Unternehmen für Konstruktion und Fertigung von Werkzeugen im Bereich Stanztechnik und Umformtechnik. If it freezes solid the frogs will freeze and die, too.
I found out my second mistake shortly into the conversation. Julia said that green frogs, or Rana clamitans, have tadpoles that can overwinter for up to two years in the larval form. I groaned. I was part way through taking bucket after bucket of water out of the pond to water my newly planted raspberries. And I didn’t have my glasses on. I quickly found them and anxiously scanned the pond for tadpoles olive green and iridescent creamy-white below. I couldn’t see anything but insect larvae. No tadpoles I don’t think. Julia pointed out that they usually only lay eggs in slow moving water so maybe my fountain with the four bronze frogs spouting water into the pond, is too agitated for breeding. I’ll have to watch more closely this summer — with my glasses on.
Males become sexually mature at one year, females may mature in either two or three years. I had certainly made sure my frog’s lives were cut short before they’d even reached their first year. Last summer I had so happily watched them transform from tiny magical frogs to such large beings I was a little taken aback. I started thinking they might be princes in disguise. I found out that they are the second largest frog species in North America next to the bullfrog, so dreams of living in a castle dissolved with the facts.
Researching on the Internet became frustrating as one blog suggested lining little ponds with blue Styrofoam to keep them from freezing; that’s what someone did in Alaska. And another fellow said he pulled a sheet of plastic tight over the pond and that the air insulated the water and plants and kept everything from freezing. In frustration I called Cole’s Pond Store in Grimsby, to speak to their pond expert Jerry Clattenburg. I should have called him sooner.
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