I am new to this site, and am relieved to know that I am not so alone in losing frogs/fishes during the latest severe weather. Once the snow had gone from the top of our pond we found 2 small white fish (not sure which breed fish are my sons dept.) and a huge carp. He bought this fish when we first made the pond 10yrs ago.He was devastated. Since then we have fished out at least a doz dead frogs. I have found the comments most enlightening and shall be on my guard come the next freeze, Last year we had over 30 lots of spawm. Not sure what we'll get this year. Many thanks for all your help
Can I ask a stupid question? If anyones here to listen. How do you tell for sure that they are dead? I've just fished some out of my pond and felt fairly gutted as I've never had this happen before. However reading around the net some sites say they may still be in hibernation and can look pretty dead but aren't.
Now I would take it if they are floating around on the surface utterly lifeless that's pretty much dead. But I had a trio around the sides that I fished out thinking they were gonners too. I'm now (having read these other blogs) having 2nd thoughts and wondering if my trio by the sides weren't as dead as I thought.
Would no apparent movement at all when I fished them out indicate dead, or could they have still been in a very deep sleep????
Froggieeees - frogs don't really hibernate, they go into a sort of 'torpor' and wake up from it when temperatures increase - usually in spring, but sometimes on sunny days in winter. I would have though that no movement at all would indicate that they are dead. You could leave them under a shrub or fallen leaves to see if they come to, but otherwise use the experience to make sure your pond is in better nick for overwintering frogs next year.
I can't tell you how relieved I am to come on here and read that I'm not alone. To our distress today we found 7 bloated dead frogs in our pond. We live in quite an exposed area on the outskirts of Sheffield but in the 5 years we've had our pond we've never seen anything like this. But the ice was 5 inches thick on the pond for some weeks this last winter and even our pump eventually seized up in the cold. It's very sad but I hope some may have survived somewhere or that some more frogs may appear to replace those that have died. I'm sorry for those of you that have lost fish as well - it's very sad.
I moved into a house with a pond last christmas, we had a fantastic year of pondlife, lots of plants, frogs and newts. I have not done anything significant to the pond other than keep it tidy. After the cold spell i was devasted as were many others to find upwards of 200 bloated and dead frogs, which we cleared. Today after a week away and warm temperatures the pond is ver lively, but surrounding the pond are a couple of dozen dead frogs, with what seem like injuries, at varying distances from the pond -its horrible
We have found two dead toads in our pond this week. One toad has smaller toads clinging underneath it and they seem to be propelling it around the pond. We have removed the other toad from the pond but we are unsure what to do about this one - it is definitly dead and not spawning. We have loads of toads spawn in the pond. What could have happened to poor toady and what should we do?
for the last two years my parents have been inundated with black frogs that have been slowly killing all the fish in their pond, where did they come from and how can they get rid of them.
Last February when it snowed I was heartbroken to find that my lovely frogs that I had watched grow since babies had all frozen to death. At first I thought it was one but then found there were six dead. With the excitement of the snow that we hadn't had for years I had forgotten to put a ball in the water, I felt so guilty, and to see so many of them dead! I haven't got a pond just a large tub in the garden so I don't know where the frogs came from in the first place, but enjoyed seeing them popping up in different parts of the garden through the Summer. I hope there are more this year.
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Now I would take it if they are floating around on the surface utterly lifeless that's pretty much dead. But I had a trio around the sides that I fished out thinking they were gonners too. I'm now (having read these other blogs) having 2nd thoughts and wondering if my trio by the sides weren't as dead as I thought.
Would no apparent movement at all when I fished them out indicate dead, or could they have still been in a very deep sleep????
Kate