Keeping Frogs out of the Gardens

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Hello all

Looking at installing a pond, but dont want the frogs.

Will the 6 foot fences be enough or can i put anyhting in the garden and/or water?

Not initially looking at getting any fish in there.

Thanks.
 
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why do you not want frogs?

send them to me, i would love some (delicious)

but on a serious note, frogs will do no harm, infact the opposite.

there is only one sure way to not have frogs and still have a pond.

have a raised pond, at least 18 inches above the ground, also stops leaves blowing in and grass when you cut the lawn.

and dont forget you will no doubt want to install a filter, so if its a raised pond you could incorporate it in the design
 
funnily enough its called anture, and youll be hard pressed to stop them. they also do a hell of a lot of good for the garden
 
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why do you not want frogs?

Coz im scared of them!!! :oops:

Seriously, i am!

I know they do alot of good for the garden and i appreciate its all about nature but the thought of me going out into the garden one late evening and coming accross a frog is a bit dreadful. Plus id pass out if one was to jump somewhere on or near the barbercue!!!!

I have a mate with a bigger pond than what i plan and he says he gets 100's of frogs in his garden. He also told me about the time he left the door open and had loads of them in the house. I just couldnt bear that happening to me. I know they're harmless but when you cant stand them, you just cant stand them, no IF's, no BUT's!

Iv also found out theres a big natural pond nearby where theres loads of frogs, so no doubt they'll make their way accross here. Its only a couple of hundred feet away. They MUST stay out or there will be no pond!

Like i said, i have 6 foot wooden fences all around the garden, and theres no gaps for them to get accross, but i want to know if that'll be enough?

And how the hell do they sense theres water from so far away???
 
So whats this about stopping them by raising the pond by 18" off the ground?

Whats the theory behind that then, can they not sense it or something?

Raising the pond was not something i want to do as it would spoil the view from the conservotary, but if it means keeping out the frogs then maybe il consider it.
 
I am not a "frog expert", so this is just my observations.

Frogs don't live in ponds all the time, they live near / around ponds, and only stay in them at mating season.

(I have frog spawn in one pond, but no frogs just now)

They forage for food and they obvioulsy hop to get around and they can hop fast when they want to.

They travel long distances to find food and will stay overday (not night) under somewhere dark and damp (preferably damp)

while foragaing they do "have a look round" and if they see water they jump in and have a swim, and sometimes just sit there waiting, presumably to see what the food is like.

They probably cross your garden at night without you knowing it, but dont stay because of no pond.

The most number of frogs i had was 18 pairs (i counted them as i had to empty / clean a pond)

They can jump down a long way, say off a wall to the ground, and obvioulsy they swim very well.

But they either cant or dont want to jump up very far, hence my suggestion of 18 inch wall.

I have 2 ponds (small) and 1 large fountain in my garden (fountain, not water feature)

1 pond is ground level (its a new one) and the other is about 4 inches tall (its actually a "planter" , thing for putting plants in, but i filled it with water)

(the pond that had 18 pairs of frogs is now a water feature, see my profile)

The frogs that do pass by have not found the new pond yet, but the 4 inch tall pond is where they mated and had frog spwan in it, so i put it in the other pond)

The fountain is on a slope and has a wall about 10 inches tall at one end and about 18 inches tall the other (so its level at the top)

The frogs have never been in the fountain, since it must be too high up for them to know what it is (a big pool of water)

Fences seem no problem as they do seem to be able to squeeze through tiny gaps under it.

You may get away with a pond that is say 2 bricks above the ground, i dont know, but i would say for sure if its 18 inches they will not get in it.

and finaly

Frogs are intelegent,

I was walking in the garden carrying a load of books, i dropped them, as i did this frog said, read it , read it, read it, read it.............



Ok the last bit is a joke, and so not true, but the rest is really true / my observations
 
When I had my pond, I used to take as much spawn out of the pond & put it in ponds at the golf glub. I also used to catch the frogs in a net & take sacks of them to the same ponds, I also drove them & put them in ponds on my way to work (about 10 miles).
I also had newts no idea how they got there, but watching them at night was very relaxing.
 
When I had my pond, I used to take as much spawn out of the pond & put it in ponds at the golf glub. I also used to catch the frogs in a net & take sacks of them to the same ponds, I also drove them & put them in ponds on my way to work (about 10 miles).

Did this help with the getting rid of them, or atleast cutting down the numbers, or were you just doing this constantly?

My mate who i was talking about above, has said he once pulled out about 50 gallons of frog spawn from his pond. Now imagine if they all had grown!!!! :eek:
 
must have been a lot of frogs.

i dont know the survival rate but its not high, which is why frogs produce so much frogspawn, so they would never all become frogs and survive for that long
 
You may not be a "frog expert" my friend, but you certainly know more than me, which is always a good start. However, your expertise has raised a further few questions, if i may probe your brain for them:-

Frogs don't live in ponds all the time, they live near / around ponds, and only stay in them at mating season.

What is the mating season? And what do they do for the rest of the year?


They travel long distances to find food and will stay overday (not night) under somewhere dark and damp (preferably damp).

The big natural pond near us i think is specifically made for this sort of a thing, would that not provide them sufficient food? Or do they like to take a "walk" anyway? I moved into this house in mid december and havnt seen a frog yet, but that might have been something to do with the weather. And why wont they stay overnight? Surely they'd like to stay somewhere dark and damp wouldnt they?


They can jump down a long way, say off a wall to the ground, and obvioulsy they swim very well.But they either cant or dont want to jump up very far, hence my suggestion of 18 inch wall.

You could be right there, another friend of mine has a pond built like a well, which is about 20" off ground level, and he says he gets a few frogs in his garden from time to time, but not in his pond and they dont tend to stay too long either. However, his adjoining neighbour also has a pond just on the other side of his fence which is on the ground level, and he gets plenty of frogs. My mate reckons he gets the frogs which are just passing by in trying to get to his neighbours pond.

Unfortunatly, i am trying to avoid the whole wall idea altogether, as otherwise i wouldnt be able to see the water from the conservotary, which sort of defeats the idea.


Fences seem no problem as they do seem to be able to squeeze through tiny gaps under it.

Whilst looking around the other day, i noticed there are a few gaps where they could slide under, but abit of a fill up and that should hopefully be sorted. Then the only way in or out would be OVER the fences. Im hoping it might be enough to hold them back.
 
must have been a lot of frogs.

i dont know the survival rate but its not high, which is why frogs produce so much frogspawn, so they would never all become frogs and survive for that long

Like i said, he gets hundreds of frogs in his garden, hence why so much spawn. Once the little buggers grow up though, they stop at nothing to come back to where they were spawned, and then you get a continual problem.

But you're right, their survival rate isnt very high at all.

Oh yeah, do they croak a lot at night? You know, sitting by the pond just croaking away, like you see in the movies in the warm summer nights? Id hate to be kept up by them.
 
They dont croak much. They mate early spring, When the baby frogs leave the pond, late summer they used to cover my lawn, when the mower was out they were jumping everywhere.
 
They dont croak much. They mate early spring, When the baby frogs leave the pond, late summer they used to cover my lawn, when the mower was out they were jumping everywhere.

Yeah thats another fun thought, when the mower comes out and you end up plastering them everywhere.

Even when you say you removed so much of the spawn, your saying that there were still plentiful that were left behind an survived?

But i take it as you never did get rid of them then?
 

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