Author Topic: Frog infestation (Read 3516 times)

Rotary-Motion · « **on:** March 07, 2013, 07:12:12 PM »

well for the last 2 days my pond is fully loaded with frogs a serious amount all doing the tango with each other, i have neever seen as many in my life, well its been raining and they must think everywhere is a pond there all leaving the garden there everywhere, been trying to do me oil and trying not to pop any...

and now there in the street lol

had nieghbours round looking...

hehe those crazy little guys ah...

Dickjotec · « **Reply #1 on:** March 07, 2013, 07:46:04 PM »

Frogs are not the sharpest animals, I have to move their spawn most years cause they have laid it in a daft place. Also have to walk round and move them before mowing, not that it is their fault.
Dick

Rotary-Motion · « **Reply #2 on:** March 07, 2013, 08:19:51 PM »

frogs are for life not just for christmas...

greasemonkey · « **Reply #3 on:** March 07, 2013, 08:28:10 PM »

They will move in by the hundred, spawn, and then hop off again.
We went to fill in a garden pond a few years ago, and as we were draining the water out, we could see all these frogs appearing.
Phoned the RSPCA, and they said to catch them and chuck them in another pond. We had two dustbins, half full with frogs.
On the plus side, they are great for the environment, they really keep the pests down.
The biggest risk right now is that there is a hard frost forcast for sunday night, I think, so if they spawn before then, there is a risk it might kill off a lot of spawn, decreasing this years crop considerably. The last thing we want considering how the damp summers are bringing out the slugs.

Rotary-Motion · « **Reply #4 on:** March 11, 2013, 08:46:25 PM »

well not sure whats going to happen to them now as they all been frozen locked under the ice...

Dickjotec · « **Reply #5 on:** March 11, 2013, 08:52:02 PM »

Melt the ice by putting a pan of warm water on it then float something in the melted bit, a ball works. Provided it does not freeze solid and there is a way for gasses to get out they should be fine. The spawn will not like freezing but it should sink initially.
Dick

greasemonkey · « **Reply #6 on:** March 11, 2013, 08:52:21 PM »

Fair chance they are all going to croak.

WAHAHAHA! Where do I get 'um from?

Seriously, I'd go and smash the ice, and chuck something in the pond that they can hop onto, and then hop out to safety. Having said that, maybe they can survive it. I don't know. They must have felt the pond freezing, so they had a chance to hop off somewhere else if they wanted to.

Dickjotec · « **Reply #7 on:** March 11, 2013, 09:34:26 PM »

Quote from: greasemonkey on March 11, 2013, 08:52:21 PM

Fair chance they are all going to croak.

WAHAHAHA! Where do I get 'um from?

Seriously, I'd go and smash the ice, and chuck something in the pond that they can hop onto, and then hop out to safety. Having said that, maybe they can survive it. I don't know. They must have felt the pond freezing, so they had a chance to hop off somewhere else if they wanted to.

Better not to smash the ice as the shock waves can damage pond life but some way to get out is a good idea but they will probably go into the mud at the bottom till it warms up.

Did you know that water is the only common thing that gets bigger when it freezes?
Dick

greasemonkey · « **Reply #8 on:** March 11, 2013, 09:45:57 PM »

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-do-frogs-survive-wint

And yet the frogs do not die. Why? Antifreeze! True enough, ice crystals form in such places as the body cavity and bladder and under the skin, but a high concentration of glucose in the frog's vital organs prevents freezing. A partially frozen frog will stop breathing, and its heart will stop beating. It will appear quite dead. But when the hibernaculum warms up above freezing, the frog's frozen portions will thaw, and its heart and lungs resume activity--there really is such a thing as the living dead!

Sounds like the little darlings will survive anyway. Cant find much about the spawn though. Like you say Dick, best let nature take its course in this instance.

Bit of a rough deal to us, water getting bigger as it freezes. Think how many engines and water pipes could have been saved if it got smaller.

Dickjotec · « **Reply #9 on:** March 11, 2013, 10:43:06 PM »

Quote from: greasemonkey on March 11, 2013, 09:45:57 PM

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-do-frogs-survive-wint

Bit of a rough deal to us, water getting bigger as it freezes. Think how many engines and water pipes could have been saved if it got smaller.

Fortunate for us it does else water would freeze from the bottom and life would probably not have evolved ------ but as you say we would not be worrying about the rad freezing.
Dick

Rotary-Motion · « **Reply #10 on:** March 12, 2013, 06:59:37 AM »

instead of burst pipes we would get imploding pipes or vessels?

Dickjotec · « **Reply #11 on:** March 12, 2013, 07:57:25 AM »

Interesting thought, probably not as the decrease in size would not be large enough to make a difference, unless the ice stuck to the walls?

Rotary-Motion · « **Reply #12 on:** March 12, 2013, 08:09:46 AM »

was thinking more a closed system like car rad or central heating system... if things got smaller in there surely it would pull things in? bit like pressure hot air then cool it rapid say...

Dickjotec · « **Reply #13 on:** March 12, 2013, 11:13:29 AM »

In a closed system like a car rad the hoses would collapse to take up the vacuum. As the reduction would be a small % I don't think it would do any damage --- we will never know on this planet!
Another fact despite the fact water expands as it freezes it also expands as it gets hotter and hot water rises! Weird!

Tony · « **Reply #14 on:** March 12, 2013, 11:48:29 AM »

I guess anything that expands reduces density relative to the original. Apparently water's maximum density is at 4C.

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