Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Frogs and pond expansion

Good morning all, Since we are dry again this year, I decided to do as all good pond people do and expand the pond and use the dry time to do some work. My pond has always had more seepage than desired ( I thought due to the steep sides and one area which has somewhat more sandy clay type of soil.

As I started to expand around some of the banks and cut in a 3 ft ledge and build up some of the sides better. I found that my Frog friends, who have given me great joy, might be the ones causing me grief!! It seems that these frogs have burrowed tunnels as deep as 12 inches in and up to 6 inches in diameter in the sides of the pond. They are using it for wintering over and for staying cool and out of harms way on hot days.

The more I think back when my first year I lost nearly nothing in water on the pond ( prior to many frogs ) and now I am losing more than I wanted and have tons of frogs. I think could there be a correlation??? Or is this like the Pirate correlation we have all heard about :rolleyes:

Either case, I am filling some of those holes in and making the edges friendlier with natural rock and other hiding spots for the frogs and minnows such that they do not have to cut into the banks. If however that doesn�t work, I will have to take down my fake Heron and let the real one come in to have his way with them. although some of the bullfrogs are gigantic and I don't know which of them would win in a fair fight!

All well the things you learn as you start playing more.

Goodness! We've learned to worry about crawdads, beavers, and muskrats penetrating clay/the dam to cause pond leaks. Now frogs.

My limited knowledge wonders if your frog burrows are wholly (pun intended) from their hibernating through the Winter. If this is the case, making hiding places for them may not help.

Deb the Rana-ologist should have some good knowledge and thoughts on this.

I question how a frog is able to dig into a packed and fairly firm pond bottom. Frogs may be using the holes but I doubt that they created the holes. Frogs typically do not have any claws or feet that are adapted for digging into firm soil. Frog toes and feet are fairly flimsy.

Right on Bill...I like your keen insight !

could they be from turtles ?

Thanks for the feedback guys. All I know is in all of the holes I find the frogs. If they are not making the holes, then what is? The clay was hard packed prior to the frogs in the pond.

Now I have had mole and vole problems in the past in my fruit tree areas. I wonder if they dug too close to the pond and their tunnels flooded.

I have seen the frogs actually diging some of the shallow cutouts along the side of the pond to keep cool. That is why I thought they were the ones diging the holes deeper. I hope Deb can give some insight here.

No matter who is making the holes, I now know why I am seeping more than expected. Now the trick is to find all of the holes and fill them in and find a way to ensure whoever is making them can't make any more.

Eric,

The dimensions given for the holes leads me to think muskrats are setting themselves up for residency. Your frogs are just being opportunists.

Russ, Interesting in such that I have no Muskrats and locally the only thing I have seen within a 20 mile radius is Beavers. Some of the holes are larger than others. Some are as little as 1.5 inches in diameter and others as large as 6 inches. I have some leopard frogs and some very very large bullfrogs ( at least 6 inches in diameter ). I have looked in the past for muskrats and other swimming types of critters but the only animal I have seen swimming on the pond is the odd raccoon that wanders by at night. I have had a few snakes that have poked around in the pond and some that when I get close disappear into nowhere. Maybe they are using the holes.

I had thought it might be old root holes, but in 3 years I doubt that the roots would have decayed enough that it would leave only the hole and nothing else. As the pond starts to dry I find more and more holes in the side ( some only going in an inch or two while others going deeper ) and each time a frog is in the hole.

I have had some spots on the surface where it looks like a mud volcano erupted and there is some wet mud with a hole going straight down under it. Those holes tend to be less than 2 inches in diameter.

I will try to take a few pics tonight to show you what I am seeing. In the mean time any thoughts would be appreciated. I just want to get rid of the critter/critters that are doing this so that I can actually seal up the pond and not have as much seepage as I am right now.

Theo, that was my first thought for the frogs. I know that up north we have frogs that burow deep in the mud to overwinter. Its amazing what they can dig through when they are trying to survive the cold winters. I also notice the deep holes are always about 2 to 3 ft below the pond surface. Which is about hte frost line. The surface holes that I have seen are only shallow ones like what they would use for keeping cool and away from herons over the summer.

Also anyone know of anything to use to fill these holes back in other than the clay they already dug out?

Eric:

The "volcanoes" are crawdad holes...they can go quite deep, maybe 6'. I've tons of bullfrogs but never seen one actually dig a hole...they're kinda wussies in that regard, I guess.