Several dead frogs :(

8 years ago

I'm in central Indiana. I have a sunken 300 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank. A couple years ago, in the spring, I cleaned out 8 big dead green frogs. I thought the problem may have been the stock tank deicer I used all winter, and didn't run the pump for a long time....even when I could have. So last year, I ran the pump as long as I could, to oxygenate the water as long as possible (which was most of the year - mild winter). This year I had planned on doing the same thing, but for at least 2 weeks, we had single digit/sub zero temps....day and night.....so I had the deicer going most of that time.

Yesterday it warmed up to the 50's, so I plugged in the pump. I went out this afternoon to change it to the deicer, since it's supposed to get down into the 20's and lower again. Having had the pump on a day cleared the water up enough for me to see at least 3 dead frogs, (lying on their backs). I'm pretty sure they don't lie on their backs when they're just hibernating, right? Is it possible that the fluctuation in temps got them again? Is it just expecting too much to have frogs live through the winter with fluctuating temps in such a small "pond"? It makes me sad. I love those guys. Earlier in the winter, I did leave the pump on until the water froze coming out of it, so I just couldn't leave it on any longer. My deicer is one of those round blue ones. Maybe I need to get a small one....just enough to leave an air hole open? That way, the water won't warm up too much, and maybe bring them out of hibernation.....just to get frozen when the temp drops? There's a lot of muck in the bottom for the frogs to be in.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Featured Answer

tropicbreezent

8 years ago

I don't think it's your fault. Humans have mostly exempted themselves from the vagaries of nature but animals haven't (except our pets that live with us). I have a long hot dry season and my dam dries up towards the end of it. The frogs often come out when there's fluctuations in humidity, but there's no water for spawning in the dry season. When the wet season starts we get irregular and sometimes heavy rainfall. The dam partly fills and the frogs spawn like crazy. If there's a bit of a dry spell the water can dry up and the tadpoles perish (mainly eaten by other animals). I've had up to 3 lots of rain where the frogs have spawned and then lost everything to a week or two of dry weather again. When finally the wet season rains set in and the dam fills more eggs are laid. Those tadpoles from the later spawnings are able to complete their full cycle. Most years the dam will have at least one false start, the same as waterholes in creeks and swamps in the area. The frogs never wait to see if it's a false start or not. I used to collect many of the tadpoles from drying waterholes but kept running out of where to put them. I finally decided it was nature's way and don't intervene these days. Mother Nature has a funeral plan for every creature, they end up on another's dinner table.

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Comments (6)

tropicbreezent
8 years ago
I don't have any experience with freezing but what you say sounds logical. I know in other situations life forms that go through a hostile period will go into a form of dormancy that they're prepared for. If they're awakened prematurely then without a long season to "recharge the batteries" so to speak. they don't have the reserves to go back into a natural dormancy and will perish. I don't know what frogs normally do to survive winter in your climate but they've got it worked out for the normal course of the season.
catherinet
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks tropicbreeze. I sometimes wonder if they just can't sense if something is safe for the winter or not. They'll always be more come in, but I still feel bad for the ones that don't make it....if it's by my hand somehow.
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catherinet
Original Author
8 years ago
How true, tropicbreeze about Mother Nature's plans. I also have an above-ground 300 gallon stocktank that fills with tadpoles every year. Some years, when it's time to drain the tank and turn it over for winter, I have many tadpoles that I move to the inground tank. But other years.......they all have disappeared. They don't mature in that time......just poof, they're gone. One spring it rained so hard and so often that we had puddles in our drive with tadpoles in them! I can't wait to hear the frogs next year. The tree frogs are the best. That's why I could never give up my little water gardens, so matter how hard it gets to keep them, or how disabled I might get.
patfav4921
8 years ago
I just found three dead frogs (belly side up) in my small pond. There are egg sacs everywhere! Is it possible that these frogs died from exhaustion? I love my frogs, but do understand that they are not long-lived. I want to make sure that something I'm doing did not kill them. Last year there were a lot of polliwogs, which I kept going by making sure that they had water. It was a very hot summer, so I added water every day. One day I went out and every one was dead. There was an oily film on the water. Could this have caused their deaths or might it have been a result of their dying?
catherinet
Original Author
8 years ago
Hi patfav.......how big and deep is your pond? I have a well, but I think you need to be careful of adding city water without letting the chlorine dissipate first. Also.....where is the oil on the surface coming from? Do you oxygenate the water with a pump?