Strange creature in wildlife pond
 

I live in the UK.

We've got two ponds in our garden. One is about 4' by 8' and the other is
about 3' by 3'.
The larger pond has some fish and also has some established frogs. Earlier
this year two large clumps of frog spawn appeared in the larger pond. After
hatching, the majority of tadpoles dissapeared, except for a few living in
amongst the weeds in one corner. I guess that most got eaten by the fish.

About 3 months ago we decided to build a small wildlife pond (With no fish).
This was after the frogspawan dissapeared.

The other day we noticed what looked like a large tadpole in the wildlife
pond (about 2" long), but didn't get a good look as it darted off to the
bottom of the pond. We have now briefly seen this a few times.
Some of the tadpoles have now left the fish pond and are now young frogs,
about 1/2" in size.

The large tadpole looking creature in the wildlife pond is a lot bigger than
the young frogs, so couldn't be related.
Anyone have an idea as to:
What is it?
How could it have got there?

T.I.A

gary smith wrote:

The other day we noticed what looked like a large tadpole in the wildlife
pond (about 2" long), but didn't get a good look as it darted off to the
bottom of the pond. We have now briefly seen this a few times.

Sounds like a newt to me...

--
Andy

I agree, sounds like a newt or salamander.
I know there is an endangered species or
two of these fellows in the UK so looks like
you are doing your good deed for the year!

kathy :-)
www.blogfromthebog.com
this week ~ Mosquitoes!
Run For Your Life!

Pond 101 page for new pond keepers ~
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On Sat, 2 Jul 2005 12:02:48 +0100, "gary smith"
wrote:

The large tadpole looking creature in the wildlife pond is a lot bigger than
the young frogs, so couldn't be related.
Anyone have an idea as to:
What is it?
How could it have got there?

Quote from the web: "The bullfrog is a recent introduction to the UK
and is now resident there."

Bullfrog tadpoles take two years to mature into frogs that are about
2" or bigger at maturity. (Maturity meaning tadpole to frog, they
grow much larger.) They are wanderers and unfortunately don't like
laying eggs in my pond although I've seen frog droppings several years
to indicate I've had visitors, still I have no eggs or tadpoles. I
envy your good fortune and hope you will have one of the brood to come
back occasionally and sing for you and the neighborhood. :)

I've been told you could raise them in a cage that extends into the
water and feed them and they become quite tame looking forward to a
treat of crickets or meal worms. Once accustomed to such human
contact they are more likely to remain nearby and sing for you. Some
neighbors might complain though.

Regards,

Hal