Whoops! And, new batch

Sorry I dropped off the face of the earth for a while there, my computer was broken. I found this second batch of eggs on May 19th, and these pics were taken on the 21st.

Hatched!

Here we go! Yesterday, I found this young frog, one of the ones I released last year judging by the size. He was in the exact location I released them. It really makes it seem worth doing when they hang around.

 Here is the father of the current batch.

 And we have the tadpoles in the Tadpond. They are just little thin black lines right now, clinging onto the remains of the egg jelly. Every once in a while, one will flap it's little tail.

 And to finish, an African Violet bloom I am especially proud of.

EGGS!

So when I got home today, I went out to the pond, and checked for eggs.

 Success! I gather them by combing my fingers through that plant you see there ^. They always weave their eggs through it. I take less than half of the eggs, in case something crazy happens in the TadPond.

 If they are too wound around something, I usually take it too so I don't disturb the eggs. Here are all the ones I gathered, about half of the eggs in the pond. What you see in there is part of that plant's root.

 I add some plants (duckweed, java moss, wandering jew) I have half of the eggs I gathered still in the container I gathered them in. (This is in case something crazy happens, and it is also because I am unsure if the snails in the TadPond will eat the egg jelly, hoping they don't... just in case.

 Here are the eggs in the TadPond.

 And here is the TadPond in it's entirety. The eggs are the dark spot to the bottom left. South West.
In the TadPond, I have three different places where emerging baby toads can exit the water. I have two aerators. Various aquatic plants. Two types of snails. Cuttlebone to lower the acidity of the water (Tadpoles cannot live in acidic water, nor can snails.) and to give the snails a source of Calcium for their shells.

And there ya go!

Also, when I went outside about 20 minutes after harvesting the egg, I saw the female from last night who was playing hard to get getting ready to release eggs, so apparently changed her mind, and I have another batch incoming.

Warning

I will also probably post picture of my plants too. So if you don't want to see citrus tree, peppers, herbs, elephant ears, african violets, and anything else I can get my hands on to grow...then ok, you most likely will....

The Horizontal Horror

So...why did I start this blog on this particular day? Well, I haven't just set up their pond-let where the tadpoles where spend their early days, it is the same set up as last year. I never took it apart, because I had gotten some snails on ebay that now shared the Tadpond.

No, I am beginning the Tadpong Blog today (tonight) typing while Game of Thrones occupies one half of the screen and the post editor the other because tonight I caught the visiting toads Doing the Do. Bumping uglies. You get the point. I grow a lot of plants, and while stalking around outside hunting slugs to feed to the koi (their favorite) and protecting my lemon balm that gets regularly molested, listening to the frogs calling for mates, I heard squeaking.  Recognizing that sound from other years, I inspected the corner of the pond, and saw a smaller toad (the male) clinging to the back of another, larger one (female). If you didn't know, toads reproduce similarly to fish. The female ejects her eggs, unfertilized into water, and the male fertilizes. The male lets the know he is ready by grabbing onto a female and kneading her until she releases her eggs. The was another male calling away a few feet away, and another female (called such by her lack of calling for a mate, squeaking, and larger size), but she was playing hard to get while I was there. I would take pictures of the amplexus (the position of the male on top of the female), but I don't like to disturb them. I expect to have eggs tommorrow, and that I will take MANY pictures of. I will also explain me setup, take pictures of the koi pond and the Tadpond. I might even have two sets of eggs, from the female playing hard to get, she might change her mind later tonight. Oh well, even if I don't have eggs, I will take pictures of the Tadpond tommorrow in the daylight.

First! Start! Welcome!...that kind of thing

Long story short: I have a koi pond in my backyard. Every year, toads come and lay eggs in it. Because my koi love to eat the eggs, and any surviving tadpoles, this being the fourth year I take the eggs inside and raise them to frogs in a dog pool then release them. I decided to keep a good record this year because the first year I counted was last year, and I released 766 baby toads that year. This seemed like an easy and fun way to keep said record. I really enjoy doing this because I love watching them grow. I enjoy learning all the things I do by doing this. It is really all around fun, and a smart thing to do. Amphibian populations everywhere are dwindling rapidly due to global warming...loss of habitat...deforesting...etc. And I identified the toad (though the name slips my mind) and they are native, so I am not letting a species take over. Sometimes I release some down by the Arkansas River where I know some live so I don't mess up the local food chain.