Gary’s Tip of the Month

 This time of the year tiny froglets are mobile around the garden and patio   areas of frog pond owners.  Make sure you remove most of the spider webs around your home as they WILL become tangled in the tiny froglets webbed feet where fluff and other items will entangle them to a grinding halt.

Froglets are very small and not strong enough to remove or break the spider’s threads and unfortunately die where they become entrapped. The best way to reduce this problem is remove the spider webs (I use a long handled round head brush) once a week.

Squash the spider if you see it to stop more webs coming.

Make sure you go to the top on walls where frogs climb and especially under tables, chairs and close to the ground near corners where spiders weave their traps.

DO NOT  spray insecticides as the frogs absorb it through their skin and will die.

 If you find a small frog trapped in spider web or other material, WET YOUR HANDS then simply lower it into a small pond or any clean water. This will allow the web and fluff entangled on the webbed feet to float off and the froglet will recover like magic, after rehydrating.  Do not try to pull the web or entanglement off as it will damage the foot pads on the frog.

The best time to do a quick check for entangled frogs is early morning , well before the crows eat them and the sun shrivels them up.

 ”Gary’s Tip of the Month“. 

Gary brings many skills to the job, not the least of which is his exceptional photography, and also his extensive knowledge of frogs and fish.

Here is his first installment:

Secondary poisoning:

Unintentional poisoning of native fish and frogs often ocurrs when we try to eradicate ants, spiders, termites and the other creepy crawlies which we do not like to share our homes with.

Even the greatest care on our own property can not control “outside” factors, such as neighbors using chemicals on fence lines and capping to control spiders. High spraying over trees for fruit fly seems to always drift over the dividing fence to your pond and those chemicals are quite lethal to pond life and toxic to humans too!

It is reasonable to “educate” your neighbors  or the pest control contractors, in a friendly way, of the serious consequences that this would have on your pond life and to ask them to limit or only spray when the wind is calm or blowing away from your pond.

But, probably the most serious of continuous poisoning occurs with rat baits.  The metro area has experienced a plague in the past few years and baiting the vermin is encouraged by local shires.  A bait placed out at night will be slowly consumed not only by rats but by cockroaches too, which then fly or move off more than 100m.  Frogs find this lethargic, dying meal easy prey, but the chemicals ingested by the roaches will kill your frogs.

There is no easy answer to preventing this happening but you could ask your neighbors to place baits on the far side of your adjoining fence or only spray on the other side when the winds are right. Better still provide them with some simple fly and rat traps to discourage them using chemicals at all.

Who knows, after seeing your pond and the interesting life it supports they might be inspired to build their own pond!

Thanks Gary!  Looking forward to your next instalment

Pygmy Perch

He would like to exchange some of his pygmy perch fish for slender tree frog tadpoles.

His pygmy perch are flourishing.  What started with 5 fish swimming in the pond has multiplied to 30 plus.  So as a fair swap, Gary would like to get in contact with anyone who would like to get some pygmy perch in exchange for their slender tree frog tadpoles.

Frog Enclosure

Gary has built himself an enclosed contruction and installed a pond, waterfall, fernery and a 13 metre long living wall of elk and stag horn ferns.  Sounds like paradise!  Well, he hopes it will be for some lucky slender tree frogs!

Motorbike Frogs

So far only motorbike frogs have moved in and used his facilities.  So now he has a whole load of little motorbike frogs hiding in amongst his plants.  But he would dearly love to see the graceful forms of the slender tree frogs in his creation.

Gary lives in Kingsley in Perth, Western Australia, so if you live near by and would like to take advantage of this offer please contact me using the comment box below.

I hope someone out there can help and also benefit from this exchange.

Photos courtesy of Gary of Kingsley

Pygmy Perch - Photo courtesy of Gary of Kingsley

They have very small mouths which makes it hard for them to get at anything bigger than a wriggler.  They are a West Australian native fish.  They lay eggs to breed.  This means their breeding is much more controlled.

But they can be hard to source.  I have spent some fruitless days on the phone trying to find an aquarium shop that stocks them.  It seems that they have a very strict breeding cycle and so there isn’t a steady supply of them.  They have become so popular that store owners can’t keep them in store for very long.

At the moment though, (January 2011), Vebas Aquariums at Unit 5/1 Zeta Crescent, O’Connor are selling them for $5.50 each or you can buy 4 for $20. 

If they are stocking them, currently, then maybe other stores might have them in as well.  So if you’ve been hoping to get some pygmy perch for your frog pond, now might be the time to contact your local aquarium store.

For this reason it is important that we start to move away from the idea of a “frog pond” and begin to build into our gardens the features and habitat requirements which will make it a “Frog Friendly Garden”.

The Guru of the Frog Friendly Garden, the Frog Doctor himself, Johnny Prefumo, is giving a presentation designed to help you in Creating Frog Friendly Gardens.

Creating Frog Friendly Gardens

Town of Vincent Library & Local History Centre, 99 Loftus Stree, Leederville

Saturday, 4 September 2010

9am to 1pm

Contact:  Shirley-Anne Maxwell, 9273 6564

Cost:  $5 Residents, $10 Non-residents

Light refreshments provided

I hope to get along to this presentation myself and will report back with all the details.

Wind down at the end of the week with a sausage sizzle, and let the kids indulge themselves in learning about the watery world of frogs in their own backyard.

Experience a light and sound show by frog experts followed by a spotlight adventurous Night Stalk through the Herdsman Lake swamp in search of our green friends, and get up close and personal with some swampy critters at  “Creature Feature”

WHERE:  Herdsman Lake Wildlife Centre, cnr Selby & Flynn St, Wembley (opp City Farmers)

WHEN:  Fri 6th Aug, 20th Aug, 10th Sept. (6.00pm – 8.00pm)

COST:  $12.00/Person (0-3yrs FREE), includes sausage sizzle hot dot.

BYO:  Torch, warm clothes/shower jacket

BOOKINGS:  Phone Scitech: 9215 0740 Bookings essential

So if you’d like to get in on the action give the folks at Scitech a call and book in for the whole family!

Wild Wetlands DL Brochure_P3 final

The Painted Fish is accomodation at South Beach in Fremantle, but with a difference. It is an Eco Village. Three wonderfully original dwellings snuggled on an ordinary suburban block, if you can call Fremantle ordinary. Personally, I see Fremantle as another world entirely. The three buildings are all separated beautifully by organic vegetable gardens, ponds, sculptures and ancient trees which gnarl they way to the heavens.

Sustainability is the concept that oversees the whole arrangement. From wonderful innovations with outdoor showers, to photo-voltaic cells powering the amenities, to passive heating and cooling systems, the designers have thought of it all. And they’re still applying more fabulous ideas all the time.

What has this got to do with frogs, you may ask? You should see their frogs! Apparently they have to give out ear plugs in spring and summer to guests so they can sleep at night! Shani, one of the operators of this fabulous retreat, told me she has at least 15 resident frogs which sun themselves on rocks around the ponds, and gets thousands of tadpoles each year. And the size of them! Fat, happy, little buddhas they are.

If you want to be inspired visit their web site at www.thepaintedfish.com.au. There are many great photos of the ponds and the grounds and some of their frogs as well.

They are also part of the Open Garden Scheme and will be having an open garden in September sometime. I will keep you posted.