There's a pond in my garden which used to be full with wildlife. I dunno where it all came from, but it was just always like it. There were frogs, newts, insects and all kinds of stuff living in there, but a couple of years ago a big snake came along and ate EVERYTHING :mad: Now it's empty, and nothing lives in there anymore.
Any ideas as to how I can attract wildlife back to the pond and get it back to how it used to be? I was thinking about just chucking a few frogs in there to see if it kick started anything, but that seems too easy to be true.
Ideas?
Comments
Unfortunately, there aren't really any creeks or forests around here. There are small wooded areas, one being in the field behind my house actually. There's a small boggy pond in there, but I don't suppose anything would live there as it's mainly used for dumping grounds when people can't be bothered to take their refrigerators elsewhere.
hmmmmmmm.
trx100, if your property isn't directly hooked up with a forest or anything, it's going to take some time for the wildlife to come back. They will come back though, as water is a premium to wild animals and they have a way of finding that yummy scummy pond water. Just give it time and don't go messing around with the vegetation around the pond except to keep it in check.
If you see any more snakes, kill those assholes. They're the only animal I hate. That will take care of a good chunk of your problem.
fuck you, bitch
leave out some food
As for food, there's plenty of stuff in the garden for other animals to eat. Frogs enjoy snails and stuff, and there's a load of those slithering around out there :thumbsup: I think maybe I'll put some more vegetation around the pond and give it some time.
People are dumping shit (refrigerators and stuff) nearby.
Frogs and shit like that are the first things to go when a place starts getting polluted, even if everything looks clean to you, a little freon leaking into the ground in the area would be enough to wipe them out.
Remove all the trash, drain the pond, remove the dirt around the pond, refill and wait.
It is possible. Has anything else changed with the pond? Water coming in or out? Maybe you sprayed something near it? Weed killer, bug spray? Just a million reasons it could happen. Try catching some tadpoles and frogs and throw them in, see what happens.
Got a pic of the pond and shit? And the area around it?
I'll get you a picture when I can. Pretty sure I wasted the battery on my camera the other day :facepalm: It's basically a small, circular pond which is dug into the floor. It's surrounded by some nice rocks (lots of holes and gaps in there for creatures to hide in) and there's a flowerbed behind it all with some plants and stuff growing in it. Like I said earlier, it's a bit patchy and I plan on getting some more stuff to plant in there. I'm thinking a load of greenery and stuff.
There has to be something.
As far as planting more stuff in there, don't plant more than 50% of the ponds area, also a variety of plants at different depths is best. You also need to ID the plants that are in there, if something like hyacinth is growing in there it could suck all the oxygen out of the water.
Ever think about adding an oxygenator to the pond? Sounds like you pretty much have a stagnant hole of water.
Yes like a fish tank. Get a small solar panel to run it during the day, you need to keep the pond clean also, take out any dead plant stuff from the bottom. Without actually being there and testing the water and what not it is kind of hard to say.
Start with these suggestions and work from there.
edit: try common waterweed (Elodea) and hornwort (Ceratophyllum)
Good call, Buddha, on the vegetation.
Clean up the area and love nature. It will give the love back.
I would clean up any crap in the area, add some fallen timber from a wood and a mulch of leafmould taken from a wood at least 4" deep. Once it had setled down I would add some frogspawn to the pond - if you put adult frogs in the pond chances are they will just piss off somewhere else but the frogs from spawn will want to live there.
Got any pics of the area, could suggest some natural plants if I can see soil / topography / other plants growing in the area?
I didn't think about the field! Shit. Thanks for the heads up Dr Rocker, maybe when it's sprayed again this year I can do my best to shield the garden from getting sprayed too. Although it all goes into the ground anyway, but there's no harm in trying, right?
I will go and collect some fallen timber and a "mulch of leafmould" (I'll have to Google that one) soon. There's a small woodland not too far away with plenty of downed trees.
As for frogspawn - where do you get that from?
2. Release them into the pond.
3. Feed those bitches.
4. ????
5. Profit.
Leafmould is just rotted leaves. A mulch is any matter that you put on the ground to keep moisture in, provide nutrients and organic matter to improve stucture. Think of it as natures finest compost.
As for the frogspawn, C/O got it bang on.
C/O
"playing god is fun"
Depending on conditons during spraying, they can travel 3 miles, but 1/2 mile in any volume is more usual.
How small a pond are we talking? If it's back garden thing, sort of hot tub size then it probably won't draw in wildlife, so you'll have artificially inseminate it (:fap:?). Buy/ dig up some of Canadian pondweed. It will colonise and oxygenate the pond. Is there a public park with a pond or lake nearby? If so, pay it a visit on a dewey morning in the late spring and there should be loads of frogs out on the bank, and balls of them shagging in the shallows. Comeback in June and fill a freezer bag or two with frogspawn and transfer it to your pond. Go with a net and scoop out shit loads of mites, boatmen, larvae etc -they should thrive once you ahve the pondweed established. Once the Canadian pondweed is established you will need to either remove some of it manually (but you will have to do this every year) or buy some grass carp to keep it in check, otherwise it will completely swamp the pond.
I find it hard to believe that low intesity (twice a year) ground spraying is having such an effect. It's a small garden pond with no adjacent corresponding habitat - critters aren't going to find their way into such a pond on their own. Besides, the pond was populated and vegetated to begin with so it should have had a decent buffering capacity against low level pollution anyway. If trx succesfully repopulates it and everything dies after the field is sprayed then I will happily eat my words.
Wow. Just wow.
My cover is blown :eek:
Hey, fuck you. I'm alowed a spelling mistake every now then. Even if the one in question does make me sound like a three year old.
The wildlife you're talking about need to be protected from birds and etc - these things in nature are usually hollow logs, long reeds, etc.
Understanding the invertebrate life in the pond is important as well, check the Ph levels and the like to make sure there will be a food supply for the frogs/etc.
Im sure there's a local wildlife agency that will have fact sheets for you.
Do you have any pics?
You will find that they will. You would be amazed at the number of pond plants that have evolved to attach themselves to the legs of birds to be taken to waters new. Same with invertibrates and its not uncommon for fish eggs to go from one body of water to another and populations of fish to develop.
I took from his posts that his garden backed onto a field - their would normally be some kind of boundry - a hedge, a fence or a wall, probably overgrown on at least one side if its an arable farm with the land set aside scheme and wildlife stewardship grants for letting wild grasses and flowers grow at the edge - that should have acted as coridor enough.
Ultimatly, the pond may have been part of a bigger ecosystem that has suffered some setback.
Something must have gone right though, because there are a few tiny frogs in there now!
Algae can drain all the oxygen from a pond if you let it grow out of control. Much like salvinia can provide habitat for fish but chokes rivers if its not kept in check.
If you have a heavy nutrient load and mucho sunlight during the day you can get an algal bloom which will start fucking your shit.
Thanks for all the help with this thread, it's been just what we needed to get the pond back up and running
So yeah maintenance. How do?