RAUK - Archived Forum - Posts by Donny:

Sorry, no pics...just something I have wondered about for a long time. It is said that it is difficult to distinguish between females of the above mentioned species, but I have never found this to be the case. Where I live, Smooth newts have orange bellies with large spots, and Palmates have yellow bellies with none or a very few small spots..in addition, Palmate Newts here are always lighter coloured...maybe it's just my local population...any of you experts have trouble telling between the two?

Hi! 

 At the weekend, I was out walking and I crossed over a piece of land that until three or four years ago, was a pine forest plantation.  It has since been cleared, and I saw that many of the wheel ruts and depressions created by the vehicles during clearance have filled with water and are now teeming with wildlife, including tadpoles, which I assume are Common Frog, given pool size and my location (Eastern Scotland)...only thing is, all of the tadpoles are absolutely tiny, like newly hatched size, only much more lively. I even found some intact, obviously infertile spawn, and this is early May!  Tadpoles in ponds just a short distance away are big and fat already. There is no remaining shade and the pools are all shallow and warm. 

 Could this be due to the acidity in the soil?  These taddies are seriously stunted compared to their neighbours, and if this is the case, I wonder why frogs would choose to breed in such a location at all..I worry about them growing enough to metamorphose this year. 

 So are these taddies getting pickled or what's going on?

Thanks for the replies...I thought maybe the years of pine needle build up might have made the soil too acid, but i suppose there are several factors to coinsider.

  Your story about the alleged 'Bullfrog' tadpoles reminds me of some HUGE Common Frog tadpoles and froglets i saw once in and around a drainage ditch that had also used as a dump for horse stable sweepings and dung...I think they must have been benefiting from the extra 'nutrition'!

Oriental Fire Bellied Toads are found in Korea, North Eastern Russia and North East China...that's Siberian winters we're talking about...I am guessing British winters are fairly mild in comparison!

Ummm...so is this a wind up then?

I have only found blanket weed to be a problem in the first year or so of a new pond, when the other plants have yet to establish themselves....if you just leave things to look after themselves, ponds tend to reach an equilibrium of their own, or at least that is my experience.

As we all know, Scotland is in fact home to one of the UK's, if not the world's, rarest reptiles....So, did your lizard look anything like this?

Hey there, that is quite an interesting story. It is my guess that the frogs and toads have either fallen in from above, or found their way in through cracks as tiny froglets and toadlets and then grown too large too escape.  Frogs are not too fussy where they spawn, but I would say that if they lay their eggs in a 'dish' of water, then they are probably trapped and have no other choice.

  Frogs and toads have a particular skill for falling down steep sided holes. When I was a kid I used to regularly make the rounds of several drains and cattle grids looking for captives...they don't drown, and can eat the many insects which also fall in, and so they can live a long time in such inhospitable habitats...

 "The frogs look like common frogs, but some of them appear very skinny, with pronounced hip-bones(?), hollow sides..."

"I don't think they are starving. They look healthy and are pretty active..."

Well, you cant have it both ways! The first description does make it sound like they are unhealthy and starving....

Oh, I see what you mean. Yes, toads tend to be plumper than frogs, and they will hop short distances too.

It sounds like the ideal solution (if possible) would be to build a pond in your garden, and provide some cover...such as an area of longer grass, a pile of logs, a rockery etc. Although, it would have to be quite a large pond to encourage the toads to breed, frogs are happy with quite small ponds. You would probably still have to release any froglets outside your garden to prevent overcrowding though.

I am pretty sure they found their own way in, as they were both alive and kicking...didn't look like the cats had had a go at them. I know what you mean tho...one of ours is a specialist at killing butterflies...strangest one was a live mole running about the house.

Well, just to add to the anecdotes:

I had some Xenopus that within a week or so all swelled up massively one after the other and died - didn't explode though.

Also observed a female palmate newt in our garden pond who was very swollen - not just with eggs, she looked like if you stuck a pin in her, she would burst.  She was so fat she couldn't walk on land and lived in the pond like that  - even overwintering - for about a year before dissapearing.

???