RAUK - Archived Forum - Posts by Romski:

I've been lucky enough to watch a local Marsh frog population over the last few years. The pond has a good common frog population too. Common and great crested newts are present.  Both species will predate each others young hoppers but mostly they leave each other alone. In the summer the commons disappear into the meadow and the greens stay by the water. The greens will take anything that comes their way, they wait and ambush. They are visual hunters and I would say that the main part of their diet is flying insects. As hoppers disapear mostly at night the majority of the population is safe.

Snake population is thriving by the way.

Two years ago there was a massive drop in population of commons. There was also a big fish kill and I have strong suspicions that all was not well with the environment. I saw only two tortoiseshells and no peacocks that year! Things recovered last year we shall see what this spring brings by the number of returning commons.

The greens are a very welcome neighbour and their population increase locally, is in my opinion helping the familly needs of the egrets and the now resident bittern.

Rom

Hi,

Im in Somerset and we have a good population in the Ham Wall RSPB reserve. (nr Glastonbury)

No I have not seen them being caught by egrets - I should be so lucky. But I seen evidence of herons getting them.

There are now newer and more effective chemicals out there being used by farmers. This when combined with runoff gets into our water ways. I would be interested in frog population variance in environments that are suddenly changed and the use of chemicals ceases. It could be why the domestic pond is successful.

In another forum debate was going on about spawning times. I saw no frogs last year until March, yet in 2003 before the kill the frogs were in amongst the ice and leaves in January. In massive numbers.

From what Ive seen its temperature that drives the greens to spawn. In a shallow pond that could be May or June before it gets into the steady 15teens. Dont assume that they only spawn once like our commons. If its cool or a late spawning the tadpoles with overwinter.

   Rom

I tried to log in also and after two attempts I conclude it may not be me!

I received no error page just a totally thorough ignoring.

      Rom

Hi,

My boys and myself caught a dozen or so in the Dourbie River near Cantobre a few summers ago (nr Nant). It was a very pleasant summers afternoon. All of them were similar to the picture and I would guess as being the previous years young. I recal there was not much variation in size.

Romski

Hi, Its a bit quiet so I thought I would prompt discussion. I live in the south west and have a liking for the crusty pies. I have built a big pond to keep them as near to nature as possible  I have, overtime ended up rehoming a number of discarded animals caught in local ponds and rivers. All have been sad cases. These animals are still being sold in numbers and all are long lived. They are hardy and will easily survive our climate. I expect that as the cute things out grow their tanks more will find their way into our water systems. The eggs need 25 degrees for about two months to hatch. As they probably have a breeding life of say 20 years, my betting is that as it gets warmer we will see young turtles in our waters. The question is will the breeding rate be sustainable?

As far as the portrayal of them as monsters is concerned I was disappointed with some of the comments above. I have around a dozen animals with hundreds if fish. I have never seen a turtle catch a fish. The pond is good and sustains a big population of newts. I have seen a newt caught as it swam past a young terrapin. But thats it as far as a murderous nature is concerned.

The sliders (incldes the red eared) seem to be the most inquisitive of all the terrapins I have kept and are the first to learn about feed habits. They are bright enough not to be easy to catch in the wild.

Please dont give the terrapins a bad press - its the shopkeepers and owners that release into the wild that need the rebuke.

One last thing. Snapping turtles are for sale here in UK. They breed at lower temperatures, live longest, grow to be over 50lbs. They are the most probable candidates for being released by bored owners. I have caught them in the wild and do not relish seeing them here in the UK but we will.

If I have gon on for too long Im sorry.

Romski