Dead Frogs - sad day

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firefly

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I just wanted to let you know, that I had a shock today when I went to check our garden pond, we fished out 30 + dead frogs which had all been lying on the bottom. It was awful - there were no marks on these guys, and the were all large specimens. Such a shame. They've been coming to our garden for donkey years, and the majority of their tadpoles have always managed to survive. I'm gutted.

Because of the global virus 'Ranavirus' and other viruses killing thousands of frogs I 'did my bit' & reported it to the Froglife website, & the info will be passed to the conservation bodies at the Institute of Zoology.

Its very frightening to think of frogs and newts dying, as the consequences don't bear thinking about. They all do so much good in the garden. Poor things
 
firefly said:
I just wanted to let you know, that I had a shock today when I went to check our garden pond, we fished out 30 + dead frogs which had all been lying on the bottom. It was awful - there were no marks on these guys, and the were all large specimens. Such a shame. They've been coming to our garden for donkey years, and the majority of their tadpoles have always managed to survive. I'm gutted.

Because of the global virus 'Ranavirus' and other viruses killing thousands of frogs I 'did my bit' & reported it to the Froglife website, & the info will be passed to the conservation bodies at the Institute of Zoology.

Its very frightening to think of frogs and newts dying, as the consequences don't bear thinking about. They all do so much good in the garden. Poor things
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Sad day indeed. Do you think this mortality is linked to the cold weather of the last weeks? Did your pond freeze solid? It might be an explenation for what you found...
 
I don't think so. It's never happened before, and it always get frozen over. I leave a football in the pond so when I take it out there's a breathing hole. The fish are fine and healthy
 
I would call a local vet and ask him/her if they do them, or can send them out for one, what condition to bring one in (frozen? refrigerated?) and mostly, how much it would cost (could be costly, you'd have to decide how bad you want to know what happened).
 
Check with your local RSPCA too, occasionally they can be helpful with this type of thing. There will be a charge for this though.
 
It may also be a good idea to check with neighbours if they have ponds too. If it´s happening in the whole area it might be viral. If it´s localized in your pond and nowhere else...it might be something else.
 
Seems strange they all died at the same time though? Is there anything else dead in the pond. Have snails or other life died also?
 
Talking with my colleagues at the NBGRC (Nottinghamshire Biological and Geological Record Centre) this kind of event is not unknown, and often remain unexplained. Unless the pond was frozen solid, the freezing of the pond is an unlickely culprid as plants will be creating oxygen under the ice, and the need of the frogs would be minimal...
Ranavirus is also an unlickely cause. The thinking is that it could be older males (females apparently do not overwinter in ponds) dying from the cold conditions... Did you find any live ones as well? Or were all the frogs in your pond dead?
 
I felt it necessary to respond to this because this is a prevalent problem right now in the UK and people are searching the internet for the cause. The last thing we need is disinformation like the original poster's first post (sorry but you're almost certainly incorrect). Ranavirus and chytrid? You're saying this with absolutely no evidence too. It's very unlikely to be chytrid (doesn't do well at near freezing conditions) and highly unlikely to be Ranavirus.

The winter in the UK this year has been the most severe and prolonged for decades. Whether or not you've got a football floating in the pond, I sincerely doubt your pond surface didn't freeze right around the ball. The fact of the matter is that these frogs (part of the male population) take a gamble by brumating in the pond. The benefits being a usually stable environment with few or no predators, and no need to migrate to the pond for breeding in the spring, thus having access to females before migrating males. The risk is that the water surface will remain free of ice enough to allow normal gaseous exchange to occur, and bear in mind that when ponds freeze, the decaying leaf litter and other detritus that fell into the pond during autumn is using up all the oxygen too. Much of the male population of the Common Frog does not brumate in ponds for this very reason - the whole species could die out if one sex disappeared.
 
Hi, I'm new to the forum and actually joined to ask a specific question which looks like it's been covered here. Within the last week I have found two dead frogs in my garden pond. These were quite large specimens. We have been fortunate to have had visiting frogs for many years, get a varied amount of spawn in the spring and thought we may have frogs that actually reside in the pond but I have never found a dead frog......ever! Of course, we have had ice on the pond for longer than is normal this year but I have been able to keep an area clear and the fact that all of my pond fish have survived makes me think that lack of oxygen or poison gases are not to blame. As a matter of coincidence, I don't live too much of a distance away from Firefly, the originator of the thread.
 
Without any hard evidence it all just a bunch of guessing. An abnormally cold winter
is hard on alot of animals. A man made pond frequently does not have the proper depth of mud on the bottom for proper overwintering. It would be nice to visit wild areas and see if any dead frogs can be seen along the shores of natural ponds in the area.
 
BillYannone said:
Without any hard evidence it all just a bunch of guessing. An abnormally cold winter
is hard on alot of animals. A man made pond frequently does not have the proper depth of mud on the bottom for proper overwintering. It would be nice to visit wild areas and see if any dead frogs can be seen along the shores of natural ponds in the area.
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Yes, that could be the case sad though it maybe.
 
We have similar issues with green frogs, Lithobates (=Rana) clamitans, here where I live. Males brumating in artificial ponds often don't make it, though fish in the same pond seem to be OK.

Here in Tennessee, you can report frog die-offs to TWRA (our fish and game agency); they will send someone to collect some frogs and send them off for testing, at no cost to you. You should contact your local fish and game, department of the environment, or whoever is in charge of non-game wildlife issues, and see if they have a similar program.
 
Frogs under ice in ponds breathe through their skin, whereas fish have real gills. The gills are much more efficient and that gives the fish a big advantage over the frogs.
 
Nathan said:
We have similar issues with green frogs, Lithobates (=Rana) clamitans, here where I live. Males brumating in artificial ponds often don't make it, though fish in the same pond seem to be OK.

Here in Tennessee, you can report frog die-offs to TWRA (our fish and game agency); they will send someone to collect some frogs and send them off for testing, at no cost to you. You should contact your local fish and game, department of the environment, or whoever is in charge of non-game wildlife issues, and see if they have a similar program.
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Thx Nathan - I did that straight away to the Zoological Dept & their conservation guys will be notified.

I just hope it wasn't the virus that killed them
 
I am very sorry to hear of your loss. It must be devastating to lose so many at once.
I wouldn't rule out Bd aka Chytrid however. While this topic has been discussed ad nauseum on several of the other forums of which I am a member, there is one thing to consider. Animals can be asymptomatic carriers for quite some time. It takes a stressor such as freezing or temperature change to compromise the immune system in a way that it fatal. WC and CBB animals in the pet trade have tested positive.
I hope that there is someone local to you that may provide assistance.
Pisces Molecular is one of two labs in the US that offers testing, I have used them personally. If you would like I will pm John's email address to you if you have any other questions, or perhaps he may be able to assist you in contacting someone closer, if not for Bd testing but to at least settle your mind with some answers.
Take care and best of luck to you.
 
Chytrid does not do well in very cold temperatures. It's highly unlikely to have had anything to do with this. It bothers me that people reach for an explanation like this with no evidence.
 
John said:
Chytrid does not do well in very cold temperatures. It's highly unlikely to have had anything to do with this. It bothers me that people reach for an explanation like this with no evidence.
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Agree, this is what we talked about at the reptile show John . Chytrid has been around for a long time. We now know Chytrid better and act concerned because it can be devastating in a small Captive environment. I wish instead, some would stop assuming Chytrid every time a frog dies. Parasites and bacterial infections are what I worry about with my frogs. I agree with Bill, it was more than likely a bad winter for them. Like John said, Chytrid does horrible in cold temps. More than likely they became frogsicles.




EDGUY ROCKS!!!!
 
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