look at the legs!

A handsome chappie !!

Lori....he's a fine specimen. Are you draining the pond permanently (over-winter) or just for cleaning?

Thanks Amblealice..It's a permanent draining, Whistonlass. The fish will be in aquariums over winter and the pond will be ressurected next spring.

I assume it gets to well below freezing in your neck of the woods, Lori. I don't know where frogs go in the winter...maybe they hang out under logs or something or maybe amongst ferns and such...they'd need water too though I suppose.

I think they burrow down into the mud at the bottom of the pond don't they?

That sounds like what they'd do alright, Gilli. I went on the National Geographic website and it just said basically they stay where it's moist (slow moving water, ponds, marsh etc.). I just wondered how they'd cope with water that freezes over very thickly but there was no reference to that to be found. Ta Gilli. I'm off to my bed now....3.30am here and I should be sawing logs long ago! lol

Yes, ladies, that's the gist of it...they burrow into the mud at the bottom of a pond or ditch...Have found many poor dead froggies in years past because my pond has a very strong rubber liner and the pond is too shallow even to keep my fishes over the winter. I had dug a large pond that was just over 4ft deep so that my fish could safely winter over...it worked until we had a freak storm in March of 2008 and I lost all my fish because the snow was too deep to get to the ice surface and the ice sealed the edges...my fishes suffocated. Since then I take no chances with my fish and plants, but the froggies I can't control.

That must have been heartbreaking to lose all your fish that way, Lori....I can understand why you'd be so cautious now and get your pond emptied for winter months.

Sounds like the froggies will venture further afield and find some nice mud somewhere! :)

unable to PM at the moment Lori so thought I'd message you via your amazing Frog. I just wanted to change my Goy name, hope I havent caused too much confusion !?? ;-)) In answer to your question I have four grandchildren ;-o

Hey Bampy! any budding gardeners among them? No confusion...like your V-DubYuh... lol....

lovely froggy lori, i found a dead frog in my pond last week when clearing it ;o( mine isnt to deep and im afraid for my fish, but clarice on here has a pond similar depth to mine and her fish survive for about 7 years now , so hoping mine do to,

If you have a circulating pump running all the time the water should not freeze over if it gets very cold...If the pond should freeze over make sure you cut a hole so that gases can escape. That's why my fish died..the pond was sealed and they suffocated. :`-(

thanx lori i keep getting different responces, my pond is only about 16inches deep but the pump/filter is below surface, some say it will damage it while some say not, im very confused lori, but like you say they need to breath ;o(

If the pump is in the bottom of the pond it should be ok. Circulating water will not freeze solid!! as far as I can tell that would be the only way it could damage your submerged pump. also perhaps you don't need a circulating pump for the winter. Carp are extremely hardy creatures and they become dormant in the cold. they stop eating and their respiration slows. As long as they have a shelter like a piece of drainage tile (cyllindrical) in the deepest part of the pond, they will rest inside it all winter. Perhaps all you would need is an airstone to use on especially cold days or overnites when it's very cold.... that would oxygenate and keep the surface of the pond from freezing over above it. Plus you probably don't need to run the circulating pump all the time anyway. I chickened out entirely and bought a small tank for my fish. I guess it will depend on how cold your winter is this year, right?
Good luck, Sandra, and don't worry too much. They are tough little creatures.

thanx so much lori ;o))