Native Motorbike frogs

[RayM]

I have my native fish aquarium on the back verandah and it attracts the local frogs. I have raised a number of tanks of tadpoles over the years and they are very friendly frogs that come and go as they please.

They are called motorbike frogs because their call sounds like a motorbike going up through the gears whurrrrrrup, whurrrrup, whurrup etc

The fish looking back out of the tank at the frog are the local pygmy perch. I can almost hear this male one saying "make my day frog".

The sitting frog is on the frog-excluder that I made for the tank, it didn't work and they just pushed it out of the way and broke into the tank anyway.

The floating frog and his mate ( bottom left in tank) thought my new fish tank was for them and moved in within 24 hrs of me filling it.
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[HEADIN]

some cool pics..

used to love catching tadpoles and frogs when i was a kid up the mountain.. ah the days gone by..

[RayM]

I gave away about 300 tadpoles to various parents last season. It seems that in this electronic/internet age, kids don't go out and collect tadpoles anymore.
All of the parents reported that their kids were fascinated by the tadpoles and marvelled at the process of them turning into frogs.
All a bit sad really.

[smaug]

Thats cool!I love free come and go petsthumbs2:

[Laurun3]

That's awesome!!! I love frogs :-)

[RayM]

One of the good things about giving away the tadpoles was the parents had to find somewhere to release them. I instructed them to find a waterbody, either a wetland or a creek and release the frogs.The parents then had to take their kids to a local pond and get their feet wet to relese them, sometimes more than once as the frogs all matured at different rates.

Their children now ask to be taken back to these places to visit their frogs.:ssmile:
I like to think I am doing my bit for the environment as well as assisting parents to lead by example and get out of the house and go to wild places with their kids.

[HEADIN]

It is quite a sad thing to see how the world is changin. Round my way kids are never out doin wat I did wen I was a kid. Im only 28 and most the kids wouldnt even know where to go to c things like frogs etc. I live rite at the bottom of the mountain so its an absolute haven for wildlife.

Im making sure my 4yr old boy knows all I can teach him about wildlife etc.. Ive him well into sitin in the garden diggin for worms and looking for spiders etc.. He's fascinated by it and always wants to help with the tank etc..

No way is he goin to be stuck in front of a tv or computer all day.

[RayM]

Kids across the world like frogs and tadpoles. It is a pity so few get the opportunity to see them.
We have a lot of constructed wetlands in our new housing estates over here. It is called "water-sensitive urban design" where wetlands are used to clean up the stormwater before it hits the river or ocean out-falls.
Some of the frogs from the tadpoles I gave away are now re-colonising these places.

[HEADIN]

excellent news that is.. hopefully it turns out as a big success.

[Brhino]

I love that first picture! That frog looks like a kid in an aquarium store.

[RayM]

excellent news that is.. hopefully it turns out as a big success.
I am learning a lot about aquariums here and I realise planted aquariums work just like artificial and natural wetlands in cleaning up water.
Provided the nutrient input isn't too much and the pH is good, the plants and bacteria deal with the nutrient load and can oxygenate the water. Nature's natural filtration system.
I visited one wetland where there was an algal bloom and the dissolved oxygen level was 240%. This is fine until the whole thing collapses, the algae rots and the fish die of low oxygen.

[Alasse]

Hate to burst your bubble. But collecting and moving frogs is not something you should be doing and in some cases it is illegal to do so!

Quoted from this site ]Frogs.org.au ([Only Registered Users Can See Links.)

Most Australians will therefore be prohibited by legislation from collecting or moving frogs or tadpoles. This legislation exists to help protect frogs but even where frogs are not protected by law it is not advisable to move them or their tadpoles as the consequences of doing so may be damaging to local gene pools.

On the topic of frog conservation, there is perhaps one more issue that warrants discussion. While collecting a few tadpoles to be raised for educational purposes and then released may not pose any threat to conservation, there are potential problems with large scale raising of frogs for release even if they are not being moved to a new area. (Note also that this is against the law in some states). There are a number of ways in which this practise can be harmful to local populations


You maybe doing more harm than good by moving frogs from a region to another, this can spread problems
]Diseases ([Only Registered Users Can See Links.)

Please, while you think you are helping, in actual fact you could be causing major harm! Leave them be

[RayM]

So I should leave all the tadpoles in the bathtub to dry out and die?
I did offer some to a school teacher but she said they were so constrianed by red tape, they no longer grew tadpoles in schools to show children how they live.
Mine was a covert operation and I expect the frog police to arrive any day now. Nope, hang on, they are moving protesters away from a local wetland that is being filled in for another housing estate. They could be delayed.