On closer inspection we discovered the strange looking spider fangs were actually frogs legs. The prey is one  unfortunate Common Eastern Froglet ( Crinia signifera ).

The little frogs are quite noisy at the moment, enjoying the rain and mild Spring weather. This little fellow should have stayed away from the swimming pool. The spider shown frequents the cracks around the pool coping edge and often feeds on insects and small crickets that wander by.

The spider appears to be a Fishing or Water Spider ( Dolomedes sp ) and has often been seen around the pool edge or on the surface of the water.

Once home, I place the crickets in a larger container and offer them special cricket food as well as carrot slices and orange segments. They are usually starving and have swarmed all over the food within minutes as you can see below.

Choosing the right storage container is important. My first container for large crickets was a medium sized plastic storage box. I cut out part of the plastic lid and siliconed fly screen wire in place. Unfortunately I’d chosen soft flexible fly screen and the crickets ate through it and escaped. Whisper ( the cat) is an excellent cricket catcher… in fact I can call her, say crickets and she comes running. Yum!
I found the cricket box got rather smelly too as there was not enough air circulation and space for the large crickets.

I’ve since bought a 1 metre tall plastic garbage bin. No need for a lid and some recycled paper kitty litter in the bottom as well as lots of bits of egg carton seem to have fixed all my problems. The cricket do make a lot of noise though.

Every so often I buy woodies (cockroaches) or house flies to vary the frogs’ diet. The woodies come from the same pet store. The flies I have ordered from ARC. They sell crickets and cockroaches as well.

To ensure all the frogs have an adequate calcium intake, I dust the crickets with a pinch of calcium powder every second or third feed. I usually do this by adding calcium and crickets to a plastic bag, give a gentle shake and tip them into the enclosure. Sometimes the Green Tree Frogs are so keen on getting to the crickets they get a mouthful of plastic bag instead

Two of the plants in the current tank have done very well and not minded at all about having their roots in nothing more than water and gravel – the Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum) and the Parlour Palms (Chamaedorea elegans). The Creeping fig (Ficus pumila) on the other hand is looking very sparse and ratty. It is still alive but hasn’t done much at all. My mini bromeliad and birds nest fern did not survive all the water and sadly rotted away. Some dwarf mondo grass lasted for a while but eventually died. See the “then and now” shots above.

The New Enclosure

This tank is big! Measuring 140cm long, 55cm deep and 60cm high it is well over 3 times the size of the current tank and just fits along a free section of lounge room wall.

I wanted to create a custom background for the tank that would be planted with various epiphtyes and hopefully include some sort of watering system. I searched various aquarium stores to find suitable pieces of driftwood that were not too heavy and whose shape would create interesting spots to attach plants and allow frogs to sleep.

I laid the tank on its back and put in place all the wood bits and tubing for waterfalls then sprayed expanding foam around them. I found this stuff hard to use – it expands and expands then expands a whole lot more! By the time I’d worked from one end to the other the whole thing was a puffy foam mess with many of the bits of wood virtually hidden. Fortunately once cured, the foam can be cut back with a knife. The white foam in the picture below is after the cut back!

Next step – all the foam was sealed with 2 coats of black non-toxic pond sealer to make sure the background was completely covered and waterproof.

To achieve a natural look all the sealed foam areas were covered with silicon and coco fibre. The coco fibre was pressed into the silicon while it was still wet. I could only work on small areas at a time as the silicon skins over in just a few minutes. I ran out of silicon and dry coco fibre at this step so the picture shows the back wall only half done.

Unfortunately my watering system/waterfall did not work properly and some leakage developed in the back wall. I sealed everything up with more silicon and coco fibre, allowed everything to dry and cure properly then planted the background with a selection of epiphytic plants.

Background with mini bromeliads, tillandsias and native orchids

Driftwood and rock were used to designate the land and water areas. The land area was filled with a layer of expanded clay balls so that the coco peat bedding is lifted above the water level. A layer of flyscreen helps to stop the coco fibre from falling through to the clay balls below. The clay balls are very light so weight in the tank is kept to a minimum.

Finally the plants were added, some gravel for the water area and a heater and water filter
( hidden away towards the back left corner of the tank)

Plants include mini bromeliads, Birds Nest fern, Peace Lily, Creeping Fig, Chlorophytum, Dwarf Mondo Grass, Native Violet, Ferns, moss, Baby’s Tears, Pearlwort, Parlour Palms and begonia.

Finished Tank

I will allow a few weeks for things to settle down and take root before adding my frogs. Green tree frogs are very rough on foliage. It will be interesting to see how everything stands up to them jumping all over the place.

Damselfly Nymphs

Dragonflies and Damselflies are closely related. They both need water to breed so it is not surprising to find them hovering around the frog pond. I should be pleased… their presence is an indication of a healthy pond environment with good water quality.

Dragonflies and Damselflies are carnivorous as both adults and nymphs. The nymphs feed on aquatic insects, worms, tadpoles, sometimes small fish and can be cannibalistic. I have found many nymphs in the pond over the last few weeks and no tadpoles or eggs in sight!

Grrrr…..

These nymphs are obviously excellent predators so I am removing them when I see them to reduce the numbers.

On the positive side, mosquito larvae are non-existent in the pond so I have the nymphs to thank for that. I do not keep any fish as I found they had developed a taste for frog spawn. The evicted nymphs have been placed in a water garden pot with plenty of mozzie larvae to keep them happy.

Damselflies ( left )
(sub-order of Zygoptera)

The nymphs are long and slender compared with the dragonfly nymphs. They have 3 leaf-like caudal gills at the rear of the abdomen.
Size: up to 35 mm including gills

Movie clip of a Damselfly Larva capturing a few mini water bugs – Peron’s Treefrog calling in the background

** More than eight-tenths of their brain is devoted to analysing visual information **

Dragonflies
(sub-order of Anisoptera)

A Dragonfly nymph has a stout body compared to the Damselfly nymph. They breathe by sucking water into the abdomen over an internal gill. This gill is connected to the outside of their body by an anal pyramid. They can escape quickly from threats by squirting water out helping to propel them forwards in the water.
Size: up to 50 mm

Dragonfly Nymphs – I think the leg section was damaged during capture

Edit: 25th January 2009

Today I managed to photograph an adult Dragonfly which had been hovering around the pond.

Dragonflies are larger and have thicker bodies than damselflies. They usually spread their wings when at rest while the damselfly will hold its wings together above its body. Dragonfly eyes are close together compared to those of a damselfly. Their fore and hind wings differ in shape whereas the damsel’s are similar and narrow at the base.

Litoria verreauxii

Last weekend was spent in the garden pruning and tidying up the flax plants along the side of the pool. They were all drooping into the water making it impossible to walk along the edge to clean and attend to the filter.

We found 2 little frogs hiding amongst the foliage. The first I recognised straight away as a young Peron’s Tree Frog with it’s distinctive silver, cross shaped iris and bold yellow and black mottling on the back of the thighs.

The second little frog is a new find in my backyard – a Litoria verreauxii. I’m thrilled that he has found the garden a pleasant place to be and hope he decides to stay. In the picture below you can just see the orange-red colouring behind his thighs. His back is somewhat lighter in colour than the pictures I’ve seen in frog guides but he does have the dark patches on his sides and in the groin.

Information about Verreaux’s Tree Frog ( link to Frogs Australia Network Database)

Frog Call (mp3)

Young Peron’s Tree Frog

The Peron’s Tree Frogs who were living in the waterwell pots last year have not returned yet. I did cut back the grape vine quite severely this year and it is just starting to shoot now. Hopefully they will be back once the vine covers the pergola again. I can hear Peron’s frogs calling from the local creek only a few blocks away, so they are certainly active and in the area.

I’ve always loved the tropical frogs such as the Green Tree Frog, Red-Eyed Tree Frog and the Dainty Tree Frog. I decided to apply for a Keeper’s Licence so that I would be able to keep some of these beautiful frogs inside the house. I set up 2 frog enclosures. One is an Exo-Terra tank given as a mothers day present . The other an old fish tank. My licence took 6 weeks to process and during that time the frog enclosures were set up with rocks, plants, water filters, lights and heaters ready for the new babies.

I purchased 5 little Green Tree Frogs and 5 tiny Dainties from a breeder and have thoroughly enjoyed watching them grow. Unfortunately I lost one of the Dainties. It was sucked up against the water filter and couldn’t swim away. It was just too tiny to fight the current. I removed the filter after that. The frogs arrived on 1st July. They were so tiny. The Green Tree frogs were about 2cm long and have grown VERY quickly. They live in the Exo-Terra tank. The Dainties were about 1 cm long and very pale translucent yellow. They are just starting to green up now and are nearly 3 times their original size.

Baby Green Tree Frogs moving into their new home

Baby Dainty Tree Frog

Baby Dainty Tree Frog

I feed my frogs crickets, woodies and house flies. Various sizes of crickets are necessary for the different sized frogs. The Green Tree Frogs are now eating adult sized crickets which can be quiet noisy at night! One of the Green Tree frogs has started to croak. Very surprising as I thought they were far too young at this stage.

Green Tree frogs as they grew…

The following picture was taken this evening.

The Dainty Tree Frogs are harder to photograph as the old fish tank is only open at the top. The Exo-Terra on the other hand has opening front doors for easy access. The following photo was taken during the day as the Dainties slept. One shows the lovely green colouring while the other the yellow underneath. I love to see their feet and belly all squashed against the glass. They conserve moisture this way as they like to sleep under the lights during the day.

Dainty Tree Frog this evening. He is waiting for crickets to come to the warm water.

Finally a movie clip of the frogs feeding.

I have only just cleaned out my pond and re-potted all the water plants. A job long past due as it has been two years since the last major service. The bottom was a mass of roots as the water lilies had spilled out of their pots and were anchored in all parts of the pond. New pots and some specialised water lily fertiliser should have them looking their best when the weather warms up.

During the clean-up I discovered quite a few tadpoles ( 5 Peron’s Treefrog & 3 Striped Marsh Frog) that have been wintering over. These would have been from late summer spawning and so will complete their development in Spring. There were also around 20 baby Crinia signifera tadpoles – recently hatched. Crinia seem to call all year round in the backyard – some rain and a couple of sunny days has prompted them to breed. So Brad, yes you just may have tadpoles in your pond too.

Pond after clean up

Water plants in my pond:

2 Yellow Water Lilies – Great for providing cover once established.
1 Water Iris
1 Pink Rotala – Frogs love to sit in the foliage when calling from the pond.
Elodea – Tadpoles love to munch on elodea and frogs will lay their eggs around it.
Note: Elodea is a noxious weed so must be prevented from escaping into waterways

Baby Crinia signifera tadpole

The Crinia are singing their hearts out again tonight. I braved the chilly night air to see if I could capture them with the camera. I would say there were at least 6 calling from either around the pond edge or the plants. Some were camera shy and swam away or scurried back into the rock crevices as I approached.

Crinia perched on some Pink Rotala

Another one in the Pink Rotala

Calling from the pond edge

The past year has seen a variety of birds visit the backyard. The Rainbow Lorikeets are now regular visitors and seem to be quite fond of the bird seed we put out for the galahs, doves and other visiting parrots. In fact, they are rather bossy and will drive the galahs away from suspended bird feeder. It is a rather comical sight – lorikeets in the feeder, galahs on the nearby pool fence (making plaintive chirping sounds) and doves waiting (not so) patiently on the branches above the feeder.

Lorikeets are nectar and pollen eaters but they also eat fruits, seeds and some insects. The tips of their tongues have tiny hairs, a bit like a brush, so that they can get the nectar out of flowers more easily. I don’t think they consume too much seed when visiting which is my biggest concern. We tend to put seed out only if they stop by and call to us.

It is easy to see how their name came about. They really do look like a rainbow with their colourful green, blue, purple, red, orange and yellow feathers.

Usually just a single pair visit. Sometimes one will keep watch while the other eats, especially when Whisper the cat is lurking about. The birds are most comfortable when I sit outside with a cup of tea and keep an eye on the dog and cat. They seem to enjoy my company and our shared snack time.

My colourful friends allowed me to get a little closer than usual for these pictures.

There have been times when 3 or 4 pairs of birds have been in the backyard at the same time. It is hard to know whether or not our regular visitors are the same pair or just another from the same local group. The tree with the hanging bird feeder inexplicably died last Spring so it looks very shabby except when it is decorated with Lorikeets! We call it the bird tree. On one occasion the dove count in that tree was 12.

Sometimes parrots and doves are willing to share the feeder but it is a rare thing to see Lorikeet and Galahs sharing the same dish as shown below. The poor dove is patiently waiting for his turn.

Now she is distracted by a bird.

This scary shot is actually a big yawn! I’m not sure what happened to her eyes. They must have rolled up during the yawn.

I’ve always been fascinated by the life cycle of a frog. The journey from egg to young metamorph is a wonderful thing to watch and the length of time taken can vary depending on the species. Factors such as water temperature will also influence the laval life span

13-01-08 – Eggs about 2 days old

Next day: Look how they have grown!

14-01-08 – Eggs 3 days old

05-02-08 – Tadpoles 3.5 weeks

At this age the Peron’s tadpole often looks clear in between their stripes.

Tadpoles eat all the time! This fellow is enjoying the leaves of an aquarium water plant. They will also thrive on bits of lettuce which has been boiled or frozen and aquarium fish flakes.

At around 6 weeks old, the same tadpole is much bigger and has lost those clear parts on his body. He is now yellow brown all over and quite likes looking at his reflection. Little legs are starting to develop and he is eating more than ever.

23-02-08 – Tadpole at 6 weeks

Almost a frog. I took this picture last night. He still has quite a substantial tail and was found resting on some pond plants with the tip of his snout poking out of the water

23-02-08 – Tadpoles in the frog pond

This morning I found this metamorph resting on the lily pad looking very much like a frog. Not much tail now and I expect he will leave the pond area very soon. He has been sitting there all day and I have been worried a bird would get him, or Whisper.

24-02-08 – Peron’s Tree Frog leaving the pond