If
you have your speakers turned up, you should be able to hear a male Banjo Frog (Pobblebonk)
calling a female Banjo (see photo at right). Only
the males call ... with a
'bong-bong' or 'pobblebonk'. Banjos are widespread and very common in Tasmania, so you may
have heard some in a pond or farm dam, day and night, spring or summer. Click on
Banjo
Frog
if you can't hear it now.
This is our frog pond and habitat ... in the front yard !!!
There are more frog call sound links below and at Tasmanian Frog Calls. You will need Windows Media Player for the Mac or PC or similar media players to play the calls.
We
built our pond in the front yard because Chrissy owns the backyard!
Currently we
have two Brown Tree Frogs (photo right), a male and a female.
Click
on Brown
Tree Frog
to
hear the male call ... 'ree-ree-ree-ree-ree' in or out of water all year round. It
sounds a bit like a cricket or cicada. They are widespread in Tasmania and commonly found in gardens under rocks and
logs. They have suckers on the
ends of their toes for climbing trees.
We
can hear some Common Froglets (Brown Frogs) in the neighbourhood too. There is a
photo of one at left. As the name suggests they are common and widespread
throughout Tasmania, so keep an ear out for one.
Click on Common Froglet to hear the male call ... 'craak-craak-craak-craak' day and night all year round.
In Tasmania you can keep up to 6 Common Froglets or Brown Tree Frogs without a permit.
Frogs can even change sex to even up the male-female numbers !!!
Click on a frog below to help them hop out of the pond ... where do they go to?
(This may only work if you are using Internet Explorer)
Build Your Very Own Frog Pond in the Suburbs
You
too can build a frog pond. Basically you just dig a hole in the ground where
there is some shade and some sun, but no trees whose leaves will fall into it,
especially fruit trees. Also it must be in a place that is free of pets unless
you keep your pets indoors at night. And it must be in an area that is free of
spray or runoff from
chemical herbicides, pesticides or fertilisers. Don't build it near your
neighbour's bedroom as frogs can be very noisy at night, as you can hear now !!!
After
you have dug the hole, place sand, paper or old carpet on the bottom and then line the hole with a special
strong nylon liner that you can buy from your nursery or gardening store. The
liner must be strong to stop rocks and roots from puncturing it and causing it
to leak. The liner should be big enough to cover the bottom and reach up the
sides and overlap the top, so it is a good idea to see what sized liners are
available before you dig the hole. Instead of a liner you can buy a hard plastic
ready-made pond that you just drop into the hole.
The
pond should have a deep end to retain cool water and a shallow end for the
tadpoles to swim around in and practice breathing air. We filled one end of the
pond with dirt from the garden to above water level to create a bog for the
frogs to burrow and hide in. The pond water keeps the dirt saturated to create
the bog. We planted bog plants in it like reeds, sedges, tassel cord-rushes, button grass, a small Huon pine tree and mosses, and placed small logs
and rocks in strategic places for frogs to hide under. We also installed a
solar-powered light to attract insects at night for the frogs to eat. Be careful
that you don't puncture the liner when planting things in the bog.
To
keep the water level constant, we installed a 30 x 30 x 30 cm plastic box in the ground outside
the pond at one end, and drilled three 50mm holes in the side of the box facing
the pond. We cut three matching
holes in the liner at water level and clamped the liner to the box with plastic
screw-on pipe fittings to make the joint water tight and create inlet pipes. We fitted a toilet cistern ball valve purchased at the local
hardware store to the bottom of the box and attached a garden hose that is
turned on all the time. We put the pump in the box too, to prevent the tadpoles
from being sucked into the filter. We covered the box with rocks (see right of
above photo). You can see the plastic box, the pump, the ball valve and the
three inlet pipes in the photo opposite.
The
above set-up is probably a bit of a overkill but it works really
well and we don't have to worry about the water level. The tap water just
trickles in as the water evaporates, so chlorine is not a problem. If you don't
want to go to this rather technical solution, just top the pond up with the hose
when you water the garden, or install a dripper or spray in the pond running off
your automatic watering system. Don't rely on rainwater to keep the pond full
though, as the tadpoles will dehydrate and die, and any frogs will hop away to
find a new pond.
If
there are no shady spots in your garden you can create shade by planting a few
man ferns or bottle brush trees at the sunny end of the pond. It may take a year
or two for them to grow high enough to create enough shade, so plant them now
because it will take a few months after you fill the pond with water before the
ecology is ready for frogs and tadpoles. Freshwater or rainwater is best, but if
tap water is used, allow a week for the chlorine and other chemicals to
evaporate.
Once
you have it filled the pond with water, the next step is to create a
frog-friendly ecology with water plants that add oxygen to the water and spread
across the surface to keep the water cool. The types of plants we used here in
Tasmania were water ribbon, running marsh flower, yellow eyes, water lilies
(deep end), and water milfoil ... but check with your local nursery for more
advice on your area. These can be immersed in pots or just planted in some soil
placed in the bottom of the pond. Be careful not to puncture the liner though. Don't put any fish in the pond as they will eat the
tadpoles.
Create
an understorey of plants. We
planted small ferns around the edges and immersed old logs in the pond for frogs
to hide under and climb on. Plant endemic native plants, shrubs, trees and groundcovers around the pond,
and put mulch on garden beds to create a frog-friendly habitat (see five star frog
habitat below). We planted endemic Tasmanian rainforest trees like Leatherwood, Huon Pine, Native Laurel, Waratah,
Mountain Pepper (male and female), Pandani, Richea Dracophylla and a
selection of ferns and bottle brushes - all from the native plant nursery.
Other
frog-friendly understorey plants include Tasmanian Flax Lily, West Coast Flag Iris, Cutting
Grass (ouch), Mountain Purslane and
Yellow Eyes. These are all available from Plants of Tasmania (Ridgeway, Hobart)
and Habitat Nursery (Liffey, Northern Tasmania). Check out the Understorey
Network
link too for more information on Native plants.
Don't
transport tadpoles or frogs to your pond from far away areas as they may disrupt
the local frogs and spread disease. Frogs will be attracted to your pond if it
is frog-friendly but you could check with the neighbours to see if they have any
frogs or tadpoles to spare.
Don't
worry about mosquitoes ... frogs love mosquito larvae. Tadpoles nibble on the roots of plants in the pond so
there is no need to feed them once the plants are in place. Frogs eat all types
of insects so place a solar-powered
light and compost bin near the pond. Raise the compost bin off the ground a bit
with bricks and the frogs will feed off the insects attracted to the light and
the millipedes and other insects attracted to the compost bin.
In
Tasmania you can keep tadpoles and up to 6 Common Froglets or Brown Tree
Frogs without a permit but you need a permit to keep other Tasmanian frogs. You can
get a permit from the government department Tasmanian
Parks and Wildlife
You
can keep tadpoles in a clean container like a fish tank and feed them
algae, lettuce that has been lightly boiled for 5 minutes and frozen to keep the
nutrients in. Also feed them egg yolk, tiny pieces of meat, or fish food (not
commercial fish food as it it too rich). A wide, shallow container is best and
provide rocks or branches for the tadpoles to climb out when they turn into
frogs. Release the frogs back into the pond you got the tadpoles from to prevent
overcrowding.
Hey ... those frogs are back ... send them hopping again !!!
Do You Have a Five-star Frog Habitat?
Check the following list. You get half a star for each yes answer.
Wide
variety of groundcover, shrubs, trees?
Predominantly
Native plants?
Rocks
and logs for shelter?
Compost
heap for food?
Mulch
on garden beds?
Bog
zone?
Frog
pond?
No
chemical herbicides, pesticides or fertilisers used in the garden?
No
pets, or pets kept inside overnight (sundown to sunup)?
Frogs
in your garden?
If you get a total of five stars, you can apply for a Certificate from WWF Australia by sending a photo of your habitat to WWF Australia, GPO Box 528, Sydney, NSW 2001. Phone 02 9281 5515. Email: enquiries@www.org.au Website: http://www.wwwf.org.au
Don't forget to put your name and address on the back of the photo if you want it back.
You
can get a Tasmanian Frogseekers Starter Pack too, which includes an audio
tape with the 11 Tasmanian frog calls on it and a booklet with photos and
descriptions of the frogs and fact sheets on tadpoles and how to frogscape your
garden and find frogs in Tasmania. They even hold Frog Workshops occasionally
under the WWF
Frogs! Program
For
more information in Tasmania contact Karyl Michaels, Tasmanian Co-ordinator WWF
Frogs! Program, 102 Bathurst Street, Hobart TAS 7000. Phone 03 6231 2564.
Looks like those frogs are here to stay ... they must love the habitat here !!!
Here are some links to information on Tasmanian frogs and more frog call sounds
How to Build a Frog Pond Tasmanian Frogs and Frog Calls WWF Australia