sockmonkey - looks like a precious Minnesota kitty if I ever saw one! Oof dah! Please tell - sounds like a story. FTM - so...where did you vaction? Scott, thank you. Because it's already late for this year, I thought I'd do it by mail the first time around, but when I sent out the invitation letter I mentioned a get-together swap meet if there was enough interest. The nearest Walmart or pet shop is 45 miles away, the nearest real pond shop 120 miles. Until I got a grip on how many people were interested I didn't want it to get out of hand. Sort of wanted to keep it among 'friends' and friends of friends. I'll take it from there. The U of MN West Central MN Horticulture Night is July 27th, so I'm going to publisize a bit then. My boss's wife is a very active member of the local gardening club, so using the facilities at work should we have a 'swap meet' wouldn't be a problem. I appreciate your input!! Thanks for all your good thoughts!

My frogs have been up and down all winter, if you want to call it winter here. My pond is shallow and we've had week after week of warm weather and they come up. Then, when the outside temperatures go down, they jump back in and stay down. Right now I've not seen them for about a week and it is snowing and will be 18 degrees tonight. That is the coldest night we've had so far. My pond has not gotten but a skim of ice on it in one corner so far. I run my 2,400 gph pump which keeps the surface moving and I also have a bubbler in one corner. My front pond freezes over but the bottom is below the frost line and it has baby frogs in it each winter that survive even with the ice over them. They don't come up and down as this pond is on the north side of the house and the sun never really gets to it much except for a few hours just after 12 noon so it does not have a chance to warm. My backyard pond gets first morning light and is the warm or sunny side of the house in winter (eastern exposure). My big pond is not below our frost line in any location at 17 to 19/20" deep, so why I have not lost frogs is unknown because the first winter it was cold with 5" of ice, but since then, warm and cold crazy weather. They come up and don't find much to eat as far as I know unless they get a small bird. I do feed birds in the back and some come by the pond to drink, but I would imagine a bird in the stomach, and then having to go back down when the temps drop, would kill them faster. I did see hordes of gnats flying over and around the pond just two days back on a warm day and that is not usual for January for the most part. February is our coldest and March has some years, but not for several years now. I have not worn a winter coat yet, just a fleeze jacket. My pond is 8 x 10 feet (lots of surface to depth) so maybe oxygen is higher than a mostly ice covered pond. I also do a bottom clean out in fall to remove gunk and change 1/4 of the water. Lots of string algae in the winter which goes away come early summer. My frogs are quite fat going into winter so coming up with no food works out for them I guess. I fatten them up with store bought crickets until late October. When I do see them out of the pond after several warm days they hang just at the edge. By late morning they go in the water with just their nose peeking out, and not shortly thereafter they go under and I don't see them again during the evening unless it stays warm enough out. It may be because they stay near the edge and can drop right into the water at the crucial temperature moment; the fact they have fat reserves; and great oxygen levels; maybe those 3 things are why I don't lose any (to date anyway - knock on wood). Speaking of wood, a Wood frog is a great find. They are not common. They are the frog that can freeze, but I bet that is not ideal, but stressful. I had one in 2003 in my first 'tub pond'. BTW - only the bullfrogs stay in the pond. I have Leopard and tree frogs and I don't know where they go, but I imagine they dig in somewhere. My property is set up with many places amphibians can dig in deep in leaf litter and deep top soil in the garden areas. I also have log and brush piles, and there is a deep cavern under my cellar steps that gets salamanders overwintering. (I need to fill that in this summer because I don't know how deep it goes so I hope I don't bury anyone alive).

My suggestion is to get a large pump sock or bag and line it on the bottom and sides with coarse filter material. Some come with both bag/filter media already or you can also just buy the bag and rig up using filter media of your choice. Make sure it is coarse and thick. It is easy to pull out of the pond and rinse it off with the hose periodically. Most big pumps also come with a rigid pre-filter (I like) and some with a sponge filter (which I find clog too quickly). I have a pondmaster 2400 and it is in a large fine mess bag with draw string and this bag came with a circular thick coarse filter that fits the bottom and a rectangular coarse filter I can wrap around the inside of the mesh bag. Then the whole filter, with it's rigid pre-filter, goes right into the bag (in the middle) and I draw it up around the pump with just the hose sticking out. It rarely needs cleaning other than a rinse and my pump doesn't clog ever. Here is just one source with bags but you can find combo units all over the internet. Most likely your own brand of pump sells something specific to your pump size and shape as many manufactuers do. Mine was actually not built for my pump model but it is big. Here is a link that might be useful: Possible Purchase Source

As long as they use "breather plastic bags" designed for fish transport, I had excellent luck getting Tadpoles on line with 100% shipping survival via priority mail, 3x last spring and early summer. One order was lost for 2-3 days (5-6 day total shipping duration) and they still arrived happy. Plan on about $1 per Tadpole. Agree ... DO NOT buy or locally catch and move Bullfrogs!! I've had them before from a nearby lake and they do very well, but eat anything that they can get into their greedy mouth, including other frogs, fish, bats, snakes, small birds. Theyre born desperately hungry! Mine have grown from 2.5" to full 6 to 8" mature size in one summer! DNR will hate you, because they roam and often get out. They successfully track water can go a couple miles to find a new area to invade. If you like big and beautiful, look instead for Leopard Frogs. They are native to much of US but are getting rare due to loss of habitat and Bullfrog predation*. How can a Frog Person not like this green beauty? Semiaquatic frogs like Leopards and Bullfrogs will jump all over your yard at night (so must seal fence excape areas!) They quickly learn where the pond safety zone is and can take a series of rapid leaps across your yard or greenhouse and disappear under water. Mine can do this the moment I open a sllding door to go outside. If you are trying to introduce frogs from a wild gathered egg cluster(s) note that the clusters might be salamanders instead! Frog eggs within the cluster mass look like little rounded clear jelly spheres, especially visible when the cluster tears open. Whereas salamander egg clusters look like a jelly mass with no visible clear spheres inside, just the growing amphibians. When they tear open, no clear rounded spheres are evident. Both animal embryos within the eggs mass look rounded at first and then enlarge over time. Near to hatching time salamanders embryos elongate and show an arrowhead shaped head with little gills zones on the sides of their neck. It amazes me that a frog or slender little 5-6" salamader can lay a 3-4"+ diameter egg mass. The masses are not large when laid but swell afterwards. When ready to hatch, enzymes are released to largely dissolve the gel, almost in unison, releasing the babies to roam. * WARNING do not put small tadpoles or tiny frogs into ponds with Goldfish of any size. Unless there is a ton of water vegetation to hide in for instance along shallow pond margins, the fish can eat them about as fast as you eat popcorn (and at $1 per amphibian kernal). Even with cover the fish will hunt them constantly. Instead use a 5 gallon tub to the side or partially submerged, partially shaded from hot sun, and a wire cover to stop raccoon, bird or adult frog attacks. Hatched Tadpoles of any kind grow fast and very healhy when using a pond fish food. Suggest floating a few Goldfish or Koi food pellets, which they nibble on as these softens. A few 'Tads often gather around each floating pellet. Thus, you get to see the 'Tads better and little food is lost or spoils. This also helps indicate when to add more food. Make sure to also have some fine leaved pond weeds therein to hide in and nibble on. 'Tads can mouth breathe if the oxygen gets too low in the container water. However, if there is prolonged or marked frantic gulping for air, spread the 'Tads between additional containers. It is warmer in a bucket than in a pond. Avoid full sun locations unless the bucket is inset deeply into the pond or ground. Obviously, do not add 'Tads to your pond until they are large enough to NOT fit into the mouth of your largest fish! If they do not mature into adults the first year in a cooler climate they will overwinter on the pond bottom and finish their cycle the next year. If the pond can potentially ice over, use waterfall flow or small fishtank air bubbler to stir the surface and keep an open zone for air exchange. Otherwise decaying plant matter consumes the oxygen, and excess carbon dioxide and ammonia fumes can build up, killing 'Tads and fish. Much like goldfish, 'Tads will hunt out mosquito larvae in buckets or ponds. In ponds I suggest having 3-4 of the same frog species in hopes of getting a breeding pair so that the cycle maintains. Frogs can live several years and overwinter well. But for a Frog pond to stay "frogged" you are going to need a fenced yard with board blockage to 2-3' high and enough yard and vegatation to support the insect and earthworm levels needed to support the mature frog population. Fish in the pond are important to stop over tadpole = future frog population. In our yard, we keep a lotus tub with lotus to the side of the pond without fish. This is so we can put in egg clusters there when frog populations are low. If you live near a lake or bog lands and hear frogs in mating season, don't fully board fence your yard. Just BUILD IT (the pond) AND THEY WILL COME. Treefrog populations are especially mobile to the right habitat. The above is A LOT of detail and several years experience working to get frogs established in our yards at two different locations. Based on hard won experience it can take years to get right, and is easy with the right match of mostly the right habitat and then frog species. Bullfrogs are easiest but don't do it unless they surround your yard anyway. Local Toad species might work better if you don't have enough cool leafy forage zones for Semiaquatic Frogs. They still need 'Tad growth ponds to sustain.