A few handy hints to build and maintain your own thriving frog pond:
 Find a suitable area for your pond with good shade for most of the day and just a few hours of sunlight so you don’t overheat your tadpoles. Don’t place your pond directly underneath trees.- Place your pond in an area where family pets such as cats and dogs can be kept away from.
- Sloping slides with a shallow and deep end to allow easy access for adult frogs and metamorphs.
- Get advice on small native fish species that will eat mosquito larvae but leave tadpoles alone.
- Learn to identify toad eggs so you can check and regularly remove them from your pond.
- Get native pond vegetation to place in the water to provide shelter and aerate the water and around the sides of the pond.
- You can add a water pump to aerate the water and prevent it becoming stagnant. This isn’t necessary if you have sufficient vegetation growing in your pond which tadpoles will also feed on.
- Place rocks in and around your pond for frogs to hide.
- Be careful when filling your frog pond as rainwater run off can pick up any chemicals and detergents used around the garden. Tap water can also contain chemicals, so ideally leave tap water in the sun for a week but not in a metal container, before topping up your pond.
- Most tadpoles will feed on algae growing on decaying plant matter in your pond. You can provide washed and boiled or frozen lettuce leaves for your tadpoles to eat as well, but make sure you remove any leftovers.
For more details and advice on how to set up a frog-friendly garden follow these links:
www.epa.qld.gov.au/nature_conservation/wildlife/caring_for_wildlife/frog_ponds/
www.frogsaustralia.net.au/conservation/creating-habitat.cfm
www.fdrproject.org.au/pages/ponds.htm
www.yuruga.com.au
www.wettropics.gov.au/st/rainforest_explorer/index.htm
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