Is it always wrong to move frogs spawn?

Question

I've seen some frogs spawn in a ditch which is slowly emptying and soon the spawn will be above the water level. Would it be wrong for me to "rescue" this spawn by collecting it and putting it elsewhere? I know it's illegal to move it, but in this case would I be justified? Or should I leave it where it is and let nature deal with it?

Answer 1

3rd option...  put some more water in the ditch.

Answer 2

No save it if you want

I have often taken leaves with tree frog spawn ,that hang over the water of my ponds with many fish in it .

And place them over jars to collect the falling tadpoles to be released later

because the fish would have eaten the tadpoles as soon as they fell into the water .

We cant have enough frogs around ,they are indicators of a healthy eco system

Because of the environment they need and their skin is very absorbent, at the first sign of contaminated surroundings they die

so if you have many frogs naturally ,things are OK .

many Frogs are in the top of the endangered  list

thousands of species have already disappeared.

Answer 3

Leave it and let nature take it's course. You may do more halm than good in moving it.

Answer 4

We've had frogs spawn in our pond for several years, and always move it into a more suitable container so that the fish don't eat the tadpoles. Most of it hatches and metamorphoses successfully. I am not aware of it being illegal to move it from the wild - although this year a plea has been issued by the relevant agency for people not to swap it with each other (mainly kids) because of the fungus which is decimating the native stock of frogs. I'm sure that if you are resposible in the way you rescue and keep the endangered spawn, you'll be helping nature not vandalising it. I think there is a charity called ' The Frog Welfare Trust' or some such. They can advise.

Answer 5

inspect it very carefully;

if there are white dots instead of black (i.e. the embryo) even on one bit, or any dodgy looking furry or fungussy patches on the clump dont touch it!

we started our garden population with spawn from a local pond, you could wait years for frogs to find it themselves.

but it is easy to spread disease moving spawn about and there are a couple of really nasty ones about at the moment, especially in southern england.

edit; reading Madame S.'s link, its worse than i thought:

"Froglife said there was research to suggest frogspawn can carry a disease passed down from adults called ranavirus.

This is relatively new to the UK and has killed thousands of frogs each year since emerging in south-east England in the late 1980s. "

this is a really horrid disease. so best to leave it, sorry.

aww poor taddies!

Answer 6

yes move it and save it try and find a ditch,pond or other suitable water body that will be as close as possible to were the eggs are now.If that's not possible move them to another water body and hope for the best.Nice to see someone so concerned with our frogs dying of the way they are every egg batch saved is a bonus

Answer 7

If you are a responsible person and not doing maliciously and you know 100% that it would die otherwise then move it to a deeper non-flowing shallowish pond.

Answer 8

Hi there, I have been thinking about this one.

Part of me thinks I would move it, so they live but the other side says let nature take it's course. From what I've read it's people moving them that is doing all the harm, but I don't know if this is just due to them not being careful with it and killing them before they hatch and the possibility of spreading diseases (!?)

I found this link, it may be useful:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7282649.st...

Anyway best of luck.

Blessed be x

Answer 9

I think that you should move the spawn, but just to a deeper ditch that won't dry up. Make sure the new home you find for the spawn is separated from any other bodies of water, just in case of contamination ie. fungus or other disease and everything should be just fine.