Posted by Tara broc on September 26, 2005

Q: We live in Eastern Pennsylvania and have tadpoles (no feet yet) living in our very small backyard pond -which means we must also have at least two frogs living there also.It is hard to see what's in there since we have an overgrowth of lily pads. We want to make sure the frogs/froglets survive the winter - should we heat the pond or just hope for the best? The depth of the pond is less than 8 inches most places. Thanks for your help!! Tara

Habitat: pond/lake

State: Pennsylvania

Habitat: pond/lake

A: If your pond is only 8inches deep, it probably will freeze solid in the winter in eastern PA and this will kill the tadpoles. If you can keep the pond open somehow so there is at least some unfrozen water, that should be fine. The tadpoles will want to bury themselves down in leaves and/or mud at the bottom so be sure not to clean out the pool until spring, if you do at all. I have my own goldfish pond in upstate NY and use a small stock tank heater to keep it open when it is especially cold. My pond is about 24 inches deep at the deep end and that helps too. If you do use a heater, be sure it doesn't warm the water too much - you want the tadpoles to be reasonably dormant and not active over winter so they need cold water. If you can deepen your pool now (that's if you don't have a liner) that would help a lot by providing more water and more oxygen when they need it.

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Good luck to you.

John Wiessinger ( September 26, 2005)