In my old house I used to have both a half barrel for a pond and a bait bucket, which was slightly larger than the half barrel but not much. It came in yellow so I painted it black with some marine paint and dug it into the ground. The half barrel stayed on top of the ground. The bait barrell had a water lily and the half barrell some reedy looking water plants, can't remember their names. Both got frogs every year. Don't know were they came from but they always arrived. They did fine as that was enough water for them.

It seems that if you build it they will come. See if you can find some nice soft moss to grow around it. They love to hide under my Hostas. Of course you know you should not go find a frog and bring it home right?

If the area is not so polluted that the frogs are all dead, then they will likely just show up, if you provide them with a pond. Frogs, however, are the "canary in the mines" when it comes to pollution. Your area may be too polluted to support frogs. And if that is the case, importing frogs won't do you any good - thye'll just die.

thanks! i'm curious nycrita, where in ny do/did you live? where i live, i can't imagine a frog coming on it's own. honestly i was thinking of acquiring one from a pet store or something (not from the wild) but perhaps that is bad idea too.(?) i live on a block between 2 sizable avenues. there are yards all in between the 2 avenues but i don't know where the frogs would come from. my other question is how would they hibernate in such a setup? i thought they hibernate at the bottom of a pond which wouldn't be possible if i have a closed container. thanks for the help.

Sonia, I have a pond and there are always frogs showing up and leaving. I do live fairly close to some little lakes but it seems like a LONG way for a frog to go. You may also attract toads. The frogs and toads would both go elsewhere to over winter somewhere sutable. Not sure I understand "closed container"? You couldn't keep them in a closed container. I don't even think you can get frogs at pet store anymore but it would be a BAD idea. Put out your little sunken basin and see what shows up. Be sure to have enough rocks in it that they can get out of the water and into the shade at all times.

I live in Glen Cove in Nassau County on the North Shore of Long Island, NY. I have never had a frog come to my ponds here but in my old house which was only on the other side of the same town, is were I got the frogs showing up. I can't understand why not here but it might be too far from this big pond in the middle of town which is were I think the frogs came from.

Violetsonia, buying a frog from a pet store and releasing it to the wild is likely a very bad idea, unless the pet store can gareentee that the type of frog is a native frog. Otherwise you may be releasing something on-native and invasive. Relocating frogs from somewhere wild nearby would be a much better option, if you know where to find some.

Any container of water that is open to the outdoors is not a "closed container". I don't know anything about what a frog needs for hibernation, though. But I bet a google search could tell you what you need to know, if you want to build a suitable hibernation area for frogs.

Depends on were you buy them. I know one of our local nurseries here has green frog tadpoles for sale each spring. I only do not buy them because the racoons here would eat them before they got to the frog stage. Once they are frogs, they seem able to get away from the racoons visiting the ponds.

thanks everybody. so if i find a place that has native tadpoles that would be okay,,,right? even though an invasion of frogs sounds great in my brooklyn backyard (just kidding). i'll research the hibernation thing. and research what is native to our area. thanks so much.

I am of the opinion that as long as its some type of native frog and not for instance bullfrogs then there is no harm and what have you got to lose except what you spent?

Now I know some people will say that if they have not come naturally that means they can not survive. I do not agree with that. I think it is very possible to create a nice habitat in were wildlife will thrive even in the middle of nothingness. They can't come to your nice habitat even though they would thrive there because there is no where around for them to come from. So you need to get your own.

AAAAHHHHHHH! Native tadpoles! I never thought of that! What a great idea. To go find them in the wild is even better because their chances of survival there is slim. I have thousands in my pond each year but only a few survive, lots of things eat them including my fish and other frogs. To take a few of them would not harm anything. I have an even better idea and that would be to go find the eggs and bring them home in a large bucket of the water they came from.(eggs are easy to identify, they look like little dots floating in ribbons of snot like substance, lol sorry) That would be much better than uprooting a frog, thats still not a good idea and I think maybe even illegal. I agree with Rita, I think you could creat a habitat sutible for them however you need (for frogs) a pond, bucket,basin deep enough that it will not freeze solid, there must be space under the ice and there must be a hole in the ice to let the gasses out all winter. A fishtank air pump keeps my 600 gal pond open enough for that (in W.Michigan). I fill plant pots with batting and sink them for the frogs to burrow in for the winter. You could learn a lot from the ponding forum, but be warned....they can be brutal, I am sure if you tell them you plan on taking anything from the wild to bring to the city they will bash the heck out of you. Ask for a pics of frog and toad eggs and frogs and toads native to your area.

so lisa3110, do you mean using batting, the kind people quilt with? pardon if that is a naive question. can you tell me exactly how you set up the hibernation area? also, could i just put a few gallon bucket sunk into the ground with some rocks in it, or do i need a pump and all that stuff? it was my understanding that i didn't. thanks to all. sonia

Sonia, yes quilt batting is what I use. The frogs would really rather have mud and leaves but I cant have that with the fish. The thing is that you cant keep a frog from wondering away. Like I said, they just show up here and they leave too. I could have a dozen frogs in the summer but usually just a few stay and overwinter in the pond. I have not seen any yet this year but the pond is still 1/2 iced over. I just don't know that you could get a frog to overwinter in a gallon bucket. If you are going to go to the trouble of digging enough to sink buckets you may as well get a small performed pond, they have them at Lowes they are not super expensive and not hard to maintain. You could make more of a water garden than a pond and let their be mud and leaves in the bottom. There are many types of waterlilies that are hardy to zone 4-5. LOL now if your going to do that you may as well get a small pump and make a little waterfall, you will have tons of songbirds visiting and the trickling sound is very soothing. Do yourself a favor and go look at these little pond set ups, I think you would be very happy with one and you could create a beautiful little haven.