How to create a frog bog habitat

Frogs drink through their skin, so having a moist, safe place is essential for their survival. Habitat that includes plenty of insects for them to eat, logs and rocks for them to shelter in, and a location that isn’t too hot also help. It’s also crucial to not put in gold fish to your ponds, as they eat all the frog’s eggs. The Honey Blue-eye (Pseudomugil mellis), a native freshwater fish, can be used to keep mosquito larvae under control instead, as they won’t eat frog’s eggs.

Costa builds two different types of ponds, one using a fibreglass pond shell that the preschool already had, which is turned into a bog, and the other containing deeper water using an old bath tub. This has a screen door repurposed as a cover locked over it to stop kids falling into the water, yet still allow easy access for the frogs. A viewing platform was also added so that the pre-schoolers can look at the frogs closely. And, of course, a garden to give the frogs habitat.

Vegetation layers are important to create biodiversity both in the pond and outside. We are planting indigenous/native aquatics as the priority is to create habitat for local frogs and tadpoles (shelter and cover). Some plants will grow in deeper water, others prefer shallow water and some plants tolerate moist feet (the bog plants).



We used Marsh Flower (Villarsia exaltata), Water snowflake (Nymphoides sp.), and Water Ribbons (Triglochin procerum, T. microtuberosum, T. striata) in the bath. The bog was planted with Jointed and Common Rush (Juncus sp.) and Knobbly Club Rush (Ficinia Nodosa). Around the pond edge we created lots of places for frogs to hide using leaf mulch, groundcovers like native violets (Viola hederacea), strappy plants like Mat Rush (Lomandra longifolia) and Grevillea ‘John Evans’ which flowers late winter to spring, and will attract attract insects that the frogs love to eat.



Build it and they will come! It’s illegal in lots of places to head down to the local swamp and collect tadpoles. Frogs will seek out a well-designed and well positioned bog and don’t clean the pond out too often… this upsets the little ecosystem and can do more harm than good.

Frog Friendly Tips
Put a solar powered light beside the pond to attract insects at night. This is how to attract frogs to your pond. They eat insects, and love flying insects.
Don’t use chemicals in the garden when you have frogs.

Frog Pond Step by Step
You’ll Need:

1 fibre glass shell
1 bath tub
1 aluminium mesh screen door and door latch and lock
Various grasses and aquatic plants
An old pallet
Gravel and sand
Pavers


Method:

- Make sure you firstly remove all the grass, as turf coming up through your garden will later be a maintenance issue.
- Dig a hole for the pond shells
- Level and compact the base
- Fill the pond shell with gravel and soil and used as a wet zone, then plant
- The bath tub hole is dug,
- The base is levelled and fitted with the screen cover, then planted and filled with water
- The viewing platform is placed onto a cleared area, on pavers, then pegged into place
- Logs and circular timber rounds are placed around the ponds
- Grasses and reeds and planted in the surrounding garden bed and mulched
- The grass has the soil removed and is then composted.



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[deec]

I created a frog bog here in California because of the drought. "Build it and they'll come" applies to plants. Willows, rushes, cat tails seeded themselves by wind. I planted mint that I found near the seasonal creek. I built a fence out of interwoven branches. It was such a blessing to have. The little tree frogs blessed it with their presence. They sang during courtship time and I learned so much about them.

[australianbiotopes]

Great job Costa! every yard should have one, Honey Blue-eye (Pseudomugil mellis) are great for controlling mosquito larva in the right areas but I'd suggest looking up your local area to see what fish species naturally occur that are frog safe, Honey Blue-eye might not be the right fish for the area and can be hard to source in some areas, not to mention they may not be native to the area, they are protected in QLD. so can't be purchased in QLD. but can be shared between people that have them, the Pacific Blue-eye (Pseudomugil signifer) or Firetail Gudgeon (Hypseleotris galii) are another two good fish to use that are easily obtainable up and down the east coast and are pretty cold hardy as well.

[wpchastain]

Great video, I too, am envious of your beard!!

[freshdonkey]

Irie frog bog man no bumboklat Jah blessings.

[michaelharris]

Great for the kids and wildlife id like to see whats living in your beard lol keep up the good work

[patferguson]

Lovely. Can we get an update, please?

[YenZenBamboo]

I always love and appreciate your work.
That lock on the tub though needs a block preventing the turn bolt going the wrong way to prevent someone thinking that they have locked it with the padlock. If you don’t then a person can put a padlock on and the pin can be operated.
It took three hours or more for people to find a child I knew that was in a murky pool right at their feet.
Please sort that lock pin out.

All the best.

[andrewmcknight]

What a great idea! We could try something like this in Florida if we adjust the pant species.

[spiderlab]

And north of Coffs Harbour - cane toad heaven!

[sandgroperwookiee]

How long did it take for the frog/s to move in?
👍

[reubenwalles]

are the plants that you use indigenous plants to victoria or at least native Australian plants

[The_Crusty_Old_Hag_Next_Door]

I didn’t bother putting plants in used a plastic kid’s pool filled with water put a few small logs in had green tree frogs, eggs & tadpoles in a few months.

[johngrosch]

we have Frogs, we love Frogs (and Toads) we would Love to meet You!

[jamesforbes]

Are those plants suitable for the sub tropics or all/most climate zones ??? Please help

[thomaswright]

Hi Mate may I ask how did you get the metal kid safe mesh frame to fit the bath?

[TomLr]

Were did you get the white mat because I am making a rain garden

[LMA]

Everyone asking if the frogs came...
Kind of, there were tadpoles there, but unfortunately, they were eaten by the children

[gemmrk]

What strange soil you have. There seems to be crevasses in the soil under the pond form. Weird. Ive never seen anything like that. Australia is so weird. May as well be mars

[Noosic]

Ladies, how would you like to see that face coming in for a kiss??

[derghiarrinde]

In our country we do not allow homeless people destroy public lawns but this one almost seems to enjoy working with showel.