Tadpole rescue 2012 drought.

[infernalis]

We have had no rain for weeks and weeks, the creek has all but dried up, the frog ponds have dried up, the stench of dead fish and rotting tadpoles fills the air and the flies are swarming all over the stink.

This is supposed to be a flowing creek.

http://www.thamnophis.us/dry/creek2.jpg

The frog ponds all look like this now..

http://www.thamnophis.us/dry/cracks.jpg

The habitat that I built for the amphibians to reproduce was almost all dried up, as I was looking at it I noticed the muck was moving, and observed live tadpoles clinging to what little moisture was left.

http://www.thamnophis.us/dry/before.jpg

Since this was the last remaining tadpoles on my entire property from this season I had to take some kind of action or they too were going to die.

So we set up the pump and drew from the only water I could find......

http://www.thamnophis.us/dry/creek1.jpg

[infernalis]

Now with a whole bunch of water added, look at the happy tadpoles.

http://www.thamnophis.us/dry/tads.jpg

http://www.thamnophis.us/dry/tads1.jpg

http://www.thamnophis.us/dry/tads2.jpg

Just a curious observation, a water vortex at the suction pipe..

http://www.thamnophis.us/dry/vortex.jpg

NrKVsT-X1PA

[exwizard]

Wayne youre great for doing this. Many kudos to you. :)

[infernalis]

Thanks, we need rain.

There are baby snapping turtles, baby water snakes and assorted newts & salmanders hanging in the balance here.

My meadow is turning brown and we don't dare have a camp fire either.

It sucks.

[exwizard]

Yeah I understand that.

[Gungirl]

I was just talking to my husband about how dry it has been. I noticed out front lawn is now brown and the river is really low. I really hope we see some good rain storms soon. Good job on taking care of the little ones.

[shaunyboy]

great job you did Wayne

kudo's for putting in the effort

over here,we've had the wettest,coldest,summer i can remember

pity we couldn't give uyou some of our crappy weather mate

cheers shaun

[bigsnakegirl785]

Good job on helping them, they must be glad for all the water they have now. It rained 3 days in a row here, so maybe it'll move on to some of the other states. Sounds like a lot of people need rain.

[jaleely]

so cool! Where did you get that equipment? lol

When i was a kid, every single year, my friends and i had to walk home from the bus stop (yes, two miles uphill both ways, btw) and there was always this one ditch by the side of the road that would fill up, stay full, and breed thousands of tadpoles. ONE hot day we'd walk home and see how dried up it was and they were all squirming and dying, so we'd grab bucks and spend all night and the next day gathering as many as we could and walking them down to a nearby pond we had in the neighborhood. Every, single, year.
I had a really great childhood. : )

After that, when they'd turn into frogs, both our families would have to doge tiny frogs who swarmed the road from the pond *lol*

[shayna]

This is fantastic. More people need to care as much as you do. Kudos!

[RandyRhoads]

Amazing Wayne. Great pictures too. I love how much you care about even the smallest life form.

[Lankyrob]

^^^^ THIS^^^ you are awesome Wayne :)

[jarich]

Did you get any of that thunderstorm from last night? We got a deluge with an added light show

[alessia55]

Thanks for saving them, Wayne. What a beautiful way to preserve life. Those little tadpoles will be big frogs one day thanks to you :D

[Gungirl]

Did you get any of that thunderstorm from last night? We got a deluge with an added light show

We got a tiny bit of rain from the storms last night but mostly just some thunder. I think it sprinkled for 15 min at most :(

[brylecc1989]

Wayne, wish the majority of the population cared about each other even half as much as you care about all living things. You the man!

[MoreliAddict]

Awesome job, Wayne!

[Trent]

Indeed..awesome job!!

[Wildside]

Hopefully you will get the rain soon. I know things were starting to look scary here but it has rained nicely for the last 5 days. Now it needs to chill fora day so I can catch upon the lawn lol

[ILuvMyHognose]

That is really awesome that you did that for all the animals. I admire that alot. I haven't went to the extreme you have but I have bought tons of bird baths and things this year. The birds, mammals and even wasps and bees flock to my house everyday to get water. It has been so hot and dry here. We also have a severe drought here in Illinois and at my second house in Wisconsin. It is pretty bad. So glad the tadpoles have a place in your heart!!!

[Jay]

What a stand up man you are, kudos.

[alessia55]

so... any rain yet?

[infernalis]

None... The creek is almost all gone now, the remaining isolated pools are shrinking fast..

I do have 4500 gallons in a tank I took out of the creek about a month ago, we walked back to the frog pond today, and there is still enough water in there for the tadpoles, but if that looks like it's going to dry up again, I can dump some out of the tank.

The sky gets cloudy, but it just doesn't rain.

[Gungirl]

We had maybe 2 drops of rain yesterday.. It is looking pretty sad near our chunk of the river. Water is down 6-7 ft :( I hope we all get some well needed rain soon. Its looking like we are out of luck for at least another 2 weeks and maybe more.

[Wildside]

:unhappy: I think the Glee club messed up the rain dance

[MoreliAddict]

We had a ton of rain yesterday. Giant rocks of hail too, crazy...

[bigsnakegirl785]

I thought it was going to stop raining here, but I guess we're going to keep stealing your rain. :(

[infernalis]

I am off to go net the last few fish from a spot that has about an inch of water...

There is a couple deeper pools that have some, so I can move them there.

[Will0W783]

Kudos Wayne! You're doing a great thing. You can have some of our rain- it's been hotter than Hades here, but we keep getting hit with big thunderstorms.

[infernalis]

creek dried up even more..

http://www.thamnophis.co/2012/dead.jpg

we did manage to find 3 minnows, a newt and a snail that survived and moved them here..

http://www.thamnophis.co/2012/pool.jpg

The tadpoles are leaving the water! so glad we saved them.

http://www.thamnophis.co/2012/froglet.jpg

http://www.thamnophis.co/2012/weetoad.jpg

I wish it would pour for a week.

[shaunyboy]

glad to see you,that have some nice healthy looking survivors there Wayne

i hope you get some rain,before the last of the pools dry up

if only more people were willing to put in the extra effort,like your good self,the world would be a better place for it

KUDO's mate

cheers shaun

[infernalis]

glad to see you,that have some nice healthy looking survivors there Wayne

i hope you get some rain,before the last of the pools dry up

if only more people were willing to put in the extra effort,like your good self,the world would be a better place for it

KUDO's mate

cheers shaun


Thanks Shaun... What's the matter. can't sleep?

[shaunyboy]

Thanks Shaun... What's the matter. can't sleep?

i was just thinking about going to bed,as we're taking my youngest berry picking tomorrow (strawberries,raspberries,gooseberries ),theres also inflatable/bouncy castles,a maize and lots of other fun things for him to do

we've had really crappy weather (even for scotland) this summer,we've not been out much,so i hope it's not raining

but...

i can't seem to bring myself to log off,i'm trying to catch up,as ive not been on so much lately

cheers shaun

[Wildside]

Wayne, Did you guys get rain yet?