I made a frog pond and had a rock-ramp, but one day when I was cleaning it I saw a dead mouse in it. I think the mouse might have drowned, is there anything I can do to improve the ramp or make it easier to get out of the pond?! [image]

In the West, where we have metal stock tanks for cattle, an escape ramp is often constructed of stiff wire mesh that is attached to the top edge of the tank and slopes down into water. The mesh gives more traction/purchase for a small animal to grab on and crawl up out of the tank. I’ve also seen r…

How big is your pond? If its very big (relative to a mouse’s size) it may not be enough with only one exit ramp. I’d advice having one slope every few meters just to be safe (or make one side of the pond naturally lower, like a beach) and adding some branches or a log at the sides of it. Some swamp…

They are most likely to swim around the edge looking for a way out. Make the ramp parallel to the sides going down in both directions as well as straight out into the center. You may need more that one depending on size.

I have a small pond, and the pond liner was built before I moved into the house. It is pretty steep, with 4 narrow ledges that are closer to the surface. Thanks for all of your suggestions!

Are the edges of your pond completely vertical? If yes, that’s a pretty big problem if wildlife accessibility is your goal.

Not completely vertical, but close to it

Update: I added some hornwort from a nearby swamp, and that added some little bug-things, but something that COULD be a problem is that it’s very small and a bullfrog found the swamp. Could that be detrimental to the pond, and if so, what can I do about it?

Alright, thanks! I was just wondering if a big bullfrog could be a problem, I love frogs!

Frog pond ramp help!

Nature Talk

DianaStuder September 25, 2021, 9:06pm 3

A few more rocks to make a sloping ‘beach’ on one side

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Frog pond ramp help!

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