This has baffled me, too, as long as I've had a pond. The first year, I had a few frogs. Then the newts arrived (and yes, one of them famously did get p!ssed, on the beer in a slug trap. I put him under a cold shower and he recovered - slowly)
I haven't seen a frog since. But I have the national collection of palmate newts.
I gather, as the Hopeful Herpetologist says, that newts eat frog spawn. In that case, how can they ever co-exist in the same pond? And given the muscular attitude of the newts, how do any frogs survive..?
we have frogs and newts that co-habit happily. Most of the year they both spend more time on land than in water, but in breeding season the newts in particular will be in the pond. The frogs will usually be out of water unless its hot then they may spend the days bathing, or hiding around the edges
I have frogs, toads and newts who all cohabit in my small pond, the garden in general, and any container that holds water, scattered around the garden. I am surrounded by waterfilled clay pits so heron are a familiar sight here.
When we made our pond frogs, toads and newts all moved in. The newts eat the frog spawn so they never breed successfully, here, but we have newts and toads in huge numbers. We see the heron regularly but it doesn't have much impact on the newts. When summers are hot and dry we get grass snakes in the pond, too.
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This has baffled me, too, as long as I've had a pond. The first year, I had a few frogs. Then the newts arrived (and yes, one of them famously did get p!ssed, on the beer in a slug trap. I put him under a cold shower and he recovered - slowly)
I haven't seen a frog since. But I have the national collection of palmate newts.
I gather, as the Hopeful Herpetologist says, that newts eat frog spawn. In that case, how can they ever co-exist in the same pond? And given the muscular attitude of the newts, how do any frogs survive..?
But they clearly do. So now I know.
I am surrounded by waterfilled clay pits so heron are a familiar sight here.