Big Red - Hero to Amphibians

If you've been here, you know about the bog/vernal pool/big hole occasionally filled with water out back in the near woods. And last year, how we rescued a clutch of salamander eggs, but were not successful in getting many to hatch.

Well, this year, our bog/pool/etc was just littered with amphibian egg clutches. Must have been at least 15 of the gelatinous masses, all crammed full with tadpoles and salamanders. But unfortunately, as often happens at this time of year, the bog dried up, and we were in danger of losing our little slimy friends to dessication or raccoons.

Big Red to the rescue: The first plan involved hauling buckets of water up from the artesian well over to the bog and dumping those in. After convincing him that the bog had the volume of roughly twenty bathtubs, we decided to haul a hose down from the house, turn it on and fill the bog naturally. Surprisingly, it only took about 5 hours for it to fill most of the way up, and now our egg clutches are submerged again. And soon, we hope, we'll get to enjoy a chorus of evening frogs or see the spotted salamanders crawling across the woodland floor.

Go Big Red!