Newbie...

[Udanghantu]

Native frogs & toads hibernate in winter in the UK - sadly, they sometimes wake up too early and spawn when the ponds still freeze at night. Which is what happened here this year and is not good for spawn or tiny tadpoles.
Re. Fast and intelligent invertebrate - why does that sound a bit worrying.....? How big are they? Can they escape? Are they carnivorous? How fast is ‘fast’?

 

[Essjay]

I'm surprised that frogs can survive in UK.
I thought they would die during the winter.

We have frogs and toads and newts We also have 3 species of lizard and three species of snake.

We don't have a pond but we regularly have frogs in our garden. In heatwaves they spend the night in the bird baths. In winter they hibernate under the decorative rocks.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

They survive pretty well! I think they hunker down in the mud in the bottom of ponds and streams, and hibernate. I think, haven't double checked my info, just what I remember from childhood. I know they come back to the place they were born in order to spawn, and our big outdoor pond has spawned a lot of frogs! Love the time of year when the baby froglets leave, and you find them everywhere near the pond.

Oh! I even learned last year that some tadpoles don't develop in the year they hatch from the spawn. Some that are born later, or just have too much competition, can remain tadpoles for the year, and develop into little baby frogs the following year. I looked it up since most of the spawn had left, but there were some left left late in the year that hadn't even developed legs yet, so I looked it up. Thought that was cool!

We have a colony of newts in the pond too, they're awesome.

 

[Udanghantu]

Adora Belle Dearheart
Indeed it does!
Re. Picture - it was the best I could manage in improvisation mode. The other 3 elephants are on a tea break.....View attachment 131555

Cancel the ‘tea break

’ idea. The other 3 elephants are moonlighting as a fancy plant stand.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Adora Belle Dearheart
Indeed it does!
Re. Picture - it was the best I could manage in improvisation mode. The other 3 elephants are on a tea break.....View attachment 131555

I love that blue and silver turtle! Man, I want one of those now!

 

[Udanghantu]

From the kid‘s toys shelf at the local post office. About £10(?) I think. It’s nice and heavy and looks much more expensive! If we ever get to go out again I will see if they still have them and let you know.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

From the kid‘s toys shelf at the local post office. About £10(?) I think. It’s nice and heavy and looks much more expensive! If we ever get to go out again I will see if they still have them and let you know.

Wow, it definitely looks more expensive than £10. You got lucky

 

[Lajos_Detari]

We have frogs and toads and newts We also have 3 species of lizard and three species of snake.

We don't have a pond but we regularly have frogs in our garden. In heatwaves they spend the night in the bird baths. In winter they hibernate under the decorative rocks.

Seems like the reptiles are able to adapt and survive in the winter.
I dislike reptiles especially if they come to close to our house or inside our house.
I used to kill them when I was a teenager as some snakes(poisonous) came into our garden and house.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Re. Fast and intelligent invertebrate - why does that sound a bit worrying.....? How big are they? Can they escape? Are they carnivorous? How fast is ‘fast’?

It's omnivore and it will eat meat and plants/vegetables.
It will eat fish if it can catch the fish.
Its claws are like "hands" as I saw it sweeping the crab pellets up and put it into its mouth.
Even when the crab pellets disintegrate into fine powder, it still managed to sweep it up to eat. The claws became like brooms to the crab.
I feed it with Hikari Crab pellets.

I left the container(where I keep the crab) lid open for a few seconds as I was doing some cleaning/maintenance.
In a split second, it climbed up from the container and disappeared into the aquarium that is below the container.
I didn't even manage to see it climbing up as it was too fast.
But I managed to catch it and put it back again.
The Panther crab can grow up to 5 inches.
I will need a big tank for it when it grow larger as it's still small at the moment.

5 Freshwater Crabs For The Aquarium

When it comes to invertebrates, many aquarists immediately think of the different kinds of shrimp and crayfish that they could keep in their tank. However, there's another group of fascinating invertebrates that can also be

www.aquariadise.com

 

[Udanghantu]

Your crab sounds like a very exciting pet! A bit too exciting for me - I think I will probably stay with my nice, little, non-escaping blue velvet shrimp.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Your crab sounds like a very exciting pet! A bit too exciting for me - I think I will probably stay with my nice, little, non-escaping blue velvet shrimp.

Yes, shrimps are equally interesting.
If you can get the long nose shrimps (Pinocchio), it will be interesting as they move like helicopters....

My Panther crab is unique as its fully aquatic unlike some crabs that need some dry land in your tank.