NJ green frogs and hibernation

[turbozeke418]

I live in central NJ and out by my pool I have a small pond and waterfall with an aquatic plant. In the end of May a small Frog took up residency in the pond and then 2 others. Now this trio (named- Bud, Weis, Er) of course are now about 2-3 inches and I do not want them to die for the winter. I usually drain that pond for the winter and shut the pump off. I tried to relocate them to a different pond that I leave on all winter that has a heater in it over the summer and they didn't like it. Within a day they were again on the other side of the property in pools pond.

Any suggestions on what I should do? I would love to see them back next spring and lay some eggs because it appears to be two females and one male green frog. Thanks for any help.

[bshmerlie]

You could always capture them, keep then in a tank inside for the winter and then release them again in the spring. The only problem of course is the desired maintenance and upkeep of keeping frogs. We here on the forums love that part but it does require time.

[turbozeke418]

I decided to bring them inside for the winter and put them in a 40 gallon breader tank with a waterfall and 1/4 full with water. I've been feeding them crickets and they appear to be happy as hell. 3 days ago a small 4th frog that I added was found dead floating int he water. Yesterday one was alot more active than usual and was jumping all over. Suddenly it flipped upside down and died. Immidiately after it died, one of the other frogs immidiatley mounted the other and wouldn't leave its back (hopefully mating). It just seemed wierd that the two frogs died out of no where. How long do they live for?

I have also noticed a few more things that I'm not sure about and I don't know if its normal or not. One of the larger frogs had a wierd slime coming out of his mouth and I helped remove it. It was wrapped around his feet since it appeared he was trying to get it out of his mouth. A few days later there was what appeared to be regurjitated crickets. It was a few crickets and a meal worm that were in a sac that was in the bottom of the water. I'm just looking for some tips to help them make it through the winter indoors and hopefully begin to breed.