r/WildlifePonds

Water irises are an invasive pain-in-the "you know what," but they sure are pretty when they are blooming. #pondlife

During some carefull blanket weed removal I managed to see a collection of creatures. I made sure to inspect thoroughly, pulling the weed thin. I then left on the vertical faces of the rocks in case I missed any. I was quite amazed at what was in there without it being a year old yet.

We made a pond in late February as we noticed some frogs in our garden last year. So we thought we'd try to accommodate them better this season. This morning while having my morning coffee I was greeted by this little guy 🐸!

Little dude always looks so angry. Caught him chilling in pebble beach tonight. Hopefully he wasnt there to munch our foster tadpoles

Woke up this morning to these tiny black ball looking eggs. Some of them have a white dot on them if that helps. Idk if it’s tadpole fry or koi fry.

Have a 30 gallon preformed pond liner. Leveled and tamped the ground with sand under the liner. Built up on sides with dirt and river rock (can't bury). Front is the still in progress wildlife "shore". Has a pump I leave run for the waterfall. This is my first time doing a pond so really I'm just looking for feedback and suggestions on how I can polish this up and what should be done yet to make this most useful/inviting for wildlife. Located in Midwest USA for what it's worth.

Just add some water and flowers to your garden and life will show up.

hi everyone! i purchased a pond liner yesterday and am feeling a little overwhelmed. my plan based on videos i have seen about wildlife ponds is to put 3 inches of soil in the bottom, let it settle for however long, put rocks and logs in it so that animals can get out, and put native water plants in the pond for a natural water filter. my fiancé is voicing his concerns about mosquitoes and stagnant water… does anyone have advice for me about how to address those concerns? the other issue is that the only spot for the pond is in a veryyy shady area. that would mean any solar powered water agitator/pump wouldn’t work 😬. and wouldn’t a pump make the pond unattractive/uninhabitable to frogs, turtles, etc?

This is my first time setting up a pond, my dream was to attract newts and other amphibians. Not even 5 days after building it, I found this female alpine newt! I had no idea it could happen so fast! It is now 3 weeks later and she is still here. I hope she’ll lay eggs, but maybe it’s a bit late in the season, and there are no males yet. For now I’ll continue to make the pond as newt friendly as possible, so any tips are welcome!

We got our yard levelled and sod installed this past weekend. (We are most likely moving that sprinkler/or making it drip irrigation). I added this flagstone pathway and have been dreaming of doing a wildlife pond in the middle rounded section. I also thought it would be cool to have the downspout come into the dirt area a bit more and carve out a little river that heads to the pond. Any tips? Advice? Is it a good idea/bad? I am at the beginning stages of researching. Will it overflow too often if it rains? Thanks!!

Bufo bufo acting like a boss.

I’m redoing my pond this weekend! When you use spray foam to lock rocks into place and such, is it just general construction foam (something like loctite or Great Stuff) or do you use special pond foam? If I let it fully cure, would I be fine with the generic construction foam?

Anything other things you wish you knew when you did your ponds—I’d welcome tips and insights!

I’ve shared the video before—but here is the current pond that I’m redoing! I love it—expanding and integrating landscaping more.

Located in Perth, WA. Started a month ago and the plants have taken off! Still have a lot of work to do planting and building up the surrounding area. Smaller pond found buried in the ground uncovered by accident!
Home to Pygmy perch and minnows (mosquito larvae control team), hitchhiker bladder snails, several invertebrates and cheeky Djidi-Djidi’s (Willy wagtails).
Love watching this ecosystem take off 🥺🥺

Looks like a smooth newt - Lissotriton vulgaris enjoying the sun.

Have a itty bitty 9 gallon wildlife pond with plants and rocks. Just added a terracotta pot for a potential toad (we get toads every year but I haven't seen one yet). Any advice would be appreciated. Need to add more plants around the pond!

I’m always fascinated about people’s preferences and tastes…even amongst us ponders. A few weeks ago I cleared my pond out after three years of neglect due to medical reasons. Not wanting to toss all these plants in my compost bin I put them on facebook marketplace. A guy came by to buy some and took one look at my pond and said “what the fuck is this man?” I asked what he meant. “Nah man…not my thing….my pond is a perfect rectangle…crisp clear lines…not like……this”. He wasn’t rude or anything but seemed shocked I too didn’t have a perfect square of a pond. But I too forget those ponds exist and I equally find them weird but to each their own. Does anyone else have a similar experience? Oh here’s a picture of my “wtf pond”🤣