After discovering a strange, gelatinous blob on a garden wall, one homeowner was extremely confused.
But when you find a mysterious garden substance, there's only one place to go to find out just what it is — Reddit, of course.
In the r/WhatsThisBug subreddit, the user posted a picture of the speckled goop with the simple caption, "What's this?"
It wasn't long before the internet sleuths began to speak up.
"Frog eggs, they belong in water though," one said.
"Those are frog eggs, the mother must've not made it to a body of water in time and has to lay there," another added.
But both users noted a particular problem in that they weren't where they were supposed to be.
"I don't think they'll survive though and the mother might not come back," said the second commenter.
The original poster moved the frogspawn to a small pond in the local area, but that might not have been the best move.
According to the Sussex Wildlife Trust, moving spawn between ponds risks transferring amphibian diseases. To give the spawn the best chance at surviving, it might have been wiser to put them in a bucket of rainwater in a sunny and sheltered spot.
It's tadpole time! #MondayMotivation pic.twitter.com/6CxZc5eoq8
— Sussex Wildlife Trust 🦔 (@SussexWildlife) April 1, 2019
The Trust also advises against using tap water to rear tadpoles, as it contains chemicals that are harmful to amphibians. And in the absence of algae and pond plants, boiled lettuce, spinach or other green vegetables can provide a suitable food source.
When they have hatched, goldfish food will be a welcomed addition to the tadpoles' menu. Eventually, they will start to grow legs, which is when you should lower the water level and add some pebbles to allow them to go free, ideally into vegetation.
Frogs typically return to the same source as they were born to spawn again, so at this point, you might want to build a small pond if you want them to come back year after year.
In addition to being fascinating to watch grow, frogs also provide a number of benefits for a green space.
According to the website Pond Informer, frogs might prevent the need to use pesticides in your garden. Among the many minibeasts they eat are mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches, caterpillars, beetles, spiders and slugs, and the removal of these creatures will save your plants from disease and allow them to thrive.
Meanwhile, one Redditor suggested it could be something else: "It's either frog spawn or chia pudding. There's only one way to find out!"
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