gutting a fridge

[Brenda Irwin]

Hi all, I want to gut the doors, engine, wire mesh bit etc off an old fridge.

My idea is to lay it on its back and turn it into a frog pond. I priced other ponds, troughs etc and they are all $200! I can't find any old bathtubs, and they'd want $40 for them anyway.

Are there any problems, danger with it? Are fridges still gassed?

PS: It will be housed in a cemented dog run with a lockable gate, so no kiddies can get in.

 

[lizzie]

is this the fridge that you're now going to throw off the balcony?

 

[Celeste]

Hi brenda

I just got rid of an old fridge - yes they are gased and it will cost approx $35.00 to have it degased. even to send it to the tip.

Unless you know a fridgy - air con man etc to do it for nil.

Celeste

 

[Kenny]

Hi Brenda,

i'm not sure if there is a similar programme running in Qld but here in NSW, there is a Frdge Buyback scheme:

http://www.fridgebuyback.com.au/

where they will pay you $35 to come and pickup your fridge and throw in some efficient light bulbs and showerheads as well.

The $35 could go towards an old bathtub from a tip.

Probably wouldn't be worthwhile shipping the old fridge across the border though

Regards,

Kenny

 

[Brenda Irwin]

Yeah, something like fridge buy back would be good. I have abandoned the idea of using the fridge for anything.

I now temporarily have the pond weeds and fish in a boat shaped kids pool. I think I will just get a 1000mm dia. X 420mm h in 250 litres stock trough on Monday and be done with it. All this scheming to save a buck is getting me nowhere. At least my frogs and fish will live happily.

 

[Olly]

I'd never heard of this and thought it was a great idea. I rang them yesterday to come and get my old fridge which I was going to sell in a garage sale for $50-$100. Better I get less money for it but some freebies and the feel good feeling that I get for helping the environment.

Thanks Kenny

Hi Brenda,

i'm not sure if there is a similar programme running in Qld but here in NSW, there is a Frdge Buyback scheme:

http://www.fridgebuyback.com.au/

where they will pay you $35 to come and pickup your fridge and throw in some efficient light bulbs and showerheads as well.

The $35 could go towards an old bathtub from a tip.

Probably wouldn't be worthwhile shipping the old fridge across the border though

Regards,

Kenny

 

[Jindaro]

Hi all, I want to gut the doors, engine, wire mesh bit etc off an old fridge.

My idea is to lay it on its back and turn it into a frog pond.

Brenda, my friend Lisa who lives up the road from you told me a funny story today about her frogs that live in her kitchen and bathroom. She was asleep and thought someone was touching her face. She woke up, turned on the light to see what was going on (she lives by herself with 2yo son) but she couldn't see anything. She went back to bed and then heard thump, thump, thump, turned back on the light and on the floor were 4 frogs from her kitchen (she tells me she recognised them ) So she took them back to the bowl they live in and went back to bed.

In the morning she woke up to find all 4 frogs lined up beside her bed again, covered in dust from their trek from one end of the house to the other, they would have had to hop along the kitchen, then the hallway, living room, hallway and then into her bedroom. This has never happened before. How weird is that!!

For the city slickers wondering why frogs live in her house, she lives 20 mins out of Ipswich and is on tank water, the creek is dry and the frogs have had nowhere to go for ages so take up residency in septic systems, toilets and wherever they can go. They were even sitting under her sink drainer for a while so she set up dishes of water in the corner of the kitchen so they could have somewhere to live. Sometimes you go into the bathroom and there is a frog sitting on the toilet seat so you have to move it to the vanity, then back again when you've finished. Oh, and no walking through the house in the dark incase there is a frog hopping around heheh...

 

[Brenda Irwin]

I've learned a lot about frogs. I have minimum 13 outside every night. They used to live in the old kitchen but I evicted them and relocated them to an insulated 'frog box' attached to the side of the house, near the outside light and the stairs. I fill a small tray with water every evening so they can have a little dip in between eating all the moths near the light.

The really interesting part about frogs is that they are actually hunters and range quite a distance in their search for moths, beetles, and cockroaches. Small frogs have to move carefully near the big whoppers, as any sudden movement can trigger the big frog's reflexes and the little frogs become dinner.

 

[gerd.]

Hi Brenda

I noticed that you mentioned fish and frogs for the new pond.
Down though I keep my frogs separate from the fish ( in different ponds ).
Seems that the fish eat the tadpoles.

Gerd

 

[Brenda Irwin]

You have to have fish which eat mozzie wrigglers but not frog eggs and tadpoles. Recommended are Pacific Blue Eyes as they only grow about 30mm and love mozzie wrigglers to eat.
Here's the website I got all my frog pond info from http://www.qldfrogs.asn.au/
I emailed the secretary and she was very helpful with tips to setting up the pond.

 

[gerd.]

Thanks for the feedback Brenda.

I went to the local aquarium suppliers when setting up my ponds.
Tried different fish as recommended but found that they disappeared over time.
Now have 2 ponds with goldfish & 2 ponds with tadpoles
This year I intend to place a goldfish in the frog ponds after the tadies have finished & replace them back in the other ponds for next years tadpole season.

Gerd

 

[RichardC]

I thought this was a Kiwi spoonerism, the Kiwi wanting to know about "gitting a frudge", but no! Brenda looks like an Aussie.

 

[Brenda Irwin]

I abandoned the fridge idea for a pond and bought a round plastic trough instead. It is around 1200mm width and 1000mm high. It is in a cemented and child proof fenced dog run. I didn't want a pond buried in the ground, as it would only attract snakes to the water and the frogs. My name may be Irwin but I don't like slithery visitors.

 

[RichardC]

For anyone in the cane toad belt, frogs have suckers on their toes and can climb vertical glass (and toilet bowls) but toads can't, so you can keep the ugly ones out of the frog tank.

BTW All the old-timer Townsvillagers agree there would be only 1% of the critters here now as there were in the '60s. Ravens have learnt to tip them on their back and peck out their guts and the snakes have evolved with smaller heads, preventing them from swollowing the larger, more poisonous, toads. But there's more to it than that and I doubt "why?" has been researched. Someone should.

 

[topcropper]

BTW All the old-timer Townsvillagers agree there would be only 1% of the critters here now as there were in the '60s. .

I remember 30 years ago on the Gold Coast, the cane toads were everywhere. On the roads they would get squashed flat. There would generally be a couple flat on the roads at any one time when you would walk to the beach.

Haven't even seen one now for ages.

See ya's.

 

[Brenda Irwin]

With the drought, when it ends I'll be worried. Mouse, toad, stink beetle, mozzie, snake plagues to look forward to.

 

[sailor]

Topcropper...I think they have migrated north. We often see squished one's on the road during our morning walks.

 

[coolie21]

Thanks for the feedback Brenda.

I went to the local aquarium suppliers when setting up my ponds.
Tried different fish as recommended but found that they disappeared over time.
Now have 2 ponds with goldfish & 2 ponds with tadpoles
This year I intend to place a goldfish in the frog ponds after the tadies have finished & replace them back in the other ponds for next years tadpole season.

Gerd

The cane toads sometimes lay their eggs in our ponds. The goldfish won't touch the taddys, unfortunately. I have now rediscovered the pleasures of tadpole fishing....